Do you bake and/or ice the birthday cake the day before or on day of party?

[Beach Mama]

Forgot to mention, I make the cake the night before but I ice it in the morning.

[LoveKnowsNoBounds]

Thanks for your replies ladies I'm thinking of using butter cream icing. There is a recipe on the Wilton website that gets a rave review, though it uses vegetable shortening (Copha). I'm very scared about icing on the day of the party but I think it will get the best result. Will have to get up very early! I will have to bake the cake the night before. Not very confident with icing cakes but I'll give it a go!

Tan - I know, can't believe they are 4! This last year went by especially quickly. A tinkerbelle cake sounds lovely - how are you doing that?