Hi all,

Does anyone have a general guideline they follow when a cake is due at a certain time, especially if you work full time out of the home? Like, how many days do you set aside, do you do certain things this day, other things that, etc??

I'm just wondering how you manage your time and still offer a fresh, beautiful cake to your occasion!

I like a three day period.

Day 1: Bake & Freeze. (Also make icings on this day)
Day 2: Crumb coat and cover in fondant
Day 3: Decorate & assemble.

Granted, depending on the design, I may have to do some of the decorating on day 2 while the fondant is still soft.

But in general, that's how I work it.

I bake the cakes up to a couple of weeks in advance. Freeze them once cooled (wrapped in two layers of saran and at least one of foil). I make any fondant/gumpaste stuff in that time (whenever I get time). I make/colour the icings sometime in the week before the day I want it. I take the cake out of the freezer and thaw it in fridge the afternoon before I need it. The morning I need it, I take out of fridge (still wrapped) and leave on counter for a bit. Unwrap and decorate on the day needed.

I (AKA My Husband) bakes the cakes on Wednesday. Once they cool, cover in press and seal.

I then think about decorating it on Thursday and if I have 2 cakes, I'll do one Thursday.

I do it all Friday night, usually I'm done by 10.

Saturday I deliver while my hubby cleans up the enormous mess I made