I am making a Black Forest cake for Saturday. So I don't have to get up at 1am, I was wondering if I could make it and assemble it on Friday? I would put the finishing touches on Saturday morning, but I would love to be able to the cake the day before (it's needed at 10am - which means I have to leave home at 8am)

Thanks

Why not? Many people make cakes on Tues or Wed for Sat deliveries.

If it's true black forest with whipping cream, it needs to be refrigerated but a single day in advance is no problem at all.

Use stabilized whipped cream or don't do it.

A true black forest cake needs a day to rest after assembly. but you need (nowadays stabilised) whipped cream, cherries and some Kirsch, for these flavours to combine, it needs to rest in a cool place. Take out of refridgeration 2 hrs prior to serving, no cake should be eaten cold (takes or rather weakens the taste)

A client once kept her BF cake for more than a week. She said it was more delicious than first day. I normally bake Wednesday, decorate Thursday and deliver Friday. (I have a day job). Clients always comment on how fresh the cakes are.

Funny, I am also doing a black forest cake for Saturday. I am stabilizing the whipped cream with cooked cornstarch which I read in Cooks Illustrated. Apparently it remains stable for up to 48 hours, so I am making the filling tomorrow evening and icing and delivering Saturday.

Yes you'll be fine and in my experience you don't need to stabilize the whipped cream unless you are doing a really thick filling layer. For me, I just do more, thinner layers (like 1/2") if I need to get more filling in there.

You certainly can bake and assemble a day ahead. I don't use kirsch in my recipe but use cherries and whipped cream. I don't stabilize my whipped cream and it holds and pipes beautifully. I've never had it melt on me nor have customers complain about it. Here is a pic of one I've made before.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fsplkTxKiGI/S_rUAwYU2HI/AAAAAAAAZYo/FzUyfkq1HVk/s1600/IMG1_3682.jpg

Thank-you everyone for your extremely helpful feedback.

I will be tackling the cake today (Nigella Lawson's recipe) and will hopefully have a happy cake at the end of it all. I am certainly less nervous than I was yesterday

My only question now, is should I cover the cake when it is in the fridge? or will it be OK just on it's own? We don't really have anything in our fridge that will transfer smells to the cake...

I have a 2 hour drive to the venue, so that should allow the cake time to de-fridge itself!

Thanks again

If the cake is iced (w/whipped cream, stabilized or not) it does not need to be covered in the frig.

If you're worried about it absorbing any odors, just put it in a box then wrap it.

I often will box up my cakes, put in the fridge on a tea towel, and then remove just before the customer comes to pick up. Not only to help prevent any smells from being absorbed, but to also prevent anything from accidentally getting on the cake while in the fridge.