Has anyone added meringue powder to their buttercream successfully?  We are having a heat wave in the UK right now, it's very humid and my buttercream needs stabilising!

The cakes I have made this past week haven't gone well despite doing everything I can to create straight smooth sides they are ending up slightly rippled with cake showing through the fondant.  I roll it to 4mm, which is pretty thick,not sure if any thicker would be very nice :-(  Also I make sure I tort well, level, damn, don't overfill, rest, refrigerate between crumb coats etc.  I'm thinking maybe my buttercream is melting causing the unevenness and that it would help to stabilise it?

If you do use this how much do you add (my usual buttercream recipe is one part butter to two parts icing) and does it affect taste/shelf life?  Does it make it go too hard is my other concern?  So many questions sorry!  I am so worried about this :-(

thank you

wilton does

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Snow-White-Buttercream-Icing

some people add a quarter cup of flour to (powdered sugar) american buttercream to make it humidity proof --

i used a very fine flour called wondra when i did this -- probably not available in the uk under this name --it's a special flour that does not clump but well sifted all purpose flour will work

I am having the same problems with my buttercream, I have been using a different method to apply it to the cake so it is a thicker coating and I think this is causing the problem. I am going back to my usual thinner coat to see if this solves the problem. Also I haven't tried this myself yet but I have read that you can add corn flour or another starch to buttercream to help stabilise it in warm weather, I don't know how much but would be interested to know if it works.

AMolly I've read that some people add meringue powder, never tried it myself tho. Also, my buttercream is slightly different to yours, 100gms butter, 280gms sugar. (Sorry roxy, didn't think to tell you that yesterday!) I'm having more problems with my sugarpaste than my buttercream at the moment tbh. I made buttercream with shortening last month and it tasted awful (maybe the meringue powder changes the taste tho). I tried it to see if it would be better in this heat. Taste aside, it didn't melt or change consistency at all and I left it out on the side for a week.

Don't worry Maisie I added extra icing sugar to mine I just think I had to much of it on the cake so I was squishing it when trying to smooth the SP. What problems are you having with your SP Maisie?

AI think the biggest problem was that it's Renshaws roxy. Can't stand the stuff. The back panel on the game of thrones cake is still wet.

AI add meringue power to my buttercream all the time...its right in the recipe I use...but I use high ratio shortening and that helps stabilize the buttercearm.....and everyone loves the taste of my buttercream

AIve read on here that you can add corn starch to your butter cream and that also helps

ok thank you everyone - Ive made a huge batch of buttercream with meringue powder in it - made it yesterday and it's stayed on the side all night and this morning still in stiff peaks, so hoping that's a good sign for it holding up under my fondant.  Urghh I think I'm giving up wedding cakes, too stressful!!