I am starting to get more into working with fondant and I am having a hard time understanding timing. I read that once a cake has fondant on it, it should not be refrigerated because the fondant will sweat and I understand that. Then on the other had I am told that Swiss meringue butter cream cannot be left out un-refrigerated for more than a day. So if I want to do a fondant covered cake you would have to do the fondant and all of the decorating the same day as delivery! I work full time and the cake thing is a side hobby so I would not have time to do such a thing..what does everyone else do?

I have done fondant cakes in the past but I was using the wilton buttercream (not a fan so that is why I switched buttercreams) and that stuff you could leave out for days!

Hi there! I also work full time and do cakes as a hobby! I use regular butter cream (2 sticks butter, 2 lbs of sugar, 1 tsp butter extract, and 1/4 cup or however much water you want) and it's always been fine when it's been out for a few days so long as it's not hot out. I don't refrigerate my cakes as one time I had one absorb all the smells from the Italian food in there! If you are worried about the butter you can substitute it with Crisco but it sometimes leaves a coating in people's mouths when they eat it.

What I typically do is bake, cool, level, wrap in plastic wrap, freeze, ice, then cover in fondant as soon as the icing has had a chance to harden. I feel like the cakes last longer and transport better once they are covered because the fondant has a chance to strengthen and harden. This may not be so Kosher with other decorators but I only get a small fraction of time each night with the cakes so its my only choice... I have yet to ever receive a complaint on a cakes taste yet!

If the cake is icing only I will typically only ice it that day or the night before. If you pre-bake and really wrap the cakes well in plastic wrap so there's no freezer burn they can last in the freezer for awhile (Ive done up to 2 weeks) until you're ready to decorate them.

Thank you for your reply! I understand that with other buttercreams, like the one you are describing it is possible to work in advance. Do you happen to know about working with swiss merange and fondant? This is where I run into trouble

I use fondant on most all of my cakes, and I put it in the fridge all of the time. I take up to a few days of most of my cakes since I only have evenings to work on them. I pull them out of the fridge and they sweat for a while, however, they will matte up again. It is OK... Don't worry so much about it, and have fun decorating. Fondant will survive... think more about the butter in the SMBC.

Hmmm I just read an artice of one baker that will leave her SMBC out for up to 7 days un-refrigerated. if this is the case then I am fine but houw do other SMBC or IMBC users feel about this?

I,ve been using SMBC for my cakes for years and they stay tasty for days at room temp. no problem.

@Maggie-How long do you leave your frosting out at room temp? i guess with the egg whites it made me nervous.

The egg white is well cooked by the hot sugar .sometimes I leave my frosted cakes ,covered with fondant on the counter for 3 days and they still taste great,I never needed to leave them out of the fridge for more than 3 days .HTH.

I personally like to refrigerate my cakes, buttercream or fondant. Fondant will sweat a little when you remove it. If you want to prevent the sweating, just put the cake inside a garbage bag and tie it loosely at the top. This will prevent the condensation.