Ok, so i have my first official cake order. its for a two tier chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream (just cocoa, icing sugar and butter) crumb coat and filling. It will be covered in fondant and have a gumpaste bow on top and a message cut out in gumpaste on the board.

I work full time and to make matters more complicated, i have a business course the night before i need the cake. I need the cake for Friday morning to take to work with me.

I intend to make the gumpaste bow etc on sunday and make and colour the fondant and buttercream on Wednesday evening and store in the fridge. Then on Thursday night after my course i will bake the sponge and once cool il ice it and decorate it. Does this sound ok? will the buttercream, fondant and gumpaste still be really fresh? I really want to leave the sponge till the last minute as the client wants the cake for friday and saturday.

gumpaste lettering can be cut out and be completely dried before putting it on the board.

Don't refrigerate the fondant, it will be too cold and hard to work with. carefully wrapped it will the fresh for a long time.

Buttercream, refrigerated will still be fresh for several days. some recipes are a bit more fragile, but yours has a long life, kept cold. However, you will want to warm it to room temp in order to be able to spread it on sponge.

I know you want to wait as long as possible to bake it, but I would bake that cake on Wed, then decorate on Thur night. Once it is baked and cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap. It will still be fresh and you'll be less stressed about it.

Make sure you wrap your fondant in Saran wrap a few times, then put it in a ziplock freezer bag to ensure it stays soft. Just leave it on the counter (out of sun light) and don't put it in the fridge or it will be hard...HTH!

I would bake tuesday or no later than wednesday, only if you have enough time to be sure the cake will be completely cool before you fill it. Once you fill and crumb coat it should rest a few hours (or ideally overnight) before you cover it in fondant and decorate it Thursday night.

Thanks a lot! i'll not be putting my fondant in the fridge then!! do you think i'd be ok to bake the sponge on wednesday night then - it will still be fresh on saturday? il wrap it in cling film and then crumb coat and ice it on thursday - much easier for timing!

Yes, if you bake on wed it will still be fresh for sat or sun.