Advice needed please on baking daughter's birthday cake - how far in advance?

[slackcabbage]

Sorry - these are very basic questions- and only a day in it really ...but ... would appreciate advice from experienced bakers please.

Have to have my daughter's birthday cake ready by 4pmish this Wed afternoon. Fairly large - victoria sponge type - split with jam and covered in butter icing. (Rather complicated shape/decoration too!)

Is it OK to make the cake on Monday and ice on Tuesday?

Or would it be better to make the cake on Tuesday and ice on Wed morning (day of party)? It will probably need two layers of buttercream on top (one crumb layer plus one more smoother layer).

If I make it on Monday will it be stale/will icing go off by Wed afternoon?

Will making a large quantity of buttercream on the morning of the party totally destroy my kitchen? Or can buttercream be made in advance?

Any tips/help gratefully received! I'm a fairly experienced cook, I just haven't made a huge cake of this type before!

One last question: what would be the timings if I decided to put real whipped cream/fruit in middle? (Not sure that would go with butter cream icing on cake exterior though!)

Thank you!

Well done, would love to see a pic too

Thanks again for all of your help everyone! Really very much appreciated!!

Party went really went! Feeling somewhat jaded today it has to be said... .

Will upload pic as soon as poss. Unfortunately, owing to the fact that dh had disappeared to the office at that point, I was busy manoeuvring cake upstairs from cool cellar, lighting candles, herding girls in to area, leading singing of "Happy Birthday" etc etc, so I didn't get time to take a picture of it whole (stupidly!!) and forgot to do so yesterday morning because of extreme rush. Even more stupidly, missed picture of dd blowing out candles because my camera still had it's lens cap on (yes I was that brain-dead by that point in the proceedings). But have picture of half-eaten cake to upload once I can work out how!!
It's not my best/most sophisticated effort but was "good enough" hopefully.

Ironically, one of the 11-yr-old guests arrived with her Ipad and proceeded to film everything (is this usual nowadays??) and so she has better documentary evidence of the whole cake cutting thing than I do! Had better ask for a copy!

Ok - photo finally uploaded! I'm not sure it was worth the wait ... .

Not my best presentation wise but it tasted good!! And of course the tail has been lopped ...

Downloaded the pattern from here and cut it out from two 9-inch cakes (used Nigella's standard birthday cake recipe). The shape was very good if not the icing.

Ran out of time and so my cleaning lady + me + my cleaning lady's husband (who is a plasterer by trade) were just throwing the buttercream on at the end!!

Sorry - meant to say - photo uploaded on my newly created profile!

And THANK YOU again for all of the advice and help which was MUCH appreciated!

Looks like a great cake, well done you!

Thanks Newname and for all of your encouragement when I was flagging! Still haven't got to the bottom of the black mark mystery - food processor quite new - no idea what beater is made of. Don't think it's steel though.

Your welcome, I was happy to help.

What make of food processor is it?

It's a Kenwood Prosper Newname

It's really good for chopping and baking-type activities. Never experienced the black mark phenomenon before last week!