HELP!!! Cream Cheese Icing Falling off my cake
Hi I sure hope someone can help in a hurry! I just made a chocolate cake for my daughters birthday party tonight and cream cheese icing, the icing is sliding off the cake ANY Suggestions Please!!!!!!!
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13 Comments:
I would try a thin skim coat of icing first, let it set up for a couple of minutes and then ice again with a thicker coat of icing. How thick, what's the consistency of the icing like?
dhorst at 3:10PM on 05/29/09
Sounds like it could be a temperature issue; make sure the cake is adequately cooled before icing (and make sure the icing is adequately cooled too). Could also mean the icing is too oily--you could try mixing in more confectioners' sugar.
annatr at 3:11PM on 05/29/09
Thank you for your speedy comments, the consistency a little thinner than Im use to. I used a new recipe (white chocolate cream cheese) it is fabulious. I always make cakes from scratch and we all love cream cheese but it always seems as though I am heading to the refrigerator to save the day and cake. I know I must be doing something wrong...I would love a recipe that did not have to be refrigerated....Any suggestions would be most helpful
Granna at 3:19PM on 05/29/09
This is the recipe.
8oz White Chocolate chips (melted)
12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup butter ,room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
Could something be off!!!!
Granna at 3:36PM on 05/29/09
Interesting- that sounds very similar to the recipe that I use, and I've never had a problem with it. Did you let the white chocolate chips cool a bit before you made the frosting? I try to let them cool as much as possible without letting them re-harden before mixing it up.
Embackus at 3:43PM on 05/29/09
i'm with annatr: sounds like you might not have let the cake cool off long enough...that's happened to me before.
gastronomeg at 4:51PM on 05/29/09
The rest here are right-
Assuming the cake is cool enough then a crumb coat is the answer. GIve it a very thin coat of icing, not worrying about the look or crumbs, just enough to seal the cake. Then pop it in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then ice the cake thickly as you like.
Icing with white chocolate in it tends to be oilier and smoother, which makes it less likely to stick to things well.
After the second icing it would not hurt to pop it back in the fridge or freezer for a bit so the whole thing sets up.
When I use any white chocolate icing, or other smoother frosting I tend to use a plain buttercream as my crumb coat, and then ice with the richer frosting after that has set in the freezer for awhile. The plain icing has the right texture to stick to the cake and help the oilier icing stick to it, and is thin enough not to make a difference in the taste or look at all. That is a trick I learned at work years ago and now use at home often.
Good luck! That icing is tasty!
sadiepix at 6:02PM on 05/29/09
Oh my, thank you so much, makes a whole lot of sense to me....One more question if you dont mind. Should I need to refrigerate the cream cheese icing before icing the actual cake once it comes out of the freezer or can this be done at room temp? It seem as though I am always having to refrigerate it to get it to a spreading consistency?
Granna at 7:33PM on 05/29/09
depends- how hot is your kitchen? If I was trying to frost a cake today in my house, EVERYTHING would need some time in the chill chest. I have always found cream cheese frosting to spread better at room temp, but our kitchen is probably close to 75 degrees today, so mine would need to chill.
mhurst826 at 7:41PM on 05/29/09
Assuming you got the recipe and process right, it almost certainly the ambient temperature causing your problem.
Grumpy Old Man at 3:20AM on 05/30/09
Nuts! I hit the "post button" too quickly. Take a hard look at your recipe there, Granna. Notice anything significant about it? You have two fats in it, that's right, cocoa butter is a fat, which melt at relatively low temperatures.
Butter is an emulsion (a stable blend) of fat and water. When you cream butter and sugar together you are driving the sugar into solution with the water available in the butter. If you do not bring the temperature down after spreading a butter based icing on a cake, the sugar will remain in solution rather than crystallizing. It is the crystallization of the sugar that stabilizes your icing. The crystals lock everything into place. Think of the crystals as brick and mortar. Once they set, your icing will stay in pretty good shape, but they have to have time to set.
Grumpy Old Man at 3:35AM on 05/30/09
You've probably more than gotten your answer by now but many years ago, I made a seated dinosaur cake for my daughter's BD and the same thing happened. It was a firm pound cake recipe (better to hold the shape) and I used buttercream icing tinted green. As I started piping the icing, each little starlet fell off. I painted the whole cake with corn syrup. No more falling icing. Worked like a charm. It's GOT to be corn syrup. Simple syrup wouldn't work as well.
therealchiffonade at 6:20AM on 05/30/09
Amazing tips and tricks, THANK you all so much, this is an amazing site and so glad I found it when I did....in my state of panic...with a little chilling action the cake came out beautiful with a little shaved chocolate on top and the combination of the chocolate cake with the white cream cheese icing was so amazing......THANK YOU>>>>THANK YOU Everyone
Granna at 12:04PM on 05/30/09