Cake fillings in the heat

[Heelworkhero]

I’m baking a cake that requires a filling that will stand up to being in a warm tent (and judged) for several hours, that will still be edible when it’s back home.

I was hoping mascarpone and icing sugar with fruit might be suitable?

Buttercream isn’t a suitable filling for this. Obviously, fresh cream is out…..

Any other ideas please???

I don't have personal experience, but I remembered this really interesting YouTube video where a guy tests multiple different stabilised whipped creams.

Another suggestion could be Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream, which I think hold up better than classic?

Is buttercream not suitable for the style of cake, or because of the heat?

Buttercream with 50% Trex, 50% butter and a lot of flavouring will cope and the Trex isn't detectable.

Use jam?

Jam.

Ermine frosting holds up well in heat.

Whipped buttercream with 1oz butter to 5 oz icing sugar is pretty stable.

@AnnaMagnani its a roulade. I’ve not made one before but they all seem to have a cream or cheese based sweet filling?

An old fashioned Swiss roll would be a jam filling. And I’m sure I’ve seen recipes for chocolate ones that have a ganache type filling

Your best bet is to look for a cake blogger who lives in Florida and see what they do as lots of American cake fillings are designed to stand up to extreme heat.

So I googled 'Florida cake blog roulade '

And first hit has a recipe for a whipped cream filling stabilised with marscapone.

But anything with whipped cream as in fresh dairy cream needs to be kept refrigerated to keep it edible! I would consider cream cheese and mascarpone to be nearly in same category, any of them will be fine for 30 mins or so out of fridge but longer than that and while might still look ok I'd be slow to eat them if they have been in a hot environment for several hours.

If it's meant to be a dessert type thing I'd use a ganache, if it's more like a tea time swiss roll I'd use buttercream, preference would be swiss meringue bc which is nicer than the ordinary stuff, either should hold for several hours assuming the tent isn't absolutely roasting.

Are they being tasted? If so I'd avoid trex based frostings, awful things imo, safest if being tasted and for taste would be swiss meringue buttercream with real block butter. Could add a jam or lemon curd layer to make it tastier.

Lemon curd.

I did Trex for my wedding cake on a super hot August day.

With 50% butter and a load of lemon even I couldn't tell and I knew it was there.

But it isn't going to work for a roulade.

Does it have to have a filling over and above the fruit, I wonder? I know it generally would but, say, fruit cake doesn't. So could you try to make the cakey bit a bit more moist so it doesn't need it? No idea if that's possible but just a thought.

Mascarpone and icing sugar with fruit sounds good! Here's why:

• Stable: Mascarpone is sturdier than whipped cream, holding its shape well.
• Adaptable: Adjust sugar and fruit for desired sweetness/tartness.

Alternatives:

• Jam: Thick jams like apricot or raspberry can work.
• Lemon curd: Delicious and tart, but might need refrigeration upon return.

Could you sit the plate it is on on a couple of large freezer blocks, you know the type for popping into cool bags? Could you bring more with you in a cool bag and swap them over? If you have a cake dome to go over the whole thing I'd imagine you could keep the cake a bit cooler that way.