This Summer, something happened to me that has never happened before (to my knowledge at least): one of my cakes melted in the outdoor heat. I made a birthday cake for a dear friend’s daughter – my vegan vanilla cake with vegan vanilla buttercream. The party was outdoors and the temperature was around 85 degrees. I refrigerated the cake up until I needed to drive it to the party, thinking that would be enough to preserve it for a few hours. But about an hour after the cake was displayed, the thing started melting (along with my heart). Thankfully, these were the kind of friends who were able to laugh about it with me as it all fell apart. Here’s a before and after:
Although it was a first for me, it got me thinking about so many of you who live in hot and humid climates. I’ve even gotten questions over the years from said people wondering how to make their buttercream more heat stable. The fact of the matter is, the butter in buttercream frosting starts to break down when it’s in an environment that’s above 82 degrees, and vegan butter has an even lower melting point. So, I thought I’d do some experimenting on how to add stability to your buttercream (both vegan and non) for those hot and humid days while keeping your frosting nice and tasty.
For my experiment, I created four mini cakes and frosted them each with different frostings using my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe as a base:
- All butter (aka the recipe as-is)
- Half butter and half shortening
- Half butter and half shortening + meringue powder for added stability
- Half vegan butter and half shortening (with coconut milk as the liquid)
I refrigerated each cake until firm before placing them in the direct sun on an 88 degree day with 35% humidity and here’s a video of what happened:
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Buttercream Heat Test Results
Over the course of the two hours I had the cakes in the sun, none of them completely melted, which was kind of disappointing because I wanted things to be more dramatic. The day just wasn’t hot enough. So in the end, I had to break out the hair dryer to see what would happen with more heat applied.
After I cranked up the heat on these cakes, the all-butter buttercream frosted cake melted into soup:
The cake with the half vegan butter and half shortening got a huge air bubble in the frosting that started to melt:
The half butter and half shortening frosted cake looked pretty good after one hour but this is after two hours out in the direct sun + hair dryer:
And the half butter/half shortening with added meringue powder had relatively no change:
I did try an all-shortening frosting because I hear that’s really heat stable, but just couldn’t get over how terrible it tasted. You’d have to use a lot of flavoring to get it to taste normal (and even then, the texture is a little weird).
I concluded that when you’re up against crazy heat (according to these test results at least), use half butter and half shortening with meringue powder. If you’re in need of vegan frosting, you can chance it with half vegan butter and half shortening or try the all-shortening route (with the meringue powder omitted) if you can get it to taste good. I’m going to add my preferred recipe below and in the notes, I will show you how to adapt the recipe for using all-shortening, making it vegan, etc.
What is High Ratio Shortening?
When you think of shortening, what do you think of? Crisco is what I thought of before all my research into heat stable buttercream. It turns out that Crisco (and most shortening) is made with zero trans fat – in other words, it won’t add enough stability to your frosting. So in order to add that stability, you need what’s called high ratio shortening. That means the shortening has a high ratio of fat with added emulsifiers and no added salt or water. In other words, the micro emulsifiers in it help your frosting to hold more sugar and liquid and thus make it more temperature resistant.
Unlike Crisco though, high ratio shortening can’t be found at your typical grocery store. I found this high ratio shortening on Amazon, which claims to be made specifically for cake making, but there are other brands (Sweetex is one I hear about a lot) that cake decorators use. You might be lucky and live close to a cake decorating shop that sells high ratio shortening, so check your local area to see.
What is Meringue Powder?
Meringue powder is basically powdered egg whites, but it also contains cornstarch, sugar for sweetness, gum arabic for thickening, and cream of tartar which helps with stabilizing. If you want to try just adding meringue powder to your buttercream without adding any shortening, add 1 Tbsp (per batch of frosting) by mixing it into the powdered sugar before adding it to the butter in the linked recipe.
With taste and stability in mind, here’s my new go-to recipe for heat stable buttercream:
Heat Stable Vanilla Buttercream
A tasty vanilla buttercream that stands up better to hot and humid environments. Makes enough to fill and frost a double layer cake, fill and crumb coat a triple layer cake, and frost about 20 cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 Cup (100g) high ratio shortening
- 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp meringue powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp whole milk or heavy whipping cream, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
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With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter and shortening on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
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Whisk the meringue powder into the powdered sugar. Then, with the mixer on low, add the meringue/powdered sugar mixture one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
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Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated.
