I'm doing a wedding cake in May and it is going to be and outside reception and i was wondering if there anything i can do to the buttercream to help it from melting or is there a recipe that won't melt as easily.
Thanks

Your only option is to use a shortening-based buttercream and hope it's not over 78 degrees F.

Fondant would probably be your best bet, but if you use a butter-based buttercream, I can tell you from experience that the butter will melt and soak into the cake. Not a good thing!

Thanks so much. The bride does not want to use fondant. I know that it is going to be 80-90 degrees in may.

That's unfortunate for her guests, who are going to be uncomfortable!

I hope the shortening-based BC holds up well. You should make her sign a special waiver acknowledging that she knows the dangers of having her cake outside in those temps.

I made CakemanOH's hi-ratio Brite White recipe for my son's garden wedding in August (temps. were in the 80's) several years ago and it help up fine.

Indydebi also advises that her Crisco recipe also holds up just fine in hot weather.

Both recipes can be found in the following thread.

Everything you need to know to bake, assemble and decorate tiered/stacked/layer cakes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-605188-.html

HTH