How To Get Smooth Butter Cream that Stands up to Heat and Humidity

I have be decorating cakes for 3 months shy of two years now and have had many challenges decorating cakes in a climate that is always hot and humid. My little cake studio is just off of my office and I run the AC at about 77F to 80F ( electricity is super expensive in the Cayman Islands ) and as you can tell by my shiny face :0) in the video it is also very humid around 80 to95% most of the time. My butter cream cakes go to beach parties and beach weddings and never melt

I used the online tutorials of Edna De La Cruz and Inspired By Michelle (ganache video) and Sharron Zambito’s video " Perfecting the Art of Buttercream" ( get all of her videos they transformed my cakes in every way), to help me develop this technique.

Everyone has a different method just as everyone walks a little differently. I think that taking a little bit from many sources and developing a style that suits you will get the best results for each person.

So here is my little bit, it starts off with the humidity resistant butter cream recipe and then the video link
My butter cream cakes go to beach parties and beach weddings and never melt.

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup shortening (high ratio or IGA store brand , for me never Crisco)
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch (this is the heat and humidity fighting ingredient)
  • 4 tablespoons liquid (milk, heavy cream, water, coffee creamer, juice….)
  • 2 teaspoons of flavoring such as vanilla
  • 8 cups of confectioner sugar

Mix the first five ingredients then slowly add the sugar. Don’t it for mix too long. In super hot weather reduce the liquid by 1/4 and reduce the butter to shortening ratio i.e. more shortening less butter.

Here is the video link on how to apply the butter cream to get a smooth finish with sharp edges on a demo cake.

For my fondant cakes I do the same steps with the butter cream for an under coat and then use a fondant mix of half Wilton (this stuff resists all types of weather) and half Massa Ticcino tropical fondant with a little tylose to cover the cakes, and the cakes really stand up to the heat and humidity

Lori-Ann,The Cake Studio Cayman,http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cake-Studio-Cayman/136313133106508?ref=tn_tnmn

71 Comments

Wow! Thanks so much I will give it a try! I live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and I deal with the same issue!

Psalm 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.

This is terrific, thank you! I’m in North Carolina, too, and we get some significant humidity here at times. (Not as high as your and tokazodo, but we also don’t get the pretty ocean!) Looking forward to giving this recipe a try!

I am going to try adding cornstarch I have weddings and I am always worried maybe this will help! =)

Ann-Maries Cakes http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Maries-Cakes/262945553740371

Question though…do you use Meringue Powder with you cornstarch? I noticed it’s not in your recipe above but you did mention it in your video. Thanks so much for sharing!!!! xx

Ann-Maries Cakes http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Maries-Cakes/262945553740371

Hi Ann- Marie, I only use constarch, it gives me a lot longer to work with the icing. Thanks for sharing this tutorial.

Lori-Ann,The Cake Studio Cayman,http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cake-Studio-Cayman/136313133106508?ref=tn_tnmn

This may sound like a silly question, but what is IGA? Unfortunately I don’t have access to high ratio shortening so I have always used Crisco. What should I be looking for in a store brand that differs from Crisco? Thanks for the video, I look forward to giving this a try!

https://www.facebook.com/UdderlySweet

Hi Michelle IGA is just the store brand shortening we get here from the IGA supermarket chain, flavorite brand will work just as well, just make sure that it is all vegetable. I think most supermarket brand with trans fat work well.

Lori-Ann,The Cake Studio Cayman,http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cake-Studio-Cayman/136313133106508?ref=tn_tnmn

Thank you for sharing…it gets quite humid here in Toronto too. We just had a heat wave for a few days here and I thought my cake was going to melt yesterday. I will definitely give this a try. THANK YOU for sharing your expertise and knowleddge!

~Daniela xo www.facebook.com/itsacakethingwoodbridge

I think this is the perfect recipe for me, living in a hot an high humidity country (Suriname). Defenitely going to give it a try, however no hi-ratio shortening available, will try with local brand all-veg shortning. Thank you.

Cakes by AN