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!

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! =)

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

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

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!

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.

Thanks! I appreciate your help!

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!

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.

I’ve tried this recipe and technique and it works like a dream! Thanks so much for sharing Sugarpixy! Love your first tutorial! Can’t wait to see future ones!

Thank you for sharing, I also live in a high humid and hot area of the south. I will try your technique on my next cake.

Thank you for sharing. I will definitely try this, your tutorial will be of much help. Again thank you so much <3

Thanks so much for sharing. Wish I had read all this before I crumb coated and added fondant to my cakes (3 tiers) today. What a nightmare! I used Fondx for my fondant and hated it. It was so difficult to get it right. I finally ripped it all off and just used the cheap Wilton fondant with some added cornstarch and it worked wonders. I was worried about the cumb coating, though, and wish I had seen your post. It would have saved me a lot of aggravation today.

Hi Joy, i’m new to this sitehere but try a little tylose into your Fondx if you live in a humid warm climate like I do. Love the stuff- roll out on a blue mat and sometimes use corn starch if I want a piece I lift right off. Good Luck
Excellent video, thank you so much for sharing.

Thanks again for sharing this recipe. I tweaked my own buttercream recipe this weekend using a bit of cornstarch and meringue powder and I love the way the buttercream turned out. It was very easy to work with, it set up well and held up well. It was 88* with 80% humidity. The cake did not sit outside, (thank goodness!) but it traveled well. It’s the pink wedding cake in my photos. Thanks again!

Will definitely try this very very soon!! Thank you so much for sharing :-)

Do you think I can 1/2 the shortening and butter and add 8oz of cream cheese for a cream cheese flavored buttercream? That’s what I make the most and I have a crusting recipe, but I notice when I refrigerate it and cover it in fondant it still gets soft. I’d love to use this in a cream cheese version. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hi Cvbuzz I have used just the cream and shortening( no butter) with the cornstarch and loved the flavor. However due to condensation issues with the humidilty here I usually do not refigerate the cakes before covering them with fondant. If the filling is perishable I usually tring to prep and decorate the cake in a 5 hour period, letting the icing crust for 2 hours.

Hey everybody, I’m from Guadeloupe and the same pble as your’s but mainly for making gumpast for flowers.. they never dry.. please have u got an idea or a recipe u use when humidity is very high.. sorry for my english, i’m french …

I have the same problem lol gumpaste just stays soft and sticky here. I use Wilton fondant with tylose/gumtex and the flowers dry very well.

Thanks for the recipe. I tried it and it was great.

You are welcome LesliePee! I am so happy that it worked out well

Thanks for the video, I too will try adding the corn starch, I live in Florida, so this will help. I noticed you trim you cakes off on the sides, so do you start with a bigger cake. If a customer orders an 8" do you bake a 9" and then trim? If you don’t than the cake is no loger an 8" as they ordered.

would love to try your recipe but i live in england & can’t get IGA over here, do you know a substitute for your high ratio shortening here in england? can i use TREX?

Hi thank you for sharing will be given this ago

I usually start of with the size that is ordered. Some people say that once their cakes settle they shrink a bit. For some reason mine do not shrink that much so I trim 1/4 inch off , with the cake board being the original size ordered. If you check out Ron Ben Israel’s web sire under processes you will see that his cakes are trimmed to leave space on the board to fill with butter cream or ganache.

Hi there, thanks so much for this….. I only use real buttercream for my cakes but Seattle, WA has gotten some HOT weather this summer and my cakes are getting bumpy!!! I’m thinking if using this as my “primer” since it has butter in it too, it wont be such a “crisco” tasting buttercream. I have 2 questions…

Do you thin out your crumb coat for fondant, then put a second buttercream coat? how soon can I apply fondant?

How long can I make this ahead of time? Some weeks I have 2-3 cakes to do. I am a home baker.

