Hi all I am on cake central all the time, but new posting in the forums! I have kind of a lot of questions, any help is appreciated!

I am wondering, how long can a cake filling be left at room temp without spoiling if it has cream cheese, butter, milk, cream, etc?

Also, if I am making a fondant cake, with gumpaste flowers and I need to refrigerate the cake, what do I do? I have not tried it and I steer away from perishable fillings.

Is it true that sugar can help preserve butter in a filling recipe so it does not need to be refrigerated?

If a filling has milk or cream in it, can sweetened condensed milk be subsitituted so it can sit at room temp?

I have been searching all over, but I find all kinds of different answers.

Does anyone know? Thank you!!!!

American buttercreams (made with tons of powdered sugar, fat and a small amount of liquid/any liquid) are shelf stable (no refrigeration required) because the sugar (which is hygroscopic or water absorbing) controls the water activity in the liquid, be it water, milk, cream or non-dairy coffee creamer, etc..

Here's the science.

Water activity & microbial growth:
(Prolonging Bakery Product Life.)

http://tinyurl.com/ya8po4z

WJ Scott in 1953 first established that it was water activity, not water content that correlated with bacterial growth:

http://tinyurl.com/bmsato

Formulating for increased shelf life:
(Decreasing water activity results in hostile environment for bacteria.)

http://tinyurl.com/csu2b9

Cream cheese frosting & sugar as a preservative:
(Includes shelf stable cream cheese recipe.)

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-621145-.html

HTH

Jan H - you changed you avatar!
Great info Jan - cause I was one one those that did not use any kind of filling that had milk, cream, cream cheese or butter in it as I was afraid I was going to make someone sick!!!

Thank you! This is great!