Help!! A Few Questions, And A Thank You!
Decorating By mommy2djb Updated 11 Jun 2008 , 10:03pm by mommy2djb
First, Thank you to everyone on this list! You're all SOOO helpful and encouraging! Thanks to everything I've learned on this site, I booked my first wedding cake. 
As for my questions:
#1 Dummy cakes? I've read I'm supposed to cover these with plastic so I can reuse them. So if they're covered in plastic, will the buttercream stick to it and stay in place or is it going to slide off and turn to mush? Any tips or tricks I need to know before I start this project?
#2 Fondant/Gum Paste decorations? How far in advance do you usually make items like this? I don't know how long they need to dry and be strong enough to use.
#3 On big projects like a wedding cake, how far in advance do you start baking and preparing your cakes? I generally bake on Thursdays, decorate on Fridays for Saturday delivery. Is that a reasonable scenario for a wedding cake or should I start sooner? So far, 3 tiers is the largest cake I've made....
TIA!
Jeannie
Hi Jeannie ~ Congratulations on your first wedding cake!!! You must be sooooo excited! I can offer some assistance with questions #2 and #3. I did my sister and brother-in-law's wedding cake. It was 3 tiers (stacked) with gumpaste leaves. Because I have a full-time job, I started making the leaves a few weeks in advance, and did some each night that I could. Then I took off Thursday and Friday, and I baked and decorated according to your schedule above. (Except, I put the gumpaste leaves on the final cake the day of the wedding.) Good luck with your cake & let us know how it goes!!!!
#1) I never cover dummies; just wash them off when I am done and reuse.
#2) depends upon what they are, some can dry in a day, some might take several, but you can make them way way ahead; they do not go bad.
#3) correct! you could even start one day earlier if you needed to.
HTH
I've never heard that about the dummies-you can totally skip that step, because I do and it is always fine.
I usually bake on Wednesdays for a Saturday event. I have this thing where I like to let the cakes sit at least overnight in the fridge to firm up, etc. and then I cover them in fondant on Thursday and finish up on Friday.
HTH!
I bake on Monday and Tuesday, make icing on Wednesday or Thursday (depending on if I have fondant) and do my crumb coat on Thursday night so I can start fresh and decorate on Friday. Any flowers I need to make ahead I do on Monday so that they have time to dry.
I bake my cakes and stick them in the freezer after they have cooled for about 10 minutes. I pop them out of the pan and onto a board and into the freezer. This makes the cakes unbelievably moist.
Best of luck!
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