My husbands boss has asked me to make a cake for his girlfriends birthday. It will be covered in fondant with gumpaste accents. He wants to pick it up a "few days" ahead of time.
I have not answered him yet, because I am just not sure, then I thought I know I will ask my fellow CC'rs, they should know. So, anyone have any hard fast timeline rules they follow for freshness?

The earliest I would allow a "pick-up" is a day or maybe 2, before the event.

So if someone wanted to pick-up 3 days before an event, I'd just explain to them that the cake will have been baked 4 to 5 days prior to them eating it and that I can not guarantee that it will taste fresh.

Of course there are a lot of factors to consider.....recipes, ingredients, method of baking used just to name a few.

If you're not comfortable with that time frame, just be honest with him. It's your reputation on the line, so you have the right to refuse the order....I would.

Thank you......very good answer and good advise! You are right, taking into consideration that the cake is being baked ahead of the time he picks it up.

I think a scratch cake under fondant keeps really well.

I'd do it, as long as there were no perishable fillings or anything that could deteriorate over time, so basically a good scratch cake with buttercream filling and covered in fondant.