I will be making a fondant covered cake for a birthday. Can anyone advise me how long a cake will remain fresh once its covered with BC and fondant? I've got some time constraints, I need to make the cake several days in advance but am concerned with how long it will remain fresh. thanks for your help

No problem. It should stay fresh at room temp for 3-5 days.... maybe even longer.

I do not trust cake past day 5 (when I am eating it myself). If it were going to be sold/served to anyone outside of my immediate family, I would not let it sit more than 2 days after baking and decorating. The quality of some cakes degrade much more quickly than others.

Upon reading this thread, I got up and went out to my kitchen, where I had the top tier of my birthday cake still on the counter. I baked, iced, fondant'd and decorated it last Wednesday. Cut me (and daughter) a piece and oh my god it tastes like I baked it today!

So depending on your recipe and baking skill, it should be good for quite some time!!!

I fail to see how baking skill affects the freshness of a cake.

I was thinking if a cake is overbaked, then it tends to come out of the oven a bit drier and won't taste as "fresh" as a properly baked moist cake. Or if the baker hasn't discovered baking strips, flower nails, or heating cores, then the sides might be drier than the middle of the cake, which folks may mistake for a non-fresh cake.

It may not affect how 'fresh' the cake is, but may affect how fresh-tasting the cake is.

I didn't mean it as an insult to anyone, so if it came across that way, I am SO very sorry.

I don't think it sounded insulting; I just didn't understand how one's baking skills affected the freshness of a cake. Thx for explaining your thought.