I am making a special cake for a friends mother. The issue is she lives in Virginia- and we are in New York... so my friend is picking up the cake on Wednesday, driving to Virginia, and serving the cake on Saturday!! Obviously I will need to start this cake on Sunday in order for it to be done Tuesday night!
It is an open bible cake with edible images of their family on it, so I will be covering in fondant which will help keep moisture inside of it, but my questions are....

What would be the best type of cake/fillings to keep the cake moist? (can I freeze cake with the filling in it - and would that even help?)
Would buttercream or ganache work better under fondant long term-?
Also- I've never worked with edible images before...is it possible that they might melt if they're on for so long? Should I put them on a piece of dried gumpaste rather then on fondant?

I appreciate any suggestions!

I can't help with everything but I have worked with edible images. I know that yes the images can "dissolve", for lack of a better term, because of the oils/moisture in fondant.

Sorry couldn't be of more help but that is all the advice I can offer from experience.

okay, maybe would be best to have the images in a container then so she can put them on the cake on Saturday- thanks!

so how do you handle them? I have just bought a printer, and edible ink and paper from icing sheets for this cake...I haven't opened anything yet--- so I don't know the texture of the paper, but how do you normally attach to your cakes? And do you wait until you are on site?

If it's going to be too much hassle, I'll just use real images attached to a piece of fondant or gumpaste...as I don't want the effect to be ruined.

They are easy to handle... but as the sit out they will dry out which makes them extremely fragile. The 1st time I used them I attached mine straight to buttercream but it was within an hour of the party. But if it would have sat on there for awhile then paper would of adsorbed the oils and started to break down. The last cake I applied it directly to fondant but once again it was a few hours before serving so I did not have any issues with it. I would be worried about them sitting on the cake for a few days. But I am not an expert on them so you might take to the person from EdibleImages that post on here all the time.

To store EI's they need to be kept flat in the mylar envelope they come in. I have mounted many (commercial ones) on fondant plaques, which were made ahead and allowed to dry some before the EI was applied.

[quote="kakeladi" I have mounted many (commercial ones) on fondant plaques, which were made ahead and allowed to dry some before the EI was applied.[/quote]

This is kind of what I was thinking of doing, I might try that- thanks!

If you are applying your image to a fondant base, there is no risk it dissolves: I have decorated tons of cakes this way and never had the issue. But yes it will crack if not stored properly before use.
It would be too bad to use a real photo vs an edible one if you have the printer!
For the filling I would advise buttercream rather than ganache, I wouldn´t like ganache to sit too long without any kind of refrigeration.