I was wondering if anyone has suggestions of the recipe they use for icing to go under fondant.
I have been using the Wilton buttercream recipe, but then after I set it in the fridge to set up, I find it hard to smooth out well to keep the fondant smooth, and it's dry and hard by then, so the fondant doesn't want to 'stick' to it very well.

Sorry for such an amateurish question... anyone have any ideas for me?
Thanks in advance guys.

i recommend swiss meringue buttercream. its delicious and very stable under fondant , by itself and or for doing carved cakes.

there are many versions and recipes, i like this one best:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-6927-1-Very-Vanilla-Swiss-Meringue-Buttercream.html

use all unsalted butter though, not half as indicated.

I also use chocolate ganache. White chocolate ganche made with sour cream is a favourite. As long as it works with the cake flavour of course.

I use ganache too, sometimes. It helps you achieve really crisp edges on the fondant. I use a ratio of 2 parts chocolate (by weight) to 1 part heavy cream (by volume) ie 2 lbs. chocolate to 16 oz. cream. This is a hard ganache - like a chocolate truffle texture.

Recently I started adding white chocolate to my IMBC to make it more stable under fondant. It seems to give it more body and I don't have the fondant slump I used to sometimes have with straight buttercream.

HTH

were you chilling your imbc cake before adding the fondant?

For dark chocolate ganache I use equal parts 70% Cocoa chocolate and cream: eg. 300g chocolate to 300ml cream. Note that the consistency of the ganache will be affected by the percentage of Cocoa in your chocolate. If, for example, I did what Toptier did using "my" particular chocolate it would set so hard I would have to use a chainsaw to serve the cake

As for white, I nearly always use sour cream ganache which is two parts chocolate to sour cream: ie. 300g chocolate to 150ml sour cream.

Hope that helps.

lekoli, do you have to refrigerate your white chocolate ganache since you use sour cream? i normally dont right away, only because i bring the cream to a boil first, but in this case, i imagine you mix the sour cream in while cold.

I use this recipe under fondant. Its similar to SMBC or IMBC w/o the eggs. It's not too sweet, its very firm when chilled so it holds its shape under fondant very well.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-19577-toba.html+french+vanilla

Melysa, that particular recipe is not made in the usual way.

I melt the white chocolate then set aside for 10 minutes on a warm day or just 5 if very cold. In the meantime, take the sour cream out of the fridge then put in a bowl and mix with a hand whisk or spatula until smooth and slightly more liquid. Once the chocolate has cooled a little, pour it all into the sour cream and mix everything together with a hand whisk or spatula until smooth and thoroughly combined. It is then ready to use.

I use real butter 'buttercream' under my fondant and I haven't had any problems...and yes, I chill my cakes after crumbcoating/skim coating while I am wrangling the fondant. If I think it doesn't have 'sticking' power, I lightly mist it w/water (LIGHTLY) and have no probs. But then I am down here in Texas, it might be a climate thing.
Good luck!