I will be baking a 6 inch smash cake and approximately 36 cupcakes for a birthday party in just a few days.  When could I reasonably bake them and have them still be fresh?  Ideally I would like to already have them baked in advance somewhat and then just frost them the night before.  I think I'm too close to the day of the party (Sunday) to bake and freeze the cake anyway. The cake and cupcakes are strawberry and the frosting is strawberry buttercream.  

Also, should the cake and cupcakes be refrigerated once frosted?  I am talking about the time after I get them done but before they are taken to their final destination.  

As I start doing cakes as a parttime thing as of last year I have finally figured out my work plot line as there are weekends when Im doing 5 cakes and dozens of cupcakes/cakepops.  I usually spend Monday's baking my cakes for the coming weekend and the next day just making frosting and the following day working on cakepops etc. All my cakes are always completed atleast the night before the pickup date. 

In your case I would:

Thursday: Bake cakes, cool, wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze in the freezer.

Friday: Make frosting and thaw out cake while making it. Frost the cake in the evening.

Saturday: Decorate the cake on Saturday and leave it in the fridge until Sunday for the event.  Chilled cakes are much easier to move around. I would bake and frost cupcakes the day before the event and keep it in a cool space and in a airtight box/cupcake box. Cupcakes dry faster and doesnt take much time to work on so you could easily do that after you're done the main cake. 

Now if you're comfortable you can do Frost/decorate on the same day (Saturday). 

Thanks for responding.  The only problem I am running into and that I can't seem to work around is this--I am using the same cake recipe for both the cake and the cupcakes.  The cake recipe makes one 3 layer 8 inch cake I believe.  The cake is going to be a child's birthday smash cake and the cupcakes are for everyone else.  As a result, I'm going to have to make the recipe twice because I will definitely not have enough batter left over after making the 6 inch round smash cake to cover the amount of cupcakes I need.  

That being said, I will have some left over batter though after making the cake.  While it won't amount to much, I hate to waste it.  I agree with what you said about making the cupcakes the day before too.  

Do you think baking and freezing the cake would make a sturdier cake?  Would it change the taste for the better at all?  I would love to get it done tomorrow but the leftover batter is problematic.  There would be no way the batter could hold over.

If I don't bake the cake until the day before, how would I go about chilling it (if at all)?  I'm just not sure what I will do....though getting it done tomorrow, at least partially, sounds really good right now.  One less thing off my plate and all that.