Hi Everyone, I know this may sound crazy but I've been asked many times if cakes covered in fondant can be preserved forever without it disintegrating over time when left uneaten.  Is this even possible?  If so, what do I need to use to keep it preserved?  Thank you all for your helpful ideas.

yes they are called c-a-m-e-r-a-s

but seriously if the cake is made in the first place to be preserved it could have a longer shelf life

and could last years but not forever

a cake full of whipping cream and fruit would not last till next week out of the frige

i have had dummy cakes last for several years

fruit cake and pound cake i think would last the best

but yeah this stuff is not time capsule material

LOL!  ..Thanks for the advice K8memphis .. and the chuckle!
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/royal-wedding-cake-slice_n_187715.html

Ha Ha Auzzi!  .. I Love it! .. thanks for the post
 

I often get asked to re-make 3D cakes as keepsakes (and I ask the same I asked for the eatable cake!) I use styrofoam and oven bake clay as it behaves the same as modeling choc, any parts that can't go in the oven to cure get GP (covering the foam, the board, filling joins....)

These would last years and years- direct sun would fade the colours and damp would damage the GP but I guess that's all!

Why on earth would they want to keep a cake forever, they would be better off with a foam dummy under the icing.  Decorations made from gumpaste are fairly long lasting.  Their biggest problem is with fading.  MY sister kept the mice bridal party on toadstools, surrounded by flowers that I placed on the top of her garden wedding cake for 15 years.  She only threw them out in the end because they had got too dusty.
 

That's a great idea, Crazy-Gray.  I'll be sure to mention that to customers in the future.  Thanks for the helpful advice!
 

The top tier of my parents fruitcake was covered in marzipan and royal icing and managed to sit uncut and didn't fall apart in the china cabinet for about 35 years. 

I have made pastillage ornaments (gelatin, sugar, glucose, water) that lasted about 10 years in a closed glass fronted cabinet.  They finally fell apart when they absorbed a critical amount of humidity.

So gumpaste well dried should last "a lifetime" if it's kept in one of those glass display enclosures, with dessicating cartridges regularly renewed underneath.

Somebody better get on this...wedding cake preservation business.

My wedding cake was so good it pisses me off every time I think of the two bites I took. If I new then what I know now, I would have devoured as much as I could right in front of my guests. 

Thank you Baking Irene and tdovewings for your helpful replies.
 

I'll tell you one way not to preserve a real cake.  I made a jack-o-lantern cake for a party of a friend of mine a couple of years ago.  She said"ooo it's too cute to eat" and she wouldn't let me cut it.  She told me later that she spray shellaced it and put it in the freezer, When she brought it out and it thawed, it was moldy.  I was just a little PO ed because it was a yummy cake and it was made to be EATEN.  To me part of the attraction of baking and decorating a cake is that it is a fleeting beauty, that comes and then is no longer.

Yes, I agree as well.  Thank you Dynee.