I've never covered a cake with IMBC, only fondant. When I cover with fondant, I refrigerate the cake only until it's covered, then I leave it out to dry/harden and decorate.

This time, the client did not want fondant, and it was my first time final-coating with IMBC. I was certain it needed to be refrigerated then, so I kept it in until I was ready to decorate. As it stayed out while decorating, the condensation made my royal icing start to melt and then drip!!!!

What's the deal!?
I'm now afraid to decorate tonight with the several fondant details I have! Should I wait until morning?
Should I decorate and then put back in the refrigerator?
What do I tell the client to do before her party!?

AH!

Sorry this is happening to you - but you can't use royal on anything other then a firm, dry surface. which means fondant or a super crusted icing only. If condensation doesn't melt it, the butter from the IMBC will. So I'm sorry to say, you will need to scrape off all the royal and re-pipe in buttercream.

AhhhhH!!!! This cake is due in the morning and it's 11:45pm here! It's fine in the fridge right now. . . It stopped melting and is dry. Will it be okay if I keep it in there!? If I pull it off now, it will ruin the surface pretty majorly. PLUS, I don't have time to make a new batch of IMBC to color!

Here's it is. . . http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a293/leighrobin/?action=view¤t=photo-44.jpg

I also need to pipe some vine work with small fondant flowers already made. The grass only goes over the edge on top about 1" (I have a disc of green fondant in the middle).

I guess I could wake up super early and make a half batch of IMBC. Are you sure that's my only solution???

sorry! Royal icing will melt on fat - even on crusting buttercreams sometimes. Any condensation will continue to melt it as well..
I wish I could give you a trick or something but it will absolutely keep melting on IMBC..

So with either IMBC or ABC, and then adding then fondants accents, where should I store it? Fridge? Thank you!

Fridge should be fine.

I'm going to dissent here and say that I pipe royal directly on SMBC all the time. I think this culprit in this situation was the condensation. If that has stopped, you should be ok.

Thank you everybody! I got up early and went with making ABC instead of the hassle/stress of last minute IMBC. I'd say it came out pretty well, but the ABC was not a great consistency--I think it's just because I've been really spoiled by making IMBC

Kory: When I take the cake out to IMBC it, how long can I leave it out for? I thought IMBC cakes needed to be refrigerated, or at least had a limit as to how long they could be unrefrigerated. Thanks!

Meringue buttercreams do not need to be refrigerated and are shelf stable for at least a week, but they start tasting off - as in stale, not spoiled. I only refrigerate mine to make them easier to decorate on to transport. Worry warts will disagree, afraid of the eggs or whatever, but those same people will order eggs sunny side up and feed them to their kids. Guess which #1 way people get sick from eggs? I'll give you a hint, it ain't buttercream.

PS, glad you were able to save your cake! Post new pics!

When you are adding your hot sugar syrup to the egg whites you are cooking them-just not the traditional in the oven or on the stove (assuming that you are heating your sugar to 245 or hoter). I find that it works best to IMBC frost the cake only 1-2 days before and then I don't need to worry about the off flavor of the IMBC being old.

Did you specifically ask about SMBC? I don't know where you are, but it's not "potentially hazardous" here. Just because something has eggs doesn't mean it's hazardous! Every HD is different though, so if yours says no, then you have to go with that - but if you are just assuming then you need to make a few phone calls. Mine says it's just fine (but we don't home bake in CA). Store fronts here that do MBC exclusively don't even refrigerate their display cases.

Check www.karascupcakes.com, see store photos here: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/LD-AEBPmSwaQ1eWf9ZKLcQ?select=UU3bDH_15vWx77HmQW62TA

Kara's is a high-end cupcake shop that started in SF - she makes almost nothing but IMBC. Believe me if there were refrigeration/perishable restrictions she'd be following them in all the counties she has stores now - as well as her super popular cupcake truck, the "Kara Van", where they actually bake out of the truck and make IMBC.

Let me know what yours says though!

I wonder if they'd allow it if you used pasteurized egg whites??

Anyway, here's the final product:





I scraped all of the royal icing off with pretty good success (it's hard to brush crumbs off of soft SMBC, even if it's cold). Maybe freezing it shortly would have helped with that but I was under the gun The ABC stunk--not sure what I did wrong--despite making sure the salt was dissolved. But the client was blown away and so happy!

Looks GREAT!!!! Good job!