My friend's favorite is red velvet and i know it really tastes great with cream cheese frosting. Can I cover a cake iced in cream cheese frosting with fondant? Cream cheese needs to be refrigerated right? If I can't cover it, will a fondant bow and cookie cut decorations stick to it well?

What kind of buttercream will work with a red velvet cake if cream cheese is not an option?

Thank you.

Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

You can most certainly use a cream cheese buttercream under fondant. Do keep it refrigerated for best results. If there is gumpaste in your fondant bow, it should be just fine in the fridge. All of my cakes go in the fridge, bows and all.

This is my favorite cream cheese butter cream and no it doesn't need to be refrigerated. Yes it can be used under fondant and it does crust.
1 cup butter
1/2 cup Crisco
16 oz. cream cheese
3 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
1 T vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Mix on low speed for a couple of minutes.

If you use clear vanilla in both the color will be a perfect match for <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" />Wilton's buttercream recipe. I use this to frost cheesecakes
when a couple wants part regular cake and part cheesecake for the tiers.

This makes a fairly stiff icing. For a softer one you can use 3 lbs. of powdered sugar.

Sweettreat101... curious... why doesn't this recipe have to refrigerated even though it contains cream cheese? A little while ago I was looking for a cream cheese recipe that didn't have to be refrigerated, and tried Earlene's, but honestly it tasted wayyyyyyyy too sweet for my taste. Have you tried her's and if so, how does yours compare regarding sweetness?

The sugar content preserves the frosting the same thing with Earlene's frosting. I got this recipe from Kathy's cakes llc. She does beautiful work. I have been using it ever since.

The baptism cake with the angels is frosted in cream cheese butter cream. I use the paper towel method for smoothing after the frosting has crusted. No for me it's not as sweet as Earlene's or a regular cream cheese frosting. I have found over the last ten years that this was the best recipe to work with. Hats of to Kathyf who created this lovely recipe.

I found cream cheese to breakdown the fondant and cause it to weep. I ended up with a sticky, soggy mess. The technique is to create a barrier between the cream cheese and fondant with a dam or regular buttercream then it'll work.

The recipe I use crusts and does not break down. Regular cream cheese frosting would cause a huge mess for sure.

If you use all butter I don't think it would crust. It's probably the sugar to shortening, butter ratio. Don't really know if just does.

@sweettreat101...thanks for this recipe. i will definitely try it. i can use this both as filling and frosting, right? and then, i can go ahead and cover the cake with fondant? do you have a chocolate variation?

can you color cream cheese buttercream? the thought just crossed my mind. just in case, i decide not to use fondant at all.

I use Kathy Finholdt's cream cheese BC recipe too and have never had fondant break down or "weep."

I have found that where I live (hot and humid), that it's best to keep it refrigerated if it's used under fondant, because it softens pretty quickly. And yes, you can color it like regular buttercream.

I don't know about the chocolate cream cheese version. I will shoot her and email and ask her. I will let you know what I find out.

Ok I sent her an email just waiting for a response.

Krafticakes you had asked about a chocolate version. Here is what Kathy said. You can leave it out of the fridge for several days with no problems. And you can add some cocoa in place of some of the powdered sugar. Don't try to add the cocoa and then some liquid to thin it back down because the more liquid makes the cream cheese way too soft. Maybe leave out 1 cup of the sugar and try 1/2 cup dutch cocoa. This way you have another 1/2 cup if you feel it needs more chocolate. If not add the remaining sugar if needed. If you try the chocolate version let us know how it turns out.

IMO, For red velvet cakes, you HAVE to use real cream cheese frosting You know, butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar.

I tried to cover a cake in fondant that was frosted with cream cheese frosting, and the fondant DID turn into a soggy, droopy mess. So what I do now when people ask for that is FILL the cake with the cream cheese frosting and ice it with a buttercream or cream cheese buttercream. This way they get the cake filled with what they like, and the fondant still stays intact.

Hope that helps

d925marie, I totally agree. Though I've tried various frosting recipes, most of my customers request cream cheese frosting. The regular cream cheese frosting (sans shortening) not only wilts at room temperature but makes fondant soft and droopy as well. I've found that reducing the butter and adding shortening (Hi-ratio, store brands still contain the trans fat that makes it smoother than Crisco) makes the cream cheese frosting "crust" and pleases those who don't want buttercream. I, too, fill my layers with "regular" cream cheese frosting, typically, and frost with the crusting version.

Even though the powdered sugar IS a preservative, I still refrigerate my cakes before delivery as it makes the cream cheese set well and makes the cake more stable in transport. Many people don't due to the worry of refrigeration drying out cake, but for a day or so they are always fine.

For my Red Velvet Cake I do the same thing as above. I make a Cream Cheese filing of cheese, butter, vanilla and sugar, the best really in my opinion for red velvet. Ice the cake with SMBC in vanilla and use fondant on top if it is required by design, but flavor wise all butter is best for any cake. I have never used Crisco and mostly use SMBC so I wasn't even sure what was meant with "crusting". When you say crusting, you mean the crisco turns the icing stiff like fondant?