Quick cake decorating help needed!

[gastropod]

Need your advice quickly, ye cake decorators of Mumsnet!!

Making a birthday cake, decorating to look like snow. Can I crumb coat with butter icing and then cover the whole thing with royal icing? Or will the royal icing slide off?

I need to stick it together with buttercream, and was then going to do a very thin crumb coat, let that dry and then royal ice (like a Christmas cake).

I also have white fondant but birthday girl less keen on the flavour. But if necessary can use that instead.

All advice much appreciated!

Buttercream & desiccated coconut?

What about a layer of white marizpan exactly like a Christmas cake. I would think the royal icing wouldn't set on top of the butter cream.

Thanks - unfortunately too many coconut haters at the birthday party for that to work

Shaved white chocolate curls?

I wouldn't do a buttercream crumb coat not sure if it would slide off though. Instead i would use a thin layer of the royal icing as a crumb coat then go over that with a thicker layer for your snow

Maybe the buttercream on its own is white enough? Here's a pic with a piece of white paper behind for comparison.

grated white chocolate might work...but royal icing on buttercream is surely a disaster waiting to happen!

I'm with buckeejit - buttercream as pale as you can make it. If dessicated coconut isn't an option, you could add bit of extra sifted icing sugar on top so it looks more white and powdery-snowy?

If you want to use royal.icing, maybe some warmed up apricot jam would be an option rather than buttercream for a crumb coat, depending on the cake flavour. I always go with the buttercream option myself though, find it much easier and more forgiving!

Thanks all - needed confirmation that royal icing on buttercream was not going to work. Am going for buttercream whipped up light and pale. And then yes a bit of extra icing sugar on top. Then the skiing penguins...

Do you have food dye. ? Add a tiny tiny dab of purple. This neutralises the yellow of the butter to make white buttercream. Not too much orvit will go grey xx