Okay - so I'm getting ready to make my very first wedding cake for a friend (as my gift to her) and I'm trying to settle on the icing. Tonight I made Sugarshack's buttercream and it didn't work out as well as I hoped. It doesn't seem to be as smooth as I hear it should be & the taste is so so so sweet to me. I used Hi-humidity shortening, which the lady at the cake supply store said is comparable to hi-ratio shortening - however there was a long pause when I asked her the question - so maybe that really isn't so - and my mixer is a 6 quart not a 5. So I'm guessing I screwed up there somewhere.

Anyway, I usually make cakes with SMBC because it's not too sweet - I wanted to use sugarshack's recipe for two reasons 1) the wedding is outside and it's been sooo hot lately so the hi-humidity shortening seemed like a good idea, and 2) I wanted to try the viva paper towel method that I hear great things about.

So finally here's my question: Can you use the viva method with SMBC and is it okay to use SMBC for an outside event?

Thanks for your help!!!!!!!

You cannot use the viva method on SMBC because it doesn't crust. Your best bet is to refrigerate the cake and use a hot bench scraper to smooth the icing. (DIp it in boiling water and wipe it dry quickly).

I think you could use it for an outside wedding, but it would need to be refrigerated until about 2 hours before they serve it. Is that feasible? Plus you have to consider the temp outside. How hot is it where you are? If it's going to be 70, you're probably good. But if it's going to be 90.....maybe not.

Maybe someone here has an icing recipe that's good for hot temps that's smoother?