Hello, I was asked to make a fairly straightforward buttercream cake for a client. Upon the delivery the buttercream looked smooth and fluffy (not grainy). It went right into the fridge.

The next day I was sent a photo and it looks like the frosting is grainy - or at least it has more blemishes. Is there a chance the buttercream could have started to separate on a frosted cake upon defrosting? Unfortunately I wasn't there in person the next day so not 100% sure but keen on your thoughts or experiences!

defrost? was it delivered frozen? some fridges drip condensation too 

Let me clarify, it was delivered at room temperature, but the client wanted to photograph the cake the next day. After I left, they put it in the refrigerator. The next day the took it out and photographed it at room temperature. In the photos I received the buttercream wasn't as uniform looking as when I dropped it off. Cant tell if its grainy or separating or what. Ive never had trouble with refrigerating a frosted cake before. Any thoughts?

i mean once it's out of your hands who knows what could happen -- did you look at it before you left to determine that it survived the delivery intact? was it boxed?

once a cake goes in the big chill box if should stay just about exactly the same as it went in as you said -- maybe they took it out for a minute to get something in behind it and forgot it and left it out all night in a hot kitchen or it got left in the sun or something first or if it got dripped on in the fridge --

and sometimes unfortunately photos pick up booboos we don't notice visually especially can show the cake peaking out underneath/through the icing sometimes -- it happens -- like the flash completely blanks out the icing & shows the brown shadow of the cake beneath --

so what was their process for bringing it back to room temp too -- what is your weather like -- and some fridges can have higher humidity levels -- what did they put in the fridge last night -- if they put away a pot of chili that was still warm...

just 10,000 possibilities

Appreciate your thoughts. Good to know that it shouldn't matter if it was in the fridge or not.

Yeah, who knows what happened once it left my hands. It still looks nice, but doesn't have tat smooth finish. But, if they are happy than I'm happy!