Icing disaster

[Trellum]

Hi to all! I just wanted to ask what the most common reason for the icing to look ''cut'' or ''cracked'' is. It happens sometimes when I make my own cream cheese icing, I cover the cake with it and then put it inside the fridge. Some hours later the icing looks like it has cracks! Doesn't happen everytime, but when it does

 

[Soliloquy]

It sounds like your refrigerator is drying out the top layer of frosting, and perhaps your base isn't solid enough and allowing some subtle shifting to cause the cracks. I would have thought cream cheese frosting would have enough fat in it to keep it pliable, but you might try adding a bit more fat to your recipe, like vegetable shortening to keep it more moist. Also, use a sturdier base and check your refrigerator shelf with a level. If all else fails, dip a metal spatula in hot water, let the majority of the water drip off and gently press against the crack. This should rehydrate/melt the fat a little.

 

[Trellum]

It sounds like your refrigerator is drying out the top layer of frosting, and perhaps your base isn't solid enough and allowing some subtle shifting to cause the cracks. I would have thought cream cheese frosting would have enough fat in it to keep it pliable, but you might try adding a bit more fat to your recipe, like vegetable shortening to keep it more moist. Also, use a sturdier base and check your refrigerator shelf with a level. If all else fails, dip a metal spatula in hot water, let the majority of the water drip off and gently press against the crack. This should rehydrate/melt the fat a little.

Thanks for the useful tip, you are always so helpful! I'll make sure to check the refrigerator self with a level as soon as I can, I don't need to feel like I'm gambling everytime I put a cake covered in homemade icing into the fridge Someone else had told me something similar, but I didn't think much about it. I was also told that maybe the cream cheese wasn't room temperature. I think I'll pay more attention to that next time.

 

[Soliloquy]

Please do let me know if any of those tips do the trick! (Need plenty of data for my frosting book, you know.)