Recipe Notes
Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency.
To Make It with Vegan Butter: substitute an equal amount of vegan butter (I love Earth Balance Sticks) for the unsalted butter, omit the meringue powder, add 1 Tbsp vanilla instead of 2 tsp, add 1 Tbsp dairy-free milk instead of 2 Tbsp whole milk (my favorite is unsweetened coconut milk), and salt to taste.
To Make It All-Shortening: omit the butter and use 1 Cup of high ratio shortening, 1 Tbsp of vanilla (and ¼-½ tsp of any other flavorings you’d like, such as butter extract, almond extract, etc), 4 Tbsp of whole milk or non-dairy milk, and keep the salt amount the same.
To Make It Extra White: After all ingredients have been incorporated, add 1-2 tsp of Americolor Bright White or icing whitener of your choice.
Did you try this recipe? I want to know that you think! Let me know in the comments below or feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram and show me. I love to see what you create! And if you have a go-to recipe for heat stable buttercream or technique that you swear by, let us all know in the comments. We’re all in this together!
Thank you for posting this! I live in Miami and can’t wait to try it!
Of course! I hope this helps!
Do you refrigerate your cakes after you decorate if delivering the next day or leave them out?
Hi Maddie! I always refrigerate fully decorated cakes before delivery. It’s much easier to preserve the details and transport that way. Here’s a blog post that shows my process: https://sugarandsparrow.com/making-cakes-ahead/
Hi, I live in Brisbane and have a couple of questions.
If I use your white chocolate frosting recipe to cover a mud cake
How heat resistant is it?
Can I put the iced cakes into the fridge overnight and have no effect on the frosting when it sits out?
Hope you can help
Kate
Hi Kate! Since I didn’t run the experiment with my white chocolate buttercream recipe I can’t say for sure how heat stable it is. I have heard that the addition of white chocolate in that recipe does make it more heat stable. I would try adding 1 Tbsp of meringue powder in with the powdered sugar for every batch of the white chocolate buttercream you’re making and definitely refrigerate the cake until you’re ready to deliver it. Hope that helps!
I live in Barbados and it’s extremely hot here sometimes and everytime I try to frost cakes, it’s melts aways. I’m looking forward to trying your recipe.
Can I use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
Hi Shae! I’m excited for you to try this recipe! 2% milk should be fine with this recipe.
Can i reduce the amount of sugar as it’s a bit too sweet for my parent…if yes, how many gram can I reduce?
Hi there! You could try reducing the sugar by 1/2 cup or so (360 grams total), but any less than that and the frosting will be thin. I’ve already tweaked the sugar amount to make this buttercream less sweet than typical American Buttercream recipes, but feel free to experiment with the sugar amount.
Hi! What ingredient can I substitute for high ratio shortening, I cant find in my country. Thank you!!
Hi Nicole! If you can’t find high ratio shortening, I would either just use all butter and add meringue powder to help stabilize it, or ask around other cake makers in your area to see what they use to combat the heat. Hope that helps!
This is THE BEST buttercream recipe I have ever used in the 31 years I’ve been cake decorating!
I live in the UK so heat and humidity isn’t generally a problem, however central heating and warm houses can be.
I used ‘Crisp n Dry’ shortening in replacement for the shortening in this recipe, however I used 50g instead of 100g and added the other 50g to my unsalted butter. I also added 3tbs of double cream instead of 2 as I found it was slightly too thick for covering the cake!
It’s perfect and tastes amazing, not sickly at all, I was worried I would be able to taste the shortening but I can’t at all!
I haven’t finished decorating my cake yet so obviously it hasn’t been through the stability test yet, but the buttercream has been out of the fridge for the last 4 hours (covered with cling film) and the consistency hasn’t altered in the slightest like others have done in the same conditions!!
I guarantee you will not be disappointed with this recipe at all and thank you for sharing, I will never use anything but this from now on
Yay, Wendy! That makes me so so happy! Thank you for taking the time to let me know and I’m so thrilled you’ve found a new go-to buttercream recipe for the warmer months.
