I am making a 2-tier fondant cake with buttercream and I'm planning on baking the cakes tonight, crumb coating and then icing & fondant tomorrow night. From what I've read on various sights & youtube videos, it's best to refrigerate the crumb coat for 20-30 minutes (or over night) prior to icing & fondant. Here's my worry, I need to cover the cakes before refrigerating them overnight after they've been crumb coated, but won't the saran wrap stick when I removing it? I read somewhere if you refrigerate it for 20-30 minutes before covering it the crumb coat will keep it from sticking, but I'm just not sure about this and i'd hate to ruin the cakes when I'm uncovering them. Please help!

I loosely cover in Saran wrap and stick in the fridge if I need to keep them there over night It isn't necessary to fridge a crumb coat at all. I usually fill and crumbcoat and let settle over night on the counter, loosely covered. I only fridge it of it has filling like fruit or cream cheese. 

Actually you don't need to frig them unless you have used a filling that is parishable.  Just crumb coat and leave on the counter as is.   It will be fine for up to 48 hrs.

I don't cover with Saran wrap. I do a thick-ish crumb coat and pop that straight in the fridge. I like to have a nice cold cake to work with when fondanting....  is that a word??  

Thank you! My concern with leaving the cake out was that the crumb coat is so thin I was worried it wouldn't lock the moisture in and the cake would get hard. And my concern with refrigerating uncovered is that it's not a dedicated fridge and I didn't want odors from other foods to get in the cake/frosting. What has your experience been with that?

I made the cakes last night and decided to just leave them out. They seemed to be pretty moist this morning, but they'll be sitting out all day until I'm able to do the final frosting & fondant tonight.

One thing I did learn...don't refrigerate your buttercream overnight. Or at least not all of it in one giant bowl. It was as hard as a rock even after I let it sit out for an hour. Had to add water and mix it again. I'm doing the fondant tonight which I'm most nervous about, wish me luck!

It's all a learning experience. I never put my butter cream in the fridge, I just leave it in the bowl, cover it, and leave it on the counter. As long as nothing is in your fridge that gives off odors, like onions or fish, leaving it in there uncovered is fine. 

I refrigerate my crumb coats and do not have a designated fridge for cakes. I just make sure there is no left overs, onions, or anything of that nature that put off a foul smell. If you are using a crusting buttercream the saran wrap would not stick as it becomes firm to the touch once it crusts, but if you are using a noncrusting buttercream may be best to leave it uncovered. If I refrigerate my buttercream I have to lay it out hours in advance to come back to room temp. If I am gonna use it the very next day I prefer to just put it in an air tight container and leave it on the counter to avoid having to wait for it to come to room temp again.  Sorry, I just rambled on. lol

I have a dedicated cake fridge and separate cake freezer which helps.

I have my baked cakes wrapped in Saran wrap (Gladwrap over in Aus) pretty much as soon as I can get them out of the hot tins without burning myself to lock in that moisture. Then I chuck them in the freezer.

When it's time to fill and frost, I defrost the cakes, whip up my frosting and go from there. Sometimes I don't even do a crumb coat depending on which recipe I'm using. My choc needs a crumb coat, my vanilla doesn't so that one just gets filled and frosted straight off then chucked in the fridge to settle and until I'm ready to fondant.

After crumb coating, I usually put the cakes in the freezer unwrapped for 10 to 15 minutes which sets the BC or ganache.  They are then ready to be covered with fondant or the final layer of BC or ganache.  I use non crusting buttercream, so it does need to be chilled to firm up.  If I wish to pause at the crumb coat stage, then they can be wrapped and placed in the refrigerator, and the plastic wrap doesn't stick as the frosting is already firm.  

Thanks for the advise everyone! I definitely learned quite a few things from some mistakes I made this time around. One thing I didn't look into was removal of the top tier when it comes time to cut the cake and the entire top layer of fondant & frosting peeled off the lower tier when I was removing the top tier.

What is the best way to remove the top/upper tiers without ruining the lower ones when disassembling?

Also, I'm not totally clear on crusting buttercream versus non-crusting, Is the difference in the ingredients or?

Anyway, here's the finished product. Not perfect by any stretch, but not bad for my 2nd fondant cake :)

First, Becky_B, you cake looks great, especially for your 2nd fondant cake.  I do not honestly know why some buttercreams are crusting and some not.  All that I have tried crust nicely.  I put my crumb coated and/or buttercream iced cakes in the refrigerator uncovered until they crust firmly, then double wrap them in cling wrap.  When I get ready to apply the fondant, I remove the cling wrap as soon as I remove it from the refrigerator, while the icing is still firm, and have experieced no problems. 

.... not clear on crusting buttercream versus non-crusting, Is the difference in the ingredients or? ...

Yes, the more fat (Crisco, shortening etc) the *less* it crusts.   "Crusting" just forms a light, thin layer of more solid icing so one can touch it w/o it coming off on your finger.  A few recipes might even be 'dry' enough to handle made ahead flowers carefully.