I have recently moved back to Florida from Germany and am having a hard time grasping the concept of warm weather decorating especially with fondant, ganache and SMBC.  I like to use ganache under my fondant, but am wondering if it needs to be put in the fridge or if it can be left out at room temp.  I have never had to refridgerate my cakes before because I used a high ratio shortening based buttercream due to the fact that we had a mini euro fridge, but I would much rather use SMBC, ganache and fondant.  I usually finish decorating my cakes the day prior to an event, so the cakes are out for 24 hours.  I would really appreciate advice and experience related to these mediums.  Also, can I put fondant decorated cake in the fridge?  Thanks!

Hi there,

I'm from Australia and also live in a hot and very humid area.  You will likely need to alter your ganache recipe to have less cream to chocolate so that it can set at room tempurature, and you'll have to experiment with that.  I use a different recipe from summer to winter.

When its really hot and humid in summer I knead my fondant with modelling paste powder (gum paste powder), which helps to strengthen the fondant so it doesn't sweat or melt.

For buttercream I find it is better to use a shortening based recipe rather than butter as it stays firmer at hot tempuratires (I use a mix of 3:1 for flavour).

Some brands of fondant are ok in the fridge, I don't ever like putting fondant decorated cakes in the fridge though.