An update on the finished cake!
Perfect! It was taken to a restaurant and was kept in the kitchen there until the end of the meal! The buttercream did not even break a sweat
Once again thank you
Yay, Wendy! What a relief!
Hi Wendy i dont understand. you say you used 50g shortening and then added other 50g to the butter?
[…] “Stable Vanilla Buttercream Recipe for Hot Weather” by Sugar and Sparrow. Okay, I’m sharing this one a little late, but maybe it’s still hot where you’re from? In any case, check out this blog post because it’s really cool—Whitney “heat tested” a bunch of different buttercreams under the warm, hot sun and eventually developed a recipe that was heat stable. Amazing! […]
I tried this heat resistant butterceam recipe for a birthday cake because it was 90 degrees in San Diego that day and the cake lasted the entire party!
I ended up making 3 batches of it for a 2 tier cake with 3 x 8” cakes and 2 x 6” cakes.
My only question is: Can we double this recipe?
Totally recommend this recipe!
Thanks for this recipe
YAY, Jessica! It makes me so happy to hear that this recipe worked well for your outdoor party and the cake lasted! You can absolutely double (or triple!) the recipe. Thanks for taking the time to let me know what a hit it was!
I love this recipe! I’m wondering if you’ve tried a cream cheese version of this icing?. I’m making a pumpkin cake fir an outdoor party and was hoping to have cream cheese icing that will hold up to 88 degree weather.
Thanks so much, Julie! I’m so happy to hear you loved this recipe! I haven’t tried this with cream cheese buttercream before but if I were to attempt it, I would just replace half of the butter in the buttercream recipe with high ratio shortening and add 1 Tbsp of meringue powder. Hope that helps!
Hi Whitney,
I hope you’re well.
Love your blog, its so helpful in so many ways.
I cant find meringue powder (the only cake shop that does stock around here is out of stock and have been having issues since COVID. ) I also cant find shortening- we get alot of baking margarine but no shortening. Please can you assist with what I can replace both with? I did have look at a premix icing in the store today and they had cornstarch in their mix?
Look forward to your response!
xo
Hi Rebecca! I’m sorry to hear you’re having a hard time finding these ingredients locally. My best suggestion would be to order them online (I have Amazon links to both in this blog post). I’m not sure about using cornstarch in frosting but you could do some research to see if that adds stability in a pinch! Good luck!
Hi Whitney, thank you for this wonderful recipe. I used it to cover a cake that was placed under the shade but outdoor all day and it still looked as perfect as it was when I took it out of the fridge. With the leftover/excess buttercream that wasn’t used. Can I freeze this and for how long before I need to discard?
Hi Lisa! I’m so glad this recipe worked out so well for you!! And about the excess buttercream – I’ve never stored it in the freezer before but I’m sure it would work since it’s an American buttercream and I hear of bakers doing that all the time. Here’s how: https://blog.wilton.com/how-to-store-buttercream-frosting/
Hi Whitney, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’m looking forward to try it. I’d like to ask how to modify the heat stable buttercream if we were to make it into other flavors like chocolate or coffee/mocha. Should I substitute some of the powdered sugar for cocoa powder? or maybe instead of using milk can I try using chocolate ganache instead?
Hi Jenny! Excited for you to try this recipe! If you want to alter the flavor, you can start with any of my buttercream recipes (or any American buttercream recipe) and substitute half of the butter with high ratio shortening + add 1 Tbsp meringue powder. So for example, for a chocolate flavored buttercream, start with my chocolate buttercream recipe (https://sugarandsparrow.com/chocolate-buttercream-recipe/) and instead of 1 Cup of butter use 1/2 Cup butter + 1/2 Cup shortening and add 1 Tbsp meringue powder in with the dry ingredients. You can use the same alterations with the coffee buttercream in this recipe: https://sugarandsparrow.com/peppermint-mocha-cake-recipe/
Enjoy and let me know if you have any more questions!
I was wondering what food colouring you used for these cakes
Hi Natasha! I used AmeriColor gels for these cakes: Teal, Peach, Fuchsia, Egg Yellow, and Peacock.
