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