Hey guys,

I always work with Italian buttercream and when I make a buttercream covered cake, I always crumbcoat and then final coat with my Italian Buttercream.

HOWEVER, recently I have been playing around with fondant. (I have tried many fondants and it seems that the ones that taste horrible, actually harden up and hold their shape much better than the tastier options (fondarific, choco-pan, etc). I choose taste over anything, so I have been using fondarific. Since Fondarific doesn't ever harden up unless it it put in the fridge, it starts to sag, bubble, bloat and bump as I decorate and it heats up.

Now, I was thinking that this bloating and bubbling may have had a LOT to do with using Italian Buttercream as my crumb coat. Since Italian Buttercream also doesn't harden or stiffen unless refrigerated, then it is not giving my fondant a strong support.

Does anyone that typically uses Italian Buttercream, crumb coat their cakes with American Buttercream?

What are people's experiences with crumb coating fondant covered cakes with Italian Buttercream?

I use Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which is pretty much the same, and have never had a problem. In my opinion, due to the high butter content, onceyou refrigerate it, it's much easier to cover with fondant.

That is what I do, refridgerate it so the IMBC or SMBC hardens up, then take it out and put my fondant on.

I pretty much only use IMBC under fondant. I put the cakes in the fridge until the IMBC is pretty solid. I have all the fondant rolled out before taking the cakes out of the fridge so the IMBC doesn't start to soften. I think its a great base for fondant. HTH!

Yes, I actually do let it sit in the fridge for quite a while to harden up and then put the fondant on with no problem. But after a while of sitting it out to decorate, I start encountering problem (bubbling, bloating, sagging, etc).

The fondant that I use is "Fondarific", and it only seems to harden when it is in the fridge. And YES, it actually does GREAT in the fridge.
But, out of the fridge, and after a while of decorating, it gets weepy like it is almost melting off of the cake.

So no one recommends that I use a different buttercream for my crumb coat?
It could very well be the temperature in my house, its pretty hot this time of year, but for some reason, I cant help but think that the air bubbles forming under the fondant has nothing to do with the room's temperature.

Thanks for all of your responses! This is the first time that I have had someone respond back in time for me to get feedback before having to make the next cake.

I haven't tried Fondarific so I don't know how it behaves but I use Pettinice and I find it pretty forgiving. I never eat fondant and usually suggest that to others but I've seen lots of people happily eat the Pettinice. I would love to try a tastier fondant but I'm always pretty happy with the pettinice so I never want to risk it. I did use chocopan years ago and people loved it but I remember that, too, was a little tricky to work with. Maybe you should save the Fondarific for when it's cooler outside

I love to use SMBC under fondant, except in the hot humid months. When I try to cover a chilled SMBC with fondant in the summer, I have lots of trouble with extreme sweating and blow outs in the fondant. My house is not air conditioned, so that is probably part of the problem. During the spring, fall, and winter it is SMBC under fondant for me.