i've always been under the impression that a fondant iced cake will hold up better in the heat than a buttercream iced cake. I think there must be a place in the city that is telling brides the opposite, recently i've had a couple brides bring it up. it doesn't seem logical to me that BC is better in the heat, but am i wrong? a bride with an out door wedding (in late june of all things) wants gumpaste hydrangeas all over her cake. i told her that i was afraid the heat would make BC soft, and the weight of the hydrangeas would cause them to start to slide down. i suggested a fondant icing instead to hold them up better. what are your opinions?

It just seems like common sense that fondant would do better in the heat.

wonder why they are telling them that?...maybe they don't do fondant?

theres a big bakery here that doesn't do fondant and tells even on their website that the climate here isn't good for fondant....i thought it was odd for them to say that, other people do it here.

MMF doesn't hold up as well in the heat, just be advised of that! It gets soft and slides!

Good topic!!!

I live in the "deep" South (5 mins from Gulf Shores, AL) and buttercream will only hold up for outdoor weddings if the high ratio shortening is used (Sweetex for example) - from my experience! Buttercream icing made with butter will start seeping.
Fondant is the way to go for heat/humidity in my opinion.

I also live in Southern alabama, just the bottom east corner and I use shortening based BC in the summer and fondant.... I omit butter in the heated and humid months because of the slide factor and I learned my lesson last year w/ MMF, so I only use Satin Ice or Chocopan now..... HTH.

i really do think they are talking about imbc. i have a friend , that is all she uses. i have heard her say at our cake meetings, that is why she uses it. it holds up better than regular buttercream with the shortening, butter, and 10x sugar. maybe someone that uses the imbc with chime in on this. you know, you cook the sugar and water to a certain temp., then pour it thru your beaten egg whites, beat for so long, then add your butter.. anyway i do think this is what they are talking about.

I am in Orlando and rolled buttercream does not hold up well, it slides. Anything with butter tends to slide here so only fondant and shortening based buttercream holds up.

I live in the Caribbean so I know about heat and humidity. I personally do not care for shortening in BC so I don't use it all. I use IMBC. I would store the cake in the fridge for as long as possible and never put the cake in direct sunlight. I have not had IMBC slide on me yet.

A lot of the time the cakes I make are IMBC under fondant, I use Satin Ice which does very well in the heat. I store my cakes in the refrigerator, take them out last minute and put them under a strong fan to dry up any condensation. The cake may sweat again if it goes from AC environment to outside, but generally not a problem with Satin Ice. Found MMF to be the worst, it will sweat and go slimy in the humidity.

I use SMBC and I have never had a problem in the heat either.. it has held up great in temps reaching the mid 80's. I make my own fondant and it does fin in the heat too. It's not MMF.. I use Michele Foster's recipe. I bet they don't use fondant and what to steer people away from it. What a crock of bull. BC under fondant will do fine unless it's 90+ degrees and humid.. then nothing will be happy.. it'd not going to fall apart in front of your eyes, but it'll get soft.. and make sure it's not in the direct sun. I'd have to say.. any hotter than 80 degrees and I wouldn't torture my guests and make them be outside.. but that's just me. I hate the high heat.

Butter starts to melt (liquid) at around 90deg. It gets real soft in he low 80s. Tell the bride this. Let her know the product from the other place MIGHT not have a lot of butter in it. Let her make an informed choice. If the competition has a good amount of butter in it it will slide.

Mike

oh boy.. I have a cake to do this August in Maine and I can almost guarantee that it will be hot and humid .. Satin Ice or Sweetex seems like the way for me to do this.. it could hit 80* or higher that time of year at the beach.. I usually do all buttercream , I haven't master fondant yet...

Wendy

What is IMBC and MMF

IMBC = Italian Meringue Butter Cream. Very silky and smooth butter cream which is not as sweet as American BC.

MMF = Marshmallow Fondant. Fondant which you can make yourself using melted marshmallows and powdered sugar.

You will find recipes for both in the recipe section on the site.

Could I prepare and ice the cakes the night before with these two types of creams and put them in the refrigerator? I will have two big cakes the same day one is 6 cakes and the other one 7...so I am planning to finish one set the night before.. and work on the second one the actual day..

Please help.

you know .... I don't use fondant on my cakes, but even I know that it's the preferred material for an outdoor reason for the non-melting factor!

I'm with the other posters ..... sounds like a bakery that doesn't do fondant and is just telling the poor bride this. This should be a story on that "stupid stories other vendors tell brides" thread!

I'm fortunate that my BC has never melted outside, so it's never been an issue with me.

I only do fondant cakes... reason??? I live in FL. Super hot, super humid, and bugs. Nothing looks grosser than bugs stuck to melting BC!