What can i use to substitute for the meringue powder?
Hi Jhenelle! I’m not sure about a substitute for the meringue powder that will work in a frosting recipe like this. You can omit the meringue powder and still have quite a stable frosting, but the addition of the meringue powder will make it even more stable.
Hola , en la receta de crema de mantequilla quiero saber cuanto puedo reducir de azúcar glass , ya que me queda bastante dulce
Hi there! You can try reducing the powdered sugar by 1/2 cup but you’ll need to reduce the liquid a bit as well to make sure it ends up the right consistency. I have already tweaked this recipe to be less sweet than most american buttercreams, so if you haven’t yet tried this recipe as-is, I would give that a try first before reducing the sugar.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I live in hot south Alabama and this is just what I need? I have two questions: 1) Does this frosting pipe well? 2) Will the high ratio shortening at this link be suitable for your recipe: https://www.cakecraftshoppe.com/products/alpine-high-ratio-shortening?variant=39739265384529
Thank you.
Hi Rachel! Yes, this frosting pipes perfectly! And that high ratio shortening looks great. Enjoy!
Hello ..Can i use fresh egg whites,? What is thae ratio ?Since i cannot find any meringue powder here in the island of caribbean.thanks.
Hi Iza! I’ve never tried that before so I’m not sure if it would work. My first thought was that it wouldn’t be safe since the egg whites would be raw, but it looks like people use whipped egg whites in royal icing recipes. That said, I won’t have a definitive answer until I get the chance to test it, but you can feel free to research and experiment with egg whites using this recipe as a base! If you do, let us all know how it went!
Hi Whitney,
I need to make a cake in July in So Cals High Desert, temps can reach up to 115 on the hottest days. The cake is very detailed with piped flowers, will this work for those decorations or should royal icing be used?
Hi Janet! Wow, that’s hot. This buttercream can be stiffened to create the best consistency for piped flowers (just add an extra 1/2 Cup to 1 Cup of powdered sugar for the flowers). To be absolutely sure they will withstand the heat I would make a practice batch and place them in the sun to see how they behave. If you don’t feel like practicing ahead of time and you know royal icing will work, you could totally go with that as an alternative.
Hi thanks for this! Two questions:
1. Is this recipe stiff enough to pipe flowers?
2. Wondering how this would fare for cupcakes picked up the day before the wedding. Would they be okay left out on the counter the day before after pick up and then outside for the wedding? I hesitate to ask for the cupcakes to be refrigerated as that’ll dry them out.
Thanks!
Hi Tas! You can add an extra 1/2 Cup to 1 Cup of powdered sugar to stiffen this recipe for piping flowers. And yes – you can absolutely leave cupcakes out for a day at room temp as they await pickup. That’s what I would do!
What does the meringue powder do for the frosting?
Hi Raye! The meringue powder is important for stabilizing the frosting.
I cannot find high ratio shortening anywhere. I only have Crisco. The high ratio shortening online is only sold on Amazon in massive tubs around 50 pounds. I read the comments above Dash do you recommend I use A) Crisco, or B) all butter and using the meringue powder measurement that you listed in the recipe? Temps will be around 85°. Also if I’m doing all butter an I supplanting the shortening measurement for butter?
Hi Courtney! Here’s a link to the high ratio shortening I used (it’s 3lbs): https://amzn.to/3DZlfe6. You can technically use Crisco in place of half the butter but it will affect the flavor and texture. High ratio shortening keeps the consistency of the buttercream creamy and smooth while also providing stability. My vote would be to use all butter (use 1 Cup total in this recipe) and add the meringue powder, or spring for the high ratio shortening. Hope that helps!
Hi Whitney!! Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe. Have you tried adding Meringue powder or Shortening to Swiss Meringue butter cream? If you can give mi any tips of How can I make Swiss Meringue Buttercream more stable I would really appreciate it! Thank you
Hi Maria! I’m so happy you love this recipe! Unfortunately I have never made Swiss Meringue Buttercream before, so I’m not sure how to stabilize it. After a quick Google search it does look like you can add meringue powder, but I’m just not sure how much since I’ve never made it before. Looks like there’s a lot of info out there on how to do it though!
