I use the Duncan Hines Pound Cake for my cakes. How far in advance can I bake the cake and freeze? How do you wrap them for freezing? I use the Wilton Buttercream Icing. How early can I mix the ingredients for the icing? How many days before the cake is due do I take out of freezer and what would my next step be?

On a different note. Someone has asked me to make a cake using fondant. I hate fondant? It's gross. Can I attach fondant to buttercream icing and what do I use to attach?

I'm pretty new at this too, but will glady share what I've learned so far:

I've frozen cakes (not iced) for three weeks and they were still fresh and lovely when I took them out to use. I wrapped them really well in plastic wrap and then put them in nice heavy freezer bags before I put them in the freezer.

I took the cakes out of the freezer the morning I was going to use them and let them almost completely thaw. I was carving them, so wanted them to be a bit more firm. If you don't have to carve them, I'd probably let them thaw all the way so the moisture doesn't mess with your frosting. The "next step" would kind of depend on what you're doing with the cake, I guess.

As for fondant, marshmallow fondant is really easy to make, inexpensive and tastes pretty good - might be worth a try. And you need buttercream under the fondant so that the fondant has something to stick to.

Hope that help. I'm sure you'll get lots of good tips from the more experienced members. Good luck!

When I freeze a cake, I wrap it in plastic wrap while it's still warm, then wrap in foil over the plastic wrap. I'm sure freezer bags will work as well as the foil, but I never remember to get them

You can make the icing ahead of time and store it in the fridge, but you may have to beat it again to get the right consistency. I used to use Wilton's buttercream recipe but I've switched now to this one: http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-6992-Indydebis-Crisco-Based-Buttercream-Icing.html It tastes so good, holds up well in heat, and you can make it a few days in advance without having to put it in the fridge. It crusts better than the Wilton recipe, at least here where it is humid...I never knew what they meant in the Wilton recipe about crusting because mine never did that, but with Indydebi's recipe you can really tell a difference.

To stick fondant to buttercream put it on before the buttercream crusts. Heavy pieces may still slide down the cake. If you hate fondant, you haven't tried the right one yet. I use marshmallow fondant all the time and it's wonderful. I flavor it to go with the cake and everyone eats it like candy.