im a hobby baker, make cakes for friends and family. Anyway, im in a bit of a bind...

a few months ago, i promised id make a cake for a friend for her daughter, due the 17th, then another friend is having her 21st that night, so im doing her cake as well, for 50 people no less.. it will be the biggest cake ive done so far. this was all fine for me until last night....

mum calls me and says we are having a going away party for my sister who is going overseas for 2 years and for my omas birthday... id already said id do the cake a while ago, and then she tells me the date.. 18th july

im scared. lol. the 21st is the night of the 17th, so otherwise i could have done the other two cakes that night, but i wont be getting home until around 11, and its a dinner, so i cant even leave early.

so, my question is, how far in advance can i decorate a cake? i plan on baking (WASC cakes) and freezing ahead fo time, so thats no drama.. but its the decrating im scared of. the daughter cake, is simple, so that ok, but my friends 21st will be a 3 tier pillow cake.. and ive never attempted a pillow cake before.. my sisters is a double decker bus (shes going to england on her travels.. mum and i thought that would be cute) and my omas will be the knitting basket cake on cakejournal.

so for me.. thats a hell of alot of work.

sorry for my huge rambling story.. i have a habit of doing that.. but any tips would be very very very much appreciated! im panicking...plus its rather difficult decorating one cake with an 18 month old at your feet let alone 4!

I JUST went thru this last month...and what I did was to just stagger the cakes...basically got the baking done the week before and then put the cakes into the freezer well wrapped and then when it came time to decorate I went in order of need. For me it was a bon voyage cake, a birthday cake and an anniversary cake, in that order and one day apart each (Friday Saturday and Sunday). So the first cake, due Friday, got decorated on Wednesday, the second cake, due Saturday, on Thursday, and the third cake, due Sunday, on Friday. So they were all done before the first party. Now these were all friends and family so not only was I making the cakes I was attending the parties! It was a whirlwind weekend but it all got done somehow! Good luck!

Cat

wow you are going to be busy!! I have decorated cakes up to 1 day in advance. For example, decorate Thursday for a cake due Saturday.

At any rate...GOOD LUCK!

thanks heaps guys. that one day really makes all the difference hey.. lol.so im thinking the daughter cake and pillow cake can get done friday, crumb coat them Thursday night.., then crumb coat knitting basket and bus friday and decorate saturday day, and when i get home from the party.. ill just be living off caffeine from Thursday through till sunday i think.. hahaha, maybe pack my son off to his omas for an afternoon somewhere as well.. hmmmm. its all going to come down to scheduling think.

I just did this last week. had one due on Wen. no problem. got it done- sorta- FIL went to the hosp monday - I got home at 11pm. baked a cake, Tuesday, I was gone ALL day with dentists and shopping in a large town nearby. got home at 8, cooked the other cake and crumb coated. got up the next morning, did cake and delivered at noon.

After that I started baking, had 2 due already, and another order came in on wend. PLUS, my own daughters party. I think I baked 15 cakes and made 8 things of fondant, and went through over 25lbs of buttercream)

managed to crumb coat them on thursday, not much else since my dad came in from out of town, got fondant all made and such, then set to work at 10pm. closed the dishwasher at 6:30 am and delivered them at 11 (friday).

My daughters cake I worked on when I got home, and then finished up with her the next morning before her party.

They are the 'castons summer' (wend) cake, the sun cake, welcome baby shower cake, and princess round cake (due friday but two wernt used until Saturday) in my pictures- the cake in my avatar was daughters cake which was for a Saturday party.

I did pull an all nighter, and got very little sleep, but the $ was worth it.

ALTHOUGH, when I met one of the lady's at her husbands work and exchanged the cake for the money I got in and my son said "wow, thats the quickest 80.00 I've ever seen anyone make".... Yes- he lived, but wisely asked his brother to change seats with him for the rest of the ride...

It will be doable, but you wont get much sleep.

Just crumbcoat as soon as you can, get it over with. and dont forget to let them thaw before you decorate if you freeze them. have all your icings/fondants/ gumpaste stuff made up in advance. dont leave anything till the last minute.

I changed my mind at 4:30 on the sun cake, decided to cover in fondant (which I had to make and color) . and had to rewrap the babyshower cake 3 times. Not to mention, the blocks were NOT done ahead of time. Had all that been done, I'd have been done in mere hours instead of all night long!

Funny enough, I didnt have a cake order ALL this week, and next week is bare too..... LOL But the week after that I already have 2 orders.

If your making mmf, fondant or gumpaste make and color them at least 8 days in advance Double wrap in plastic, put in ziplock bag remove as much air from bag; they need to rest over night. Make your decorations that need to dry hard, place on parchment paper covered cake board, store in a cake box (no window) You can make all your fondant decorations on the 13h put on paper covered board and wrap in plastic real good and tight and place in cake box

Make your bc ahead of time (around the 14th) and place in a airtight container. If your making the same flavor icing for all the cakes, you might want to invest in one of those large deep airtight plastic bins (rubbermaid, sterlite).

Fill and crumbcoat cakes due on the 17th on the 15th let rest overnight wrapped in plastic or at least 3 hours with some weight on top (textbook). Ice and decorate on the 15th or 16th.

Fill and crumbcoat cakes due on 18th on the 16th, let rest (same steps as above) Ice and decorate on the 16th or 17th.

Forgot to mention that I woulld spend two days baking; one day for the cakes due the 17th and the other for the cakes due on the 18th I would bake them around the 8th and 9th.

I would take the cakes due on the 17th out to thaw on the counter on the night of the 14th; and the cakes due the 18th I'd take out on the night of the 15th.

This happened to me last year for two weddings. I double booked myself and didn't realize it till I had accepted the deposits. I had a bride who wanted centerpiece cakes plus bride cake a total of 12 cakes and another bride with a cake that served 150. I didn't sleep for three days literally. But I just set my mind to production line mode. There was both round and square cakes needed for the centerpiece cakes. To add to my problems, I decided to bake sheet cakes and cut the squares from there, bad move, I spent so much time cutting and fixing that I was so behind come Friday night. Both orders were due on Saturday. Once I had all the cakes coated it became easier, I just started going down the line covering all the rounds then the squares adding the decorations in a line as well. I was so backed up I had to wake up my son to help me at 2 am, he was such a sport and did a great job. He really is the one that finished the centerpiece cake decorations cause I had to move on to the second order. I was leaving the first delivery as the bride was coming in. Then had to go back to finish the second cake and deliver it. I slept for two days....hahahahah I will never do that to myself again. I feel for you, but just think production line do in steps one at a time....