Outdoor Party In Phoenix! 100+ Degrees!
Decorating By SugarMama602 Updated 31 May 2008 , 7:13pm by CeeTee
If I stiffen up the buttercream with meringue powder and cover with fondant, do you think it will be ok as long as it's not in direct sunlight??
Any and all comments are welcome!!
(There is no humidity here whatsoever.)
Sugarmama,I live in Phoenix also,and I doing a cupcake sale outside this weekend for my church and I am also worried about the heat, so does meringue stiffen buttercream without using shortning and still keep the buttercream stable but creamy in the heat? or would it be better to add meringue to a half butter and half shortning buttercream?and if so how much meringue to a batch?
I'm thinking a recipe with any butter would melt. Can an expert step in here and confirm? 
My Wilton merigue gives suggestions on the side of the can, but I don't have it with me since I'm at work! I'll come back to this if no one gives you the answer before that.
When I lived in Yuma, i would add a bit of flour to the all shortening buttercream. Had a wedding at the fairgrounds with just swamp coolers and had no problems with the cake or the flowers.
Can't say I miss the heat of Yuma...still in Arizona but at 5300 feet and a LOT cooler temperatures here.....hardly ever gets to 100! DS lives in Phoenix so he is surely feeling the heat this week!
When you say a bit of flour - are you talking just a smidge? Or just enough to keep it from tasting funny?
I use an all shortening crusting BC, so your comments about the fairgroudns are encouraging!
Did you put fondant on it? Just curious....
I've actually heard that half butter is the better way to go to resist heat, but shortening has a higher melting temperature (butter is about 89-95 degrees, and shortenting is almost up to 110 degrees or so) so I tend to think that using an all shortening recipe would be best. Don't worry about the flavor, you can always fool your guests with great flavors, like 1/2 tsp. butter flavor, and 1/2 tsp. almond or vanilla. That makes excellent bc. I also found this recipe, which seems to work well in the heat: http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/ButtercreamIcing.htm
Good luck!
When I added flour, it was maybe 1/4-1/2 cup at the most. Just enough to give it some body.
That would be to a 2 lb powdered sugar-1 lb. Crisco batch.
Do you think there is any hope for a half butter and half shortning recipe on cupcakes? using all shortning leaves me alittle uneasy,knowing its a little cupcake with all that pure shortning on top.
Hi, fellow Zonie here too!
I hate shortening in icing, period. But, I have had one too many batches of pure butter icings melt on me over the past year so I know how handy it can be to have shortening around.
When I make a cake that I know is going to be outside for longer than 5 minutes, I do a half butter/half shortening icing, and use water instead of milk and add at least two tablespoons of meringue powder. It still comes out fairly tasty.
Though what really helps for me is I get gel ice packs and tape them to the lids and under the bottoms of my cake carriers. I have two coolers. One is small and fits my icing tubs and tips perfectly, the other is a large cooler to carry the actual cakes or cupcakes. If you are having an outdoor bakesale, it's best to keep the cakes in a cooler and only keep a couple of cupcakes out on the table at a time. This way you don't have to worry about them melting.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%