AHi everyone! I'm brand new here and love to bake and decorate, but I've never done a wedding cake. I'm doing the cake for my sisters boyfriends brothers fiancée (whew!) she wants a light pink and gray ombre ruffle cake, 1 tier only (going to make 4 layers though) she wants white chocolate raspberry cake...so my questions are these:

Is there a really delicious good raspberry filling I should use?

For the white chocolate cake I'm revamping a boxed white cake mix but is there specifically a good mix I should use?

Second of all the wedding is July 26th in Oregon (it's been running 90's - 100's here) and the wedding is outdoors! How do I keep the icing from melting/sweating/weeping? Will it?

And last what's the best way to get gray ombre color? I've heard dyes have green undertones you can see which I really don't want! Would mixing black fondant with white give me the clean gray I'm looking for?

And I'm also baking 160 cupcakes! Half chocolate and half white chocolate with raspberry filling!

I'm also looking for help on how far in advance should I bake the cake? And how should I store it?

Let me just start with the 90 degrees outside issue. I don't think that even a single tiered cake will fare well outside in that kind of heat! It will melt/sweat/weep, and possibly the layers will start to slide off of each other. 

Is there any way it can be kept in a/c or a cooler with cold packs until it's time for cutting?

If so, then as far as filling goes, you could mix raspberry puree into buttercream. That is tasty and easy, and stable. 

I think that black fondant into white is the way to go for a nice grey color. 

I hope this helps!

If your gray has a greenish tint, add a tiny amount of red.  If it has a purplish tint, add a tiny amount of green.  Good luck with the cake!  Summertime is the worst for cake decorating!  

I have done the white chocolate cake by revamping a box recipe turned out ok.

The heat, I just did a wedding cake in Charleston, SC,  humidity in the house about did my icing in, but all turned out well in he end. I actually had to turn down the air conditioner and keep the cake inside. This was my sisters wedding so I was able to be there. When it was time to cut the cake I had them move a table outside and I then carried my cake out there. PLUS I always put glycerin in my icing if its hot to help stabilize it some. ALSO I ended up having to add a little corn starch to my BC icing on this cake because the humidity was so high.

To make grey I have never had any problem with Wilton black, and just using a very small amount at a time until it got the color grey I wanted.

Can't tell you about filling, only did it once, years ago.

I never bake my cakes until a day or two ahead of time, but I know a lot of people who do it weeks in advance, freeze them, pull them out 24/36 hours before decorating.

good luck.

I've done about a thousand wedding cakes , many in the heat and humidity of the Ohio Valley.  We joke that the temp and humidity are the same number, except its not a joke.  Many have gone outside.  I delivered hours before the reception.  I have never delivered a chilled cake.  I didn't do many in fondant;  usually buttercream.  And I never had a slide or a melt.  

Charlotte's Whipped Cream Buttercream.

The recipe's in the Recipe section or Google it.

I guess Oregon and Ohio are very different in the summer than North Carolina. I have seen the buttercream slide right off the side of a cake in our temps and humidity! Also, I use butter in my buttercream, so maybe that is why it is less stable. I wish you luck!