Does buttercream made with milk need to be refrigerated?

[buggycough]

Hello!
Making a Victoria sponge and not sure if using milk in the buttercream, does it need to stay refrigerated?

I would refrigerate it, anything with fresh dairy filling I put in the fridge regardless

How long are you storing it for? How warm is your kitchen?

I never do- I think all the sugar seems to preserve it. It’s always kept in a tin on the side and gone in a few days. I don’t use much milk at all though. If worried, you could always use a little bit of warm water or add some spreadable butter to soften the butter cream

If its going to be eaten fairly quickly, same day, I wouldn't bother. Otherwise I'd use a bit of cooled boiled water.

Refrigerating a sponge will make it a bit drier/heavier.

Okay thank you, perhaps I'll add some water if I need to soften it. So the butter used will be okay!
Sorry if these sound like stupid questions, I'm a novice!

I never put milk in buttercream, just butter and icing sugar, then it doesn't need to be kept in the fridge.

Oh I make buttercream with milk all the time and have never thought of this. I just put it on the side in a tin. Yikes!

Same here, no milk. Softened butter and icing sugar.

1. Victoria Sponge technically is jam only with caster sugar sprinkled on top A vanilla sponge would have buttercream
2. buttercream icing is made solely with butter and icing sugar - if you need to soften the butter to make the buttercream more pliable then soften the butter slightly for 10-20 seconds in the microwave - and it's preserved by the amount of sugar, aside from which butter keeps fine for several days outside of the fridge - how slowly do you think you're going to eat cake (in my house it's gone quickly)

Cake is complete! Thank you everybody. I only used butter and icing sugar with some water to soften as I piped a bit on top. I think I may leave it covered outside of fridge to keep the sponge soft and fluffy

Glad things went well OP. For a smoother, less sweet buttercream, Swiss meringue buttercream is worth making and great for piping.