Cake Status

So today I had many plans and a to-do list of what to accomplish today in order to make my deadline with this cake. I didn't exactly do what I wanted to, but I did do some things I thought I'd have to do Friday which I won't so it will all pan out ... I hope.
So I was able to get my list all ready of what cakes were for what layers and what fillings went with which cake. I know this must sound very confusing, but I am trying to satisfy any one's desire for this very special and memorable cake. So the first cake (a 12 x 18 rectangle) will be white cake with a chocolate buttercream filling covered in black MM (marshmallow) fondant. [As a side note I thought we'd have to buy fondant which isn't very tasty, but I found several recipes for MM fondant and Stephen and I decided to try it - and it worked!] On the sides it will have gold diamonds either painted on or cut our and adhered, with little white dots on all 4 corners of the diamonds. The second cake will also be a rectangle (~9 x 11) offset from one end and laying across the 12" side of first rectangle (I sure do hope I'm explaining this well/correctly). This cake will be chocolate cake with a strawberry buttercream filling and be covered with a gold/white/black modeled fondant. The last layer will be a 10" round sitting on 4" pillars and will be yellow cake with a strawberry buttercream filling (for those who are allergic to the chocolate) and covered with black fondant with a gold stencil on top. Each cake is 2" and I will be doing 2 of each shape so the end result will be ~4" cake layers. Then I'll be putting on the finishing decorative touches and viola ... a beautiful finished cake.
My biggest concern - making the gold look like gold. Stephen did some tests with a bit of the fondant today and the first attempt looked way too orange to me. The second was better, but when I think gold I see gold jewelry. We'll see how close I can get to that. The next concern was I didn't want to make the cakes and have them sit out too long before the actual event (for fear of food poisoning or dry cakes or fondant slipping off into oblivion.) So I did not make the cakes today like I initially planned. I put them off until tomorrow. So first thing on the agenda tomorrow ... bake cakes ... and more ... and more. (I bought 10 cake mixes - which were thankfully B1G1F since I waited till after Publix sale week changed. I sure am glad I waited!) My other concern was making black. Since there are some people who are allergic to chocolate, I can't put chocolate on "their" cake. However, to make black the easiest you start with chocolate fondant and then add black to get your color. We decided to do a test with the plain fondant and it worked perfectly. Little black tint - nicely colored black ball of MM fondant.
Stephen made all the batches of fondant tonight. The first batch we did yesterday was perfect. Today we used a different brand of marshmallow and they sure were soupy and sticky. When we went to the 3rd batch (the black one) we thought it would be best to wear gloves since black tint has a tendency to tint your hands too. Boy was that a mistake. At first it was so liquidy it almost all fell onto the floor when it began oozing. Then after he had his hands (in gloves) covered in the sticky goo we decided to try and put it back into the bowl as we added more confectioner sugar to thicken it up. We lost some of the fondant, but I think we'll have plenty.
Well, I am very tired and a bit under the weather so I need to get my rest so I have plenty of energy to bake the day away tomorrow.