Thanks again

You should put on thin coat of butter cream in order to hide the bad wholes ( sorry i’m french ) on your cake. Put on the fridge for 1 hour or into freezer for 1/2 h.. when the butter cream is really hard, you should have a new coat in order to have a good finition . but again in the fridge for 1 h and after put your fondant on it.

Thank you Natallie for answering my question!!! Can I make 2 batches of this and store in the fridge for later use and how long? I am pregnant and trying to get things ready.

yes u can do that or better to froze it .. when u gonna need it, take off from the freezer and put in fridge. when u see it more or less no freezen anymore ( sorry for my english ) put in the robot and mix it again until it will be smoothy.. hope i’m clear enough ?

Got it thanks so much…. I can’t wait to make a batch and try this.

I do not use this recipe …

Could you share your recipe Natalie?

Many thanks

Yes for covering two cakes : Please remind i live in South of Caraibean and the humidity is just awfull, and this recipe works.
375 g of butter takes out from the fridge 15 minutes before not more !

take 125g of white eggs, around 3 big egg and small one and put into bowl at the middle speedn during the same time, cook 225 g of sucre + 30% of 225 g of water until u get 118 ° CELCIUS. When u get 110 ° c speed up the eggs. Put very slowly the suggar into eggs, very very slowly… and put high speed until 10 minutes. take care to put slowly… when the bowl is not hot anymore add piece per piece the butter and speed up for 10 minutes too and ENJOY ( sorry for my english )

What did you use for your cake board? Is it styrofoam? It seems to be an inch or more in height. So than you just cover that with the frosting? In the video I can see the board, so I guess with a border it would be fine.

Hi All !
I crumb coat then use a thick consistency buttercream (just reduce the water). I use Styrofoam for my boards because we cannot get foam core in the Cayman Islands very easily. Before I place the cake on the board I cover it with glad press and seal and I cover it with a border of fondant or buttercream. If I don’t want a border I just use a thinner board. There is a local company that manufactures Styrofoam products here and they end up bing much cheaper than cake drums and foam core.

You can also use an all butter recipe. Just use slated butter and reduce the liquid by 3/4 and it will stay quite firm

Thank You so much for sharing, I am going to try this. It is so white (pure white) I will surely report back. Normally I use an IMBC, but I am going to try this one for sure!

If covering with fondant do you spray your buttercream with anything first to make it stick to the crusted buttercream. I have also had a problem with air bubbles getting under my buttercream ( no fondant on cake )could you tell me why that would happen, very frustrating getting it all perfect then an hour later seeing a big bulge where it looks like my cake is trying to explode.

If your cake has even a little condensation on the surface you will get air bubbles under your buttercream, so make sure that the cake is completely dry before you apply the buttercream. I usualy compress the icing alot during the smoothing process and this also helps to eliminate the dreaded air bubble bulge.
I lightly spray my cakes before I cover them with fondant.

I have tried this and Love it! And I will be continuing to use it too! Thanks so much! :)

I am happy that it worked out @CakeChick !!

I will have to try this soon. THanks for sharing!

How long does it take this icing to crust before I can smooth it with a ViVa towel? I’m used to the American buttercream crusting enough for smoothing in less than 15 or 20 minutes.

Hi Lolo with this method I start the smoothing process about 5 minutes after I have Iced the cake first with the viva paper and them with the regular paper.

Great! I’m going to try this icing as soon as this weekend. I need something that can handle this heat….it wreaks havoc on cakes.

Hey, i forgot to ask. How much does this recipe make? I’m making a 3 tier cake…sizes 10", 8", 6" all 4" high. How much of this icing do I need to make? I’m making it tomorrow 9/9/12. Help me!!! LOL

@ Lolobeauty…I’m going to jump in here…if I had a three tier the sizes you are stating, personally, I would triple this recipe. Better to have buttercream left over, then to have to stop mid-stream and start mixing buttercream in the middle of cake decorating!
If you have a 6qt kitchen aid mixer, you should be able to fit a triple recipe in, all at once.
I hope this helps!

I agree with Tokazodo! You can always store the rest for later.