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Humidity hell.

post #1 of 9
6/4/12 at 7:38am
Thread Starter 
I actually live in Bali, Indonesia at the moment. Temperatures here are 80 t0 90 F minimum all year around and humidity is always extremely high. I make quite a few cakes for the expatriates here as a hobby.

I try to minimise use of fondant but I have a football cake to make this week and can't think of anything else to use to cover the cake as obviously buttercream won't give the smooth leather look and not sure how the marshmallow fondant will come out.

Please, you other ladies who try to decorate in these horrible hot climates, any ideas on how to cover a cake in a red, leather look icing?? Am I best to make and refrigerate in a box etc.. but then concerns for how it will hold up at the childs party...

Any advice appreciated
Thanks in advance.
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post #2 of 9
6/4/12 at 8:34am
I live in south Mississippi and I have the same problem. I have better luck with crusting buttercream. I think it holds up better in the heat. I made a basketball cake and got a pretty good texture on it by letting it crust and impressing it. I use Indydebis Crisco-Based Buttercream Icing recipe that I got from this website.
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post #3 of 9
6/4/12 at 8:45am
Hi,

I live in a country with similar climate as yours. I never use buttercream under my fondant, only use ganache exclusively for any fondant cakes.

Another tip on doing fondant cakes in such climate is, to NEVER ever refrigerate it AFTER you cover it with fondant, and make sure your cake is not cold when you cover it with fondant (if you had refrigerated it prior, leave it out in room temp for an hour or two). The condensation WILL NOT ever DRY, no matter how long you leave the cake out, even under constant full blown fan trying to dry it for hours, it just doesn't dry, due to the high humidity. Ask me how I learned all these LOL.
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post #4 of 9
6/4/12 at 2:33pm
I have done a football using buttercream. I got the roughed look by going over the buttercream with a textured paper towel.
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post #5 of 9
6/4/12 at 2:43pm
Oh yes, use a crusting b'cream and after it dries, texture it w/a rough paper towel.....comes out *exactly* like a football 'pigskin' icon_smile.gif
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post #6 of 9
6/4/12 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclaren

Hi,

I live in a country with similar climate as yours. I never use buttercream under my fondant, only use ganache exclusively for any fondant cakes.

Another tip on doing fondant cakes in such climate is, to NEVER ever refrigerate it AFTER you cover it with fondant, and make sure your cake is not cold when you cover it with fondant (if you had refrigerated it prior, leave it out in room temp for an hour or two). The condensation WILL NOT ever DRY, no matter how long you leave the cake out, even under constant full blown fan trying to dry it for hours, it just doesn't dry, due to the high humidity. Ask me how I learned all these LOL.



Well said. I live in the caribbean on the Island of Antigua aka. SUN,Sea and Sand. and i learned my lesson well enough to tell you stay far away from using meringue or any butter based frosting under fondant. The two ways to go is either use Ganache or Toba Garett's Sparkling method.
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post #7 of 9
6/4/12 at 6:19pm
What about covering in modeling chocolate. I have never covered a whole cake with it but have heard other have. Also, what about rolled buttercream? Would that hold up well? I have used it to cover cakes but do not live in similar conditions to you. Just some thoughts. icon_smile.gif
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post #8 of 9
6/5/12 at 12:59am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the replies.

To date, I have never refrigerated a fondant covered cake but had read many on here saying they did. Seems as though it is not suitable for our climate so will not do this. So far I lock fondant away in an air conditioned room with a fan as well and hope for the best once it is moved to the party location.

I will try with the firm buttercream and paper towel and see how it turns out.

I have no idea what rolled buttercream is.. I will look this one up.

Thanks again.
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post #9 of 9
1/2/13 at 2:54am

I live in a very similar climate (Brisbane Queensland) and will only use chocolate ganache under the fondant. I have never had success with buttercream, in particular while transporting. Unlike others, we can not get Crisco here, and there is not a viable substitute so a lot of the crusting recipes cannot be applied. I've yet to find a viable recipe for this climate that does not use Crisco. icon_sad.gif

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