After 13 years of cake decorating, I can confidently say that temperature can make or break your buttercream. You're probably reading this because you're wondering how to stop buttercream melting in hot weather. If your decorations have drooped, colours have run, or your cake has started to slide off the board, it’s almost always down to temperature, not your technique.
In this post I’m sharing my top buttercream melting tips so you can decorate beautiful cakes even on hot days, without the drama of melting buttercream.
If your cake goes from the fridge into a warm room, you’ll likely see tiny droplets of condensation appear on the surface of your buttercream. This is often called “cake sweat” and it’s frustratingly common. It happens because the inside of your cake is still cold, while the outside warms up faster.
The good news? It’s easy to fix. Just dab the droplets gently with a paper towel and the condensation will stop as the inside temperature of the cake catches up with the outside.
If you want to avoid this altogether, try these steps:
Ever noticed your piping loses definition and starts to look a bit blobby? If it's not the room temperature or the temperature of your cake, it could be your hands warming the buttercream through the piping bag.
Here's a quick hack to fix it. Pop the piping bag in the freezer for just one minute and set a timer. This cools the buttercream enough to firm it up again, without freezing it solid. After a quick chill, your piping will be clean, neat and defined once more.
Even if you’ve decorated the perfect cake, all your hard work can melt away if the cake is displayed in a hot environment. This is one of the most common causes of buttercream disasters at summer events or outdoor parties. Here’s how to stop buttercream melting when it’s hot out:
Use half butter and half shortening (like Trex or Crisco). Shortening is much more stable in heat than butter, but still allows you to get smooth finishes and neat piping.
If you're familiar with the flavour of all-butter buttercream, you might notice a difference in the taste of this. To improve it, add half a teaspoon of clear vanilla extract to bring back the buttery flavour without the bite of shortening.
This half-and-half version of buttercream holds up much better in the sun. It's perfect for summer cakes or outdoor events. Look at the difference between these two cakes, sitting outside on the same day. The top cake is frosted with my 4 Minute Buttercream recipe for all-butter buttercream. The bottom cake is frosted with buttercream using the same recipe but with half of the butter replaced with shortening.
Whether you’re dealing with condensation, soft piping, or heatwave disasters, now you’ve got a toolkit of buttercream melting tips to protect your cakes. Knowing how to stop buttercream melting is all about preparation, awareness, and a few clever hacks and once you’ve got these down, warm weather won’t ruin your cakes.
Want to take your decorating skills even further? Check out my online cake school for detailed courses on hundreds of cake decorating techniques and designs.
Watch a video of this tutorial on how to stop buttercream melting:
