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Hi
I am making a unicorn cake which will be iced with sugar paste, and then decorated with a buttercream mane. I wonder if I should add some royal icing powder to the buttercream to make it a bit firmer in case the temperature rises. I wouldn’t want it to melt and slip off the cake. Alternatively, would the buttercream with royal icing added be too hard to pipe? Any help would be great thanks.

Many thanks

Hi bellscakes

Adding royal icing powder will definitely help keep the buttercream nice and firm in the event of a temperature hike. If the weather is on the low side of comfortably warm, replace some of your normal icing sugar with the royal icing powder. If it becomes too stiff to pipe, you could always loosen it down slightly with a little milk or water to piping consistency. It will still crust and firm up.

Hope you’re keeping well 🙂

Hi Madeitwithlove

Many thanks for your help. All worked out well in the end despite a few setbacks along the way.

Thanks I’m well, I hope you are too. I think we will all feel much happier though when we can finally return to more normal living though.

Take caare xx

Hope the setbacks weren’t major but I’m glad things worked out.

Good to hear you’re well and looking forward to getting back to ‘normal’. We will be taking things with considerable caution due to both our health conditions. However, it will be wonderful to see family and friends at long last, some whom have not been as lucky as we.

Keep keeping well. ?

Hi again madeitwithlove

Ah well I’d to bake another 2 sandwich cakes early on the day of decorating the cake, as It needed more height. As if that wasn’t bad enough, but my dual piping bag burst just as I was about to use it so that was the end of the pink and purple colour theme. I then transferred the buttercream to a bowl, added the royal icing powder, and put it into an ordinary large piping bag. I then had to repeat the whole process with the other dual filled piping bags, so much for being prepared!. The best laid plans and all that.. I don’t think I’d ever use these dual piping bags again. It may have been that the bags were a bit too old or that I’d filled them too full. It was all a huge nightmare but perseverence won the day. Oh the woes of the amateur cake baker! Then again it can all be put down to experience, one not to ever be repeated! 🙂 That said my little grandaughter absolutely loved the unicorn cake so ultimately it was all worth it. I absolutely agree that caution is the most sensible approach until safer times. Take cacre, it was good to catch up. xx