Help, Please! What Kind Of Timeline Do You Use?
Decorating By BeginnerCaker Updated 19 Jun 2009 , 10:16pm by makaylee
Okay, I am a newbie at all this, have only made one cake before and it turned out pretty good but I was still trying to finish the decorations as the guest were showing up for the party. Soooo, my question is this, if I am making a cake for, say, a Saturday, when do I start the preparations and baking so I'm not in crunch time minutes before the party? Any advice, comments, or help is much appreciated!! Thanks in advance! 
You can bake ahead of time and freeze the cakes. When I have a cake for Sat. if I haven't baked yet I would bake Wed fill and let rest overnight wrapped in plastic with tile on top to level. Thursday crumb coat, ice and cover with fondant and Friday put on decorations. You should make any gumpaste decorations as far in advance as you can so they can dry. HTH
This is what I do, granted I am fairly new at this as well but my teacher gave me this timeline.
If my party is on a Saturday, I want to bake on Thursday and decorate early enough on Friday so that if there is a problem I still have time to cover my butt and redo it.
For larger cakes, you may need to adjust your timeline but for smaller cakes this works really well.
Depends on the difficulty of the cake for me. For something complicated, I will bake, level, and fill the cakes on Wednesday. Then crumbcoat Thursday morning...and start decorations that afternoon/evening. Then finish decorations Friday (this also leaves me plenty of room in case I have a cake disaster. Something similar, bake, level fill Thursday midday...usually crumbcoat that night. Then do all the decorations Friday (and maybe some of Saturday if I dont need it until late or something0. Oh and on these time lines, I keep the cake in the fridge all the time I am not using it.
This week I have 2 cakes, 24 mini cupcakes, a batch of decorated sugar cookies, and cream filled tullies! I have been baking since Teusday (the sugar cookies).
I know some people disagree, but freezing cakes can be your best friend for people who don't do this for a living. However, try it out on your recipe. Drier cakes might need extra help before being frozen. I know some people cover and freeze them while still very warm to keep in flavor and moisture. Also, I use a frosting that is very stable freezing and thawing. I often tort, crumb coat and freeze until I am ready to frost and decorate. I don't even thaw to frost. The frosting just sets up quickly and I use a hot dipped spatula for smoothing. Good luck!
If I make a cake for a Saturday Party, I make the cake on Thursday. Put it in the freezer. On Friday I will frost it and do all the decorations. I do not make cakes for a living. I just make them for friends and family but I still want it to look the best that I can do so I always have it ready the day before., just in case something goes wrong. I do not like to rush making cakes because then I get so stressed and I hate it...
My cakes are usually ready the night before as well. I bake Sundays, freeze, take out and defrost thursdays, fill & Crumbcoat, ice and decorate fridays (for saturday)
I too never decorate the day a cake is due, it is always ready the night before.
Thank you so much for everyones input, this helps me out a great deal! 
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