Making cakes today for Sunday- how to store them for optimal freshness?

I wanted to thank you all again and let you know that I froze one strawberry cake, left one tightly wrapped in my cold basement and did the same (wrapped, basement) with the chocolate. The chocolate (no butter) saved perfectly. The frozen strawberry thawed as if I'd just baked it. The room temp strawberry was just starting to dry a bit, which i attribute to it being butter-based more than anything. So I think in the future I will go with the freezer option, specifically for butter-based cakes, but all this is great to know and to have tried. Thanks!

Now that should be on a T-shirt!!

Em, your cakes are best off either in the freezer, as Chef June suggests, or at room temperature. Quite honestly, even given humid and hot weather, for the amount of time that will pass between baking and icing, they'll be fine at room temp. Any longer than that, and you run the risk that they will mold. It goes without saying that they should be double-wrapped in plastic. A cake should not go into the refrigerator until you've iced it. By brushing it with simple syrup and enrobing it in icing, you are effectively protecting it from the natural staling effect of refrigeration. At temperatures below 40 degrees, and I trust that your refrigerator is below 40 degrees, starch molecules begin to break down, and your cake layers will stale faster under refrigeration than at room temp. Have a wonderful party!

I have stored cake wrapped well and in an air tight cake carrier in the refrigerator very successfully for 2 days. But I agree, for optimal freshness freezing is probably the best way to ensure freshness.

ok! great, y'all!

You can even thaw them Sun morning. They will thaw quickly

They'll be "fresher" if you freeze them, then thaw thoroughly before frosting. If it's as hot and muggy where you are as it is here in New York, that's what I'd advise. In cooler weather, I'd say frost them tomorrow and store in a cool place until Sunday. But there is no "cool" here.