Im making a 3 tier 1st birthday cake for my bosses daughter..... BUT!!! im very worried....the buttercream that i made which was a recipe from "here" (CC) as delicious it was it softened on me toooo quickly and working with it was a pain in my .....! I crumb coated as well and as quickly as i could and placed in fridge. This evening i was going to cover in MMF (another recipe from CC), decorate, stack and say a thousand prayers!!! But I cant help but worry about this frosting basically melting on me so quickly...HELP, what do i do???? Should i put the cakes in freezer for some hours then take out and cover in MMF? will this be safe? The filling is vanilla pudding with oreos (requested) Will i have to work quickly and keep the cakes in fridge until its time to cut cake/? i just dont know!!

do not freeze it...it will just get soft again and if you fondant cover it the fondant will dissolve get very sticky as it thaws

if you can make a buttercream (use butter as it will get the firmest when cold)
(italian buttercream is my choice buttercream)

put a final coat of buttercream then chill, hope that it will hold over the cream cheese,

for future always create a well of buttercream for the filling and i never use cream cheese buttercream as a frosting...cream cheese is to soft

be very careful to place good supports in before stacking, that they are equal in height and in cake straight.

good luck

Exactly which recipe for b'cream did you use?
I do NOT understand WHY people put a crumb coated cake in the frig If a good b'c is used & properly applied, it will dry within minutes and you are read to proceed w/finish icing. When covering a cake w/fondant the b'c should still be 'wet' not dry to the touch.
Not sure what yoou mean about the icing melting. Are you applying it w/a bag? Do you have HOT hands? A crumb coat usually is applied w/a spatula and spread very, very thin, just enough to seal in the crumbs. A good way to do that is to heat the a small amount of b'c in the micro for a few seconds - just enough until it starts to melt - then quickly spread it all over the cake. It will develop a glaze - look like a glazed donut - and you can quickly tell if you missed sealing any spot on the cake.

Do you have to keep a cake frosted with Italian buttercream refrigerated?

i don't refrigerate italian buttercream
and am told by chefs, chef instructors and others i trust that it doesn't need to be, the high sugar content and using whites (no fat) and not yolk (fat) that it is fine to not refrigerate.

one other thought re the "melting" cc b'c , i find using "cheap" or low to no fat cream cheese gets soupy not as thick as a good brand fat cream cheese.
always remember the chill and melting temperatures of your ingredients...
butter hard when cold and melts around body temperature
shortening about the same cold or room temp and melts 120 F
cream cheese soft when cold and very soft at room temp

thanks for ur replies ladies....

i did not use creamcheese at any point for anything...the recipe was butter, crisco.... and the base was actually a rue (flour and milk)...but after reading "KAKELADI's" response im starting to think that maybe its ok..."melting" was the wrong choice of word to use...sorrrry. i was in panc mode! :X I just always thought the the crumbcoat should be dry and to not see any part of the cake...on my cakes u can still see the cake here and there and is slightly "wet to the touch". But wont the MMF slide off? And the reason i placed the cakes in fridge is because of the filling....i will leave the cakes out tonight after i cover with fondant and decortae....

how should i go about this "situation" im having? or am i overley freaking out??

i don't refrigerate italian buttercream
and am told by chefs, chef instructors and others i trust that it doesn't need to be, the high sugar content and using whites (no fat) and not yolk (fat) that it is fine to not refrigerate.

one other thought re the "melting" cc b'c , i find using "cheap" or low to no fat cream cheese gets soupy not as thick as a good brand fat cream cheese.
always remember the chill and melting temperatures of your ingredients...
butter hard when cold and melts around body temperature
shortening about the same cold or room temp and melts 120 F
cream cheese soft when cold and very soft at room temp

Hi. I have never had true success with any of the MMF recipes. I struggled to with rolling, tearing and the final product is not very pleasing. I started to believe that I did not have the skills to decorate when in reality, it was the MMF. Most pros use store bought fondant You may find that a brand like Fondex (tastes better than most) or Satin Ice will be much easier to work with. Less stress is totally worth the extra money.

Why not just use your buttercream and smooth it instead of covering with fondant? Then you don't have to worry about how your fondant will react with anything! I know on some cakes you have to depending on your design but I never cover with fondant. The one time I tried was not pleasant. I also put cream cheese in my buttercream and it crusts nicely. It's not a cream cheese frosting per se, but it does have cream cheese in it along with real butter and powdered sugar. I tried covering a cake with fondant and it was impossible. Anyway, I'd just stick with the buttercream and bypass the fondant. But that's me...good luck in whichever way you go!

Hi, I always put my mmf covered cakes in the fridge and never have an issue, in 90 degrees some times it will sweat but it gets sucked right back up into the mmf after a little while I dont even use a high ratio suagr buttercream cause clients here hate sweet buttercream and my mmf never fails and always stays in place

I finally just last week found the best butter cream recipe. Well, I didn't find it...It was recommended for me by someone on CC to buy the Sharon Zambitos tape,Perfecting the art of buttercream and she has the recipe in the DVD.....all I can say is WOW! Its the best I ever used....and she is a great teacher...