Hi Whitney. I have to make a small wedding cake for my daughter that I will be covering in sugar crystals. I plan to use your icing as a base before I put the sugar on. As I won’t be able to put the cake in the fridge once the crystals are on, will this buttercream be ok at room temperature for about 36 hours?
Hi Lesley! I’m curious why you can’t refrigerate the cake after you cover it in sugar crystals? I have refrigerated cakes covered in sugar crystals before without any issues, so that’s where I would store it. That said though, this buttercream should be fine at room temp for 36 hours but it will definitely soften and be a little more fragile to transport. Hope that helps!
Hi just wondered if you could help. I’m making a 12 inch and 10 inch cake, what would the quantities be for making the buttercream to fill and cover please?
Hi Amy! If you’re filling and frosting a triple layer 12 inch cake, I would triple the recipe. For a triple layer 10 inch cake, I would make 2.5x the recipe. So 5.5x the recipe total if your cakes are triple layer. If they are double layer cakes of that size I would make about 4x the recipe total. Hope that helps!
Hello, I’m very excited to try this recipe for cupcakes and two cakes for my son’s first birthday which will be outside. I was curious is there any other brands that will work for the shorting or do you suggest the brand you have listed here? Thank you!
Hi Athena! Any brand of high ratio shortening will work great!
Seems pretty good – tastes good and I expect it will hold up well to heat. This was just a test batch so I used regular shortening instead of high ratio. It seemed too thick so I added another tablespoon of milk. Still seemed a little thick to have smooth piping. Any thoughts as to why that might be?
Hi there! I’m certain it’s because you didn’t use high ratio shortening. If you use regular shortening (or if it is otherwise too thick for your liking), you’ll need to thin it out by adding whole milk, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. If you’re piping with the buttercream, you will keep it to be a bit thicker consistency though so that the frosting holds its shape when piped.
Wondering if this buttercream will crust? I am doing a watercolor effect with the frosting for a wedding cake and need to be able to move the frosting around for a while. Too much crusting would make it difficult. The cake is for an outdoor wedding so I also need it to be stable.
Hi Angie! Yes, this is a crusting buttercream but it should absolutely work for a watercolor effect. I’ve used it with that same technique before and there’s a lot of time to work with it before it crusts. I’d say give it a go!
Hi . can I substitute shortening with lard or omit it? Thanks
Hi Anna! Unfortunately lard won’t add any stability and might throw off the consistency of this buttercream. Instead, you can substitute it with butter and add the meringue powder for extra stability.
Hey Whitney have you tried this with your black frosting?
Hi Desiree! I have not tried it with my black frosting recipe but I’m certain it would work! Just sub half of the butter in that recipe with high ratio shortening and add meringue powder. Hope that helps!
I live in Georgia where it gets upwards of 99 degrees! My baked goods sometimes have to travel over 200+ miles. I happened upon this recipe a few months ago and it has been in use, on cupcakes and cakes, since then!!! Thank you for this stabilized buttercream recipe. Easy and it has held up in this GA heat!
Yay, Tressa! I’m so so happy this recipe has been such a hit for you and has taken some of the stress out of hot weather cake making (and delivering!). Thanks so much for letting me know and I’m cheering you on in your baking!
So glad you looked into how to stabilize buttercream for high temperatures, but, I am unable to find any high ratio shortening except in the 50# tubs as os June 2022. Evidently there has been a run on it. Everyone, including Amazon is out of stock. I need to make a black frosting for a party this weekend, temp over 100 degrees. I already fear the amount of food color gel will effect the consistency as my 2 practice cakes to date have failed at much lower temps. I will use black coco powder. To get the frosting as dark as possible, What would you do, use some amount of Crisco? Cut back on milk?
Hi Bev! Crisco still has a higher melting point than butter, so that’s what I would use. And if you’re going for a black buttercream, try this recipe only sub half the butter for Crisco and add 1 Tbsp meringue powder per batch: https://sugarandsparrow.com/black-buttercream-recipe/ hope that helps!
hello I want to know how to get buttercream for flower in hot weather , if I don’t have vegetable shortening
Hi Samia! You can try just adding meringue powder to an all-butter recipe but I highly recommend swapping some of the butter for shortening for best results.