Best buttercream to use under fondant

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Permalink Reply by Chris Kozaczynski on August 7, 2012 at 12:49am

Although items such as tylose powder, dusts and glitters are non-toxic, they are not recommended to be eaten. Didn't believe it myself until I heard from several chefs and searched a little online too.

Cheryl Cochran said:

Yes, June, humidity is not a baker's friend!  My body is a great barometer for humidity, and I don't remember being bothered by it at all in the classroom, even though it was warmer than normal.  And I know our AC was on all the time at home, kept at about 76 degrees.  I think I can kind of relate to how you may have felt after your class.  I was so excited to expand my skills, and gain some knowledge and confidence from taking the fondant class.  However, I now feel less confident than I did before the class!  I just made yet another batch of icing this forenoon, and, of course, I changed up my recipe again!!!  (Making myself crazy over the icing!)  I'm going to frost and cover a couple 6" cakes I made to see how these go.  And this brings another question to mind:  Do you work with cake mixes or scratch recipes when you make fondant covered cakes?  Upon advise from another decorator, I've added ingredients to cake mix to make the cake more sturdy.  Then, when I talked to the fondant class instructor, she said she makes regular homemade recipes (not pound-type cakes), and for chocolate cake she uses chocolate cake mix and makes as directed.  She even rolls her fondant a little thicker than normal, but her cakes hold up fine.  When I cut my class cake (mind you this was after three or four days), the top layer looked about a half inch shorter than the bottom.  My fondant was normal thickness, so I don't feel it was adding more than normal weight to my cake.  Anyway, this is just one more issue that I'm making myself crazy over!!!  I will post a reply after I cover my cakes later today.

Luckily, I just bought some tylose powder to mix in the fondant I'm decorating the cake with, and what I gather from your post is that you would do the same; that's good to know!  I'll bet your humidity sensor is going to let you know that you have much more moisture in your basement that on your second story.  Same here, the humidity is clearly higher in our basement than in the main living areas of our house.  At least you know where the best place in your house is to store your fondant/gumpaste decorations!

Thanks again for your responses, June.  All this information will help me to reach my goal - to be less crazy AFTER this wedding cake is done!

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Sweetland on September 14, 2012 at 9:14pm

June I am going to try this mixture under my fondant.. how it works thanks all for you knowledge...

June Kowalczyk said:

Ok Cheryl
Did you use Wilton fondant??? Yuk, tastes awful and is hard as a rock, terrible to get soft enough to work with. I usually make my own. If not I use a good fondant made with white chocolate. Satin Ice is also a good fondant. You must knead your fondant well to develop elasticity & remove air bubbles. I have never had a fondant sag or slide. Perhaps you put too much icing under the fondant? If your fondant isn't sealed by a good border, icing can melt and run out. That's happened to me. I now put meringue powder in my icing so it will "crust" & keep stable. If I am setting up outside, I will do 1/2 buttercream, 1/2 royal icing mixture. Did that in May when I had a cake in a hall that was a converted barn, open completely to the outside. Held up well.
If the cake is in a air conditioned hall, away from direct sunlight, you don't have to fuss too much about a "special" icing underneath your fondant.
Hope this helps. Any other questions, I will certainly try to answer. We're here to help.

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Permalink Reply by Carol Dorrington on September 14, 2012 at 10:03pm

Hi everyone. I was just rerereading the disussion. The buttercream icing worked just fine. I received a recipe that used cornstarch instead of meringue powder for stabilization however I coulddn't help myself, I also added the merngue. Apparently it will last even during the most humid weather. I hope so, baked a cake for a weddding rehearsal nd it is supposed to be warm out tomorrow. maybe it won,t be too humid bcause it will be hld near the lake.

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Permalink Reply by June Kowalczyk on September 14, 2012 at 10:26pm

The icing you speak of Carol, I have also made, except I use flour. Actually made some today. But I also had meringue pwrd as well for crusting. Let us know how everything turns out. And take pics. :0)

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Permalink Reply by Carol Dorrington on September 14, 2012 at 10:32pm

I would love to upload pics but I am also a novice with doing thngs like that, If you have the time would you give me a quick tutorial on how to get pictures from the computer to this site. Looking forward to learning something new.

thanks again

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Permalink Reply by Carol Dorrington on September 14, 2012 at 10:34pm

The icing turned out fine but after removing from fridge I found that it didn't stay crusted very long, but it was raining today so probably the damp air had somethng to do with it. I will send pic as soon as I learrn how.

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