I have a bride that has been advised that covering her wedding cake in August in North Carolina would be a wise decision. Unfortunately, she wants butter cream and cream cheese. The wedding will be indoors but once we set up, the cake will not be cut for another 3 hours...what can I do? Plus she wants the cake out when the reception starts..even though we suggested to deliver the cake right before the cutting

The BEST thing and ONLY thing to do to drive home the point is to draft a letter stating that her cake WILL melt and any guests injesting cream cheese icing that has sat out for over an hour will have the Hershey Squirts the next morning - if not worse and that the aforementoned bride will not hold you responsible for damages. That usually does the trick. Because it's the truth.

Or try Indydebi's Buttercream recipe.
It WILL hold up to heat and humidity.

Ya but she said the bride wants cream cheese icing. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen.

You could just add cheesecake flavor LoRann oil (instead of cream cheese) to a regular buttercream recipe. I've only recently heard about this, so I haven't tried it myself yet.

You might want to walk away from this one. I would tell her that you don't want to be responsible for anyone getting sick from the cream cheese icing.

I know about IndyDebbie's recipe for heat resistant bc and was planning to use that one, but I have seen some heat resistant cream cheese recipes where it is like indydebbies but they add cream cheese.

That's not possible. You must have read it wrong - it has to have a cream cheese flavored oil in it , not real cream cheese. You can only leave cream cheese icing out for a very limited time in an air conditioned room - never mind the heat of an out door August wedding. In New Hampshire, home based licensed bakers are restricted from using cream cheese in their fillings or icings - it's that volatile.

It is possible to make a cream cheese icing that is theoretically safe outside of refrigeration. I say theoretically because it involves getting the formula just right so that the amount of sugar binds the water molecules in the cream cheese so that the water molecules are no longer available for bacterial growth. I have no idea what that formula would be and I don't know how to do it.

The cream cheese icing recipes you find online that claim to be ok usually say something like "it's worked for me". That basically means that you're on your own for food safety if something goes wrong.

That said there may be more info on this on Baking 911, but we're moving out of the usual realm of baking and decorating and into food science.

I simply refuse to offer cream cheese icing, because although I may treat it with respect and keep it chilled, I don't know how my customer might abuse the product after it leaves my hands. And since I provided the product I'd still be liable.

The Lorann oil works pretty well.

Any outdoor cake in summer months really need to be covered with fondant to insure it won't melt. I won't take orders for an outdoor cake in August, that's how scared I am of a meltdown.

I do not offer a cream cheese icing on wedding cakes. They are out too long and I will not even allow the possibility even if the Bride signed off since her guests will not know about that and blame me instead for their hershey squirts. An alternative is the cream cheese fillings offered in the sleeves which do not have to be refrigerated. I insist on fondant for cakes to be displayed outdoors. Even if the icing doesn't completely melt off the cake it becomes difficult to cut nicely and don't forget all the bugs that can get stuck in the buttercream. Yuk!

Earlene Moore has a CrCh b'cream that she said has been tested by health dept?? and pronounced safe to be UNrefrigerated for up to 1 week (if I remember right). Being that she is in TX I'm sure it would be heat/humidity safe also. Check out her website for the recipe.

The wedding is actually indoors but humidity is still a factor in NC. I might just recommend a heat resistant butter cream for the red velvet choice and see what the bride says.