Buttercream or ganache?

[pamplemousse]

I need to know which is better to cover and sandwich a cake with please...
Am thinking ganache is richer due to being chocolate and cream (is that all?!) and maybe yummier? Only thinking this as buttercream would be made of cocoa powder and butter etc?
Any ideas please....

Swiss meringue buttercream is a fab alternative to tradional buttercream, much lighter and less sweet. Great for piping onto cupcakkes

CoV - swiss meringue buttercream - details, please

While I am at it, when you freeze cupcakes, do you trim them flat first? and do you thaw them before icing them or not? and how long do they keep?

The trouble, I have discovered, with providing fab (if basic by your standards) cup cakes for a fundraising event is that word gets around. I still have lots of eggs so I was planning to bake now for the next event (in about 3 weeks time).

Good idea, Stealth.

I really need the recipe for the pipable meringue frosting NOW - have cupcakes ready to be frosted. Will have to be the usual buttercream this time but want to try the other one next time. But I need to know that it works.

I found a recipe here. It does rather assume you have a 'proper' mixer with a stand, though - and that is a lot of butter. I think fund-raising cupcakes are going to have to stick to royal icing and moulding icing decorations for now.

Sorry I flaked out last night. Glad you found the recipe. It does seem a lot of eggs and butter but I make a load ond freeze it for later use. I currently do it with a hand held mixer, which is a bit of a pain. Funnily enough father christmas is bringing me a Kitchenaid this year too. I keep drolling over it, love the retro style!

I rejected the first recipe I found on principle because it was a Martha Stewart one

so while I am being a stalker PITA curious person:

when you freeze cupcakes, do you trim them flat first? and do you thaw them before icing them or not? and how long do they keep?

I freeze them once they are cool, and I only cut the tops off if there are particularly doomed/uneven/or the "style" of decoration requires a flat surface.

I ice them frozen if using swiss buttercream/ganache piped into swirls as the icing then doesn't get hot/start melting. However if I am spreading a thin layer of buttercream/ganache or other topping then adding a disc of embossed fondant I allow them to defrost a bit more, the buttercrem etc needs to be slightly softer to act as a "glue" to hold the disc onto the cake iyswim.

In terms of keeping, do you mean once baked or how long in the freezer? Mine are never in the freezer for more than a week, fresh they are never made more than 2 days in advance. Not sure how long they could be kept for though!

decoration style planned is a (pre-made) disc of fondant of some sort - I was thinking of freezing them for 2-3 weeks and thawing/decorating the day/night before the event?

pre-made by me, I should add - pre-made by someone else would blow the economics of cup cakes as fundraisers entirely

Sounds fine to me. Good luck!