Spent 4 hours trying to fix a cracked buttercream cake and it was just the room temp

I was making a three-layer birthday cake for my sister last Saturday and the buttercream kept splitting and looking greasy. I swapped my butter brand, tried different mixing speeds, even chilled the bowl between layers. After four wasted batches and a counter full of sticky mess, I finally checked my kitchen thermometer. My apartment was at 78 degrees because the AC had been acting up. The butter was just too warm from the start and I never thought to check the room temp. I felt pretty dumb but at least the final cake turned out decent after I cooled everything down. Has anyone else had a simple thing like room temperature totally wreck their frosting?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_wells15d ago

oh man the room temp thing got me too but in a completely different way... last month i tried making a chocolate mirror glaze for a friend's birthday and it kept setting up all wrong and cracking when i poured it. turned out my kitchen was like 65 degrees because i left the window open and the cold was making it seize before it could even flow over the cake. i was so frustrated thinking i messed up the recipe but no it was just the air around me acting up. you'd think after years of baking i would remember that temperature matters for everything not just the ingredients themselves.

grayw3211d ago

Hold up though, isn't a 65 degree kitchen a pretty rare thing unless you're baking in a basement or something? Most people would kill for a room that cold in the summer.