I like to bake the cake a day or two ahead of time. After the cake has cooled, I double wrap in waxed paper. Followed by a double wrapping in tin foil. Just be careful not to smash your cake.
Place wrapped cake layers on a baking tray, then freeze. You can stack the cake layers later, but for now we want them to freeze level. Since cake can get freezer burn quickly, I don't recommend keeping them in the freezer, like this, for more than a few days.
Once you are ready to frost, you will start with a light coating, called a crumb coat. The purpose of the crumb coat is to lock in any cake crumbs that may get into your frosting. Since the cake is frozen, frosting is easier. I don't have to worry about the cake cracking. (I will do a full post on crumb coating soon.)
The crumb coating is followed by a second layer of frosting. Then piping is used to finish the edges. I decorate simply, but clean. I feel with these simple techniques anyone can put out a professional looking cake.