I had some bad luck with my first wedding cake last summer. Humidity made the buttercream sweat and red piping on the sides made it look like the cake was bleeding. Take two... I am doing a cake for outdoor wedding this Saturday 5/30. It will be in the high 80's and don't want another melt down.
I will be doing a three tiered fondant covered cake and 200 cupcakes with buttercream icing. Cupcakes are in the freezer without icing as well as the cake tiers with a bc crumbcoat. I had planned to keep the cupcakes in the freezer until Friday, pull them out and ice them.

Quest 1:
Should I leave them out and covered until wedding Saturday afternoon or refridgerate them?

Quest 2:
I was planning to pull them from the freezer & cover my cakes with fondant 5/28 and finish decoration on 5/29.
Should I then refridgerate decorated cake until just before the wedding on Saturday or leave out in a cool room?

I am worried that the buttercream under my fondant might start breaking down if it isn't refridgerated but don't want any sweating on this cake.

I live in Cenral Idaho and it isn't real humid but need advise.

Thanks!!

I hope you get a reply! Those are great questions. I live in Washington and in HIGH humidity.

I am curious-what type of icing are you using?

free bump

I'm trying to help you by saying, why don't you pm sugarshack here on CC? She's an expert in all of this and lives in Louisiana....talk about humidity!!
And post the replies you get, please as these are very good questions especially now!
hth

I would suggest that before you frost the cupcakes you coat the tops with a sugar syrup to keep them moist. Then frost and they should be fine if you keep them covered overnight.
Again, it does depend on what kind of buttercream you are using. Is is a shortening base? Butter base?
Usually you do not want to refrigerate a fondant covered cake, although I do it all the time! A cool room should be fine though.
Good luck and try to enjoy your labor of love!
Tracy

I used the Wilton's recipe and 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening. I also added 1 Tablespoon of meringue powder for stability. I was also planning on using 1 tub of Wilton's ready made icing on the cupcakes.

Thanks for your advise.

Hey SRC,
I live in in South Eastern Idaho... here are some things I have learned (some have been learned the hard way).

When you are trimming and leveling your cakes, it is much easier to do that when they are frozen, so do that, then do the crumb coat when it is frozen as well. Let the icing set up, When it is set up, apply another layer of icing, thin, on the crumb coat... and roll and apply your icing to a ROOM TEMPERATURE CAKE. If you put your fondant on a frozen cake, as it defrosts, the difference in the temp of the cake and the fondant will cause air bubbles, ripples, bulges, etc. Basically, a migraine in the making. Cover and smooth all teirs of your wedding cake the day before you want to decorate it, and let them sit at room temp, over night.

the next day, dowel the cakes, stack, and decorate. You should be okay.

As for the cupcakes, defrost them first, then icing them. Are you icing them with a tip or with a knife? I would TOTALLY ditch your recipe and go with a more stable one. Also make sure that they are keeping the cakes in the shade.

I use 2 cups butter, 1 cup shortening, 1T vanilla, 1 c cream, 2 lbs powdered sugar. It holds up really well in Idaho heat. Let me know how it goes.

Good luck

Yes, I agree with 2508s42 abount covering room temp cake with fondant.

But I usuall stick my finished cake in the fridge until the day of the event. Especially if you are looking at warmer weather. It will have enough time to come back down to room temp if taken out in the morning and the heat will help with that as well.

You should try Indydebi's buttercream. The Wilton one just doesn't stand up to heat well. I've used Indydebi's recipe and taken cupcakes frosted with it to an outdoor pool party in July (and I live in South TX, so talk about heat and humidity, I think every day in July last year we hit 100 degrees). After an hour outdoors, my buttercream swirls were still swirls

I used the Wilton recipe for years (no internet so I thought that was the only recipe out there) and used to watch my icing fall of the sides of the cake as I took it out to the car.

If it's hot and humid I'd use indydebi's BC recipe found on this site. It holds up well in the heat. BC made with butter will never hold up hot temperatures.

Thanks for the help. I will switch my bc recipe and have faith. I wish I had taken a few minutes today to read these posts. I covered my cakes with fondant tonight and one was still frozen. Hope that it won't be too bad in the a.m.