What do you suggest? Several of my frostings are cream cheese/butter based. I am having a tough time with them starting to melt and not hold their shape on my cupcakes in this heat. is there any way to help avoid this? Can hi ratio shortening be substituted for the butter to help? I want the cream cheese flavor..... I'm not talking about leaving them outside in direct, mid-afternoon sun, I mean even the heat from my hands combined with the weather is affecting it while I'm piping. I sure wasn't having this problem in March..... help , please! [/b]

I'm not sure how you're using cream cheese frosting anyway due to food safety issues. I use the cheesecake Lorann flavoring in bc made with hi ratio.

I have a frosting (with butter not cream cheese) and I've added more powdered sugar to give it a firmer consistency. Then I put the cupcakes in the frig until they are eaten or until I leave. They just can't sit out very long if they are in an un-air conditioned area.

Same with cream cheese-I keep them in the frig. I make sure they don't sit out for too long because of the cream cheese and food safety.

Whether others agree or disagree with me-it doesn't matter because this is what works for me.

I try to keep them in the fridge too, but the problem is more while I am icing them. My hands get pretty warm ( I guess) and it is making the frosting too soft. They go right back into the fridge until they are ready to serves, but they never hold their shape like my buttercream do.

@Leah - thanks for the cheesecake oil idea - I will be trying that this week!

Earlene Moore has a shelf-stable cream cheese icing recipe on her website. I've tried it before and it felt greasy, so I added some Dream Whip (sort of a cross between Indydebi's recipe and Earlene's) and it was pretty good. Not an overwhelming cream cheese flavor but still not bad.

I also heard recently about powdered cream cheese you can use to make shelf-stable cream cheese icing. Haven't tried it yet but it sounds interesting.

About hot hands and decorating, try a cloth decorating bag like the Ateco ones. You can use a disposable plastic bag inside the cloth bag to make cleanup easier.

Yes, that happened with a butter frosting I use (the one I described above). I had to take the frosting off each cupcake, add powdered sugar, mix again and then refrost. The frosting held its shape after that. Now I just add more powdered sugar. I didn't have to in the spring/winter though. It tastes the same.

When your hands are melting the icing, I freeze water in a pie pan, and then put another pie pan on top, so when I put the piping bag down it will cool down a little bit, in between me moving the completed cupcake and getting the next one, just what I do to help combat the heat a little bit

To prevent from melting the frosting when you're piping, just wrap a towel around the bag. I've had the same problem & this helps. Just make sure the corners of the towel don't mess up the frosting!

I use all of my perishible Frostings in hot weather. Just refrigerate until 30 minutes before serving.

For your hands, I agree about the towel and keeing the bag cool. Adding more PS makes a sweeter frosting that would not be as good. I do add extra PS to piped parts.