Hi everyone,
I do cakes for family and friends in France, often covered with rolled fondant or royal icing. I use buttercream to cover cake imperfections before decorating but people here don't really appreciate it, they don't liek the butter feeling on the tongue...
I tried using chocolate guanache instead but it kind of melt the icing and we could see that the cake was not smooth enough.
What can I use instead of buttercream?? A layer of royal icing followed by rolled fondant? too sweet?
Your help will be very much appreciated as I have 3 cakes coming up.

ps: we do not have vegetable shortening here.

The buttercream should be just thick enough to hide the imperfections of the cake surface. You can also try whipped ganache, and spread it like icing.

One other cover is often marzipan, but not everyone likes that either.

Have you tried different types of buttercreams? Italian or Swiss meringue buttercreams have a nice silky texture, still buttery though.

Or if your cake is perfect to start with you could just use some sieved jam or fruit conserves to "glue" the fondant to the cake.

In the UK, before the likes of Debbie Brown and Lindy Smith touted the use of buttercream as an undercoat, we used jam/preserves (usually apricot), warmed up and sieved and then brushed on the cake with a pastry brush. It too fills any little holes and makes the fondant stick like a dream!

maybe italian meringue buttercream? swiss? french?

i myself have not tried these icings, but here only amazing things about the taste. i do know that the main ingredient is butter, but much different than just a normal buttercream frosting.

i would also suggest the WHIPPED ganache. it is much thicker and easy to spread. after you melt the chocolate, chill it in the fridge for several hours, then whip it as you would with cream...use right away, because if you put it back in the fridge it will harden up like a truffle or fudge and spreading it is very difficult at that stage.

if people there are used to fondant, i imagine that the texture of marzipan would be accepted, and again, have not had this myself, but it sounds like it has a pretty nice flavor.

i would not put royal under the fondant because it seems like it would just be too sweet , plus if it hardened, any dents or bumps would harden under the fondant, and show through. i imagine this would also be very difficult to cut through.

i have heard of people using jams to coat the cake underneath the fondant...the one time i tried this, i did not like the results. i could see the ripples where the cake was torted.

good luck!

Thank you so much. I have read the recipes for Italian and Swiss meringues and I realize they take Cream of Tartar, I have no idea where I am going to find this here.
I guess I need to find a website that sells these ingredients and delivers overseas.
I will try the jam idea - my cakes are never perfect, even if I cut the sides off etc. Let's see.

If you cannot find Cream of Tartar (Tartaric Acid) you can use white vinegar instead to stabilize eggwhites. Use 1/8 teaspoon per eggwhite. You could also ask the pharmacy if they have tartaric acid, or if they know where you could get it. It is used for a lot of things apart from baking.

Excellent!!!!!
thanks for the tip BakingGirl!