I was just wondering what is the furtherest in advance you've ever made a cake and it was still fine the day of the party? 3 days? 5 days?

I have over scheduled myself and didn't realize it until today for a cake at the end of this week. Is 4 days too long? Cake will be covered in fondant, doctored mix.

Thanks so much
B

I make my cakes 3 days in advance but have done 4 days - Say the party is on the Saturday, I'd bake them on Wednesday and stick them in the fridge all covered. Thursday I'd tort, fill and ganache the outside and cover with fondant and then for the rest of Thursday and Friday I'd be decorating. I don't like to have anything to do on the day of delivery, it's too stressful.

I'm an amateur though, so probably best to wait until someone with more experience answers.

BTW The cake I made 4 days in advance was fine for a week after the party, it was really moist, but then I always put lashings of simple syrup into every cake.

I think most cakes taste best on day 4 or 5...
and most cakes will start to grow mold on them at 2 weeks! (room temp.)

I have done 1 week. It was a project of 10 cakes and I just wouldn't have had time because they had additional different 3D decorations on top of each. They were fondanted for 5 of those days (baked 1 day, ganached 2nd day, fondant on 3rd day). Actually I ended up with a spare one (stoopid client originally said 11) and I cut into it at day 10, it was still fine. I wouldn't have sold it, but I could have eaten it

I made a cake for my husband's promotion this year and we had some ice/snow days. I have forgotten what day I baked it but I believe it was on a Saturday. I decorated it Sunday and Monday. We were supposed to take it to his job on Tuesday and since we had some snow days the cake didn't get eaten until Friday (by my family). Actually it was still getting eaten until Sunday and I threw it away finally Monday. The cake was from scratch and it was covered in buttercream. Everyone that ate it said that it was really good.
So I say that to of course say that I think the cake will be ok.

I think the consensus seems to be 3 days.

I don't know what your schedule is like, but for over 18 years I always baked on Mondays and froze all of the cakes. They were thawed out Thursday overnight and decorated on Friday. If time was short on a Friday, I would even decorate some on Thursday then put them in the fridge until pick-up/delivery on Saturday.

I'd say about 5 days..A larger wedding cake which needed to be crumbcoated and stacked for settling...then decorated.Most of my novelty cakes go out either friday or saturday so many times I have to get started by wednesday to get everything done.

I actually made a cake 3 weeks in advance once - not on purpose, but because the person I was making it for actually "repurposed" the cake - she was having it made as a belated birthday present for a grandnephew, but then found him a gift and decided she wanted the cake as a present for the parents of another grandnephew, a newborn. It's the one in my photos of a bunch of bears playing around on a couple of wrapped presents (not my original design - I give credit in the photo). Fondant is great for sealing in freshness and this was in Mexico City, where the climate is cool and dry, so we decided to risk it. The cake was still fresh and moist and they loved both the look and the taste of it.

Wednesday is my baking day, Thursday I decorate Friday's cakes and Friday I decorate Saturday's cakes. If I overbook (which I often do lately..........) I bake on Tuesday and freeze for a day or whatever. I still don't thaw and decorate til a day before.

i'm a one woman show, and take 6-8 cakes per weekend (most are 2 tiers, carved, or more). i have a legal home kitchen, so i only have the standard one oven as well, so that adds an extra layer of difficulty. oh, and i have two toddlers to raise all day, so there's no way i could get everything done in two, or even three days. so i bake all day on tuesday and freeze overnight. then i fill, stack, trim and crumbcoat all of the cakes on wednesday. from here, they go in the fridge (i have 3 fridges). one at a time, i take them out and put their final coat of BC, wait for them to crust, smooth, and then back in the fridge they go. thursday is the day i start to decorate, make figures, flowers, etc. i stack the cakes that need stacked as well. i also make all of my cakeboards and get them covered. friday i decorate some more and usually pull an allnighter doing so. saturday, i finish up the loose ends, take pictures, and deliver. when i get home, i clean the enormous mess i've made, and hopefully sit for a second or two. sundays are for consultations/tastings and returning all of the eamils i've neglected throughout the end of the week. mondays are for shopping/resupplying/ordering, etc. and making all of the batters/fillings/buttercream/etc. for the week ahead. not a minute off in this crazy business, but i love it!

One time in my grocery store bakery days, the other decorator in our department accidentally made someone's wedding cake a month too early. She didn't want to have to make it again so she boxed it up, wrapped it in shrink wrap and let it sit in the freezer for the month. I'm not sure if it tasted okay, but it looked good and the customers never came in to complain...of course, expectations can be pretty low if you are getting your wedding cake from a grocery chain....Personally, I've had to make and decorate a cake a little over a week in advance, since I was going to be out of town during the scheduled party...the client knew this and had to pick up the cake and keep it in her fridge until her party date, she said it was great and tasted just fine.

Thank you for the replies, I guess I should have clarified a little, my cakes were all baked yesterday and are in the freezer. So that step is done!

The clients party is Friday. She will be picking the cake up Wednesday night. (I will be going out of town on Thursday morning) I just realized that I have a meeting/training class tomorrow evening until 10:30pm. I was going to decorate tomorrow evening (Tuesday) but was wondering if I could get away with starting it this evening and finishing it tomorrow evening. The cake will then go into the fridge until delivery on Wed. evening and the customer will keep it in the fridge until partytime on Friday!

It seems like from others experiences it should be ok! The customer is aware of my timeline and is ok with picking up on Wednesday night and storing it until Friday.

Thank you so much for your replies...puts my mind at ease

oh, yes, you'll be fine! and so will the cake!

thank you thank you

Leily, if I remeber correctly, it was a version of the 1-2-3-4 cake (1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour and 4 eggs, plus a bunch of other stuff), which at the time was my go-to scratch cake. If the cake is wrapped airtight in plastic wrap, it can last in the freezer for months. When I have freezer space (because I am a home baker, too), I make common-sized round and square layers in advance, freeze them and pull them as needed. They're always as moist, tender and good-tasting as the day I made them. I know some people don't like to do this, but I'm all for it!