I am in the middle of a wedding cake and I am using crusting cream cheese buttercream icing. It is practiccally crusting the minute I put it on the cake!!! Does anyone know how to extend the non-crusting time of the buttercream? I still have the 12" cake to BC...

crusting is the ratio of fat to sugar. The more sugar, the more (faster) crusting. Without seeing your recipe, I'd add more fat or less sugar.

Thanks indydebi! My recipe is the one I found on here for crusting cream cheese icing...

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/2047/crusting-cream-cheese-icing

I made it with the 3lbs of sugar the first time and I felt it was too soupy... so this time I made it with the 3.5 lbs.

If you are using regular vegetable shortening that tends to make the icing
a lot drier. Make sure that you cover the buttercream so it doesnt dry on you.

Edna