Buttercream or Fondant? Choosing the Right Finish for Your Cake

This question comes up at almost every wedding cake consultation, and the honest answer is that neither finish is universally better. They're suited to different things. The right choice depends on the look you want, the kind of event it's for, the weather conditions you're working in, and — most importantly — whether the people eating it actually like the taste of fondant.

Because that last point gets glossed over more than it should. A lot of guests at British weddings quietly peel the fondant off and leave it on the plate. It's polite to say that up front.

What is buttercream?

Buttercream is made from butter and icing sugar, usually with a small amount of liquid (milk, cream, or flavouring) to adjust the consistency. There are several types, each with different properties:

• Simple buttercream (American-style): Butter, icing sugar, a splash of milk. Stiff and sweet. Easy to make, holds well at room temperature, pipes well for simple flowers and rosettes. The most common type used in UK birthday cakes.
• Swiss meringue buttercream: Egg whites and sugar cooked over a bain-marie, then whipped to a glossy meringue, then butter beaten in. Less sweet than American-style, silkier, more stable in warm rooms. The professional's choice for smooth-finish cakes.
• Italian meringue buttercream: Hot sugar syrup poured into whipped whites, then butter beaten in. Even more stable than Swiss. Slightly harder to make at home but very forgiving in warmer conditions.
• French buttercream: Egg yolks and hot sugar syrup, then butter. Rich, yellow, intensely flavoured. Very delicious; not as good at holding a sharp edge for decorative work.

When we say "buttercream finish" at the bakery, we almost always mean Swiss meringue buttercream — it gives the cleanest result, tastes best, and behaves well on a tiered cake that needs to travel.

What is fondant (sugarpaste)?

Rolled fondant — sold as sugarpaste in the UK — is a pliable sugar dough, usually made from icing sugar, glucose syrup, and gelatine or glycerol. It's rolled out like pastry and draped over a crumb-coated cake to create a smooth, matte or slightly glossy surface.

Fondant is distinct from poured fondant (used on fancy fancies and petit fours) and from modelling paste (a stiffer version used for figurines and flowers). When people talk about "fondant cakes", they almost always mean rolled sugarpaste.

Taste: the honest comparison

Buttercream tastes of butter and sugar. At its best (Swiss meringue, made with proper unsalted butter) it's genuinely delicious — light, rich, not cloying. Even American-style buttercream, which can be very sweet, is at least a familiar and pleasing flavour most people actively enjoy.

Fondant tastes of sugar. Plain commercial fondant has very little flavour beyond sweetness. Premium fondant brands (Satin Ice, Renshaw) are better, but still not particularly pleasant compared to buttercream. Many guests — a large proportion of them adults at formal events — will eat the sponge and leave the fondant on the side of the plate. This is not a myth.

If the cake being eaten matters to you (it should), this is a meaningful difference.

Appearance: what each finish can do

Buttercream

Buttercream cakes can be finished to a surprisingly sharp, smooth edge with the right technique — a bench scraper, a turntable, and patience. The finish is slightly textured rather than perfectly glassy, which many people find more appealing than the plasticky look of fondant.

Buttercream is also excellent for:

• Semi-naked and naked finishes (a thin scrape of cream showing the sponge through)
• Rustic textured finishes (palette knife work, swirled surfaces)
• Ombre and gradient effects
• Piped borders, rosettes, and shell edges
• Fresh or dried flower decoration

Fondant

Fondant's main advantage is a perfectly smooth, completely flat surface that photographs extremely well and holds paint, edible metallic finishes, and printed transfers better than buttercream. It's also necessary for certain structural decoration — modelled figurines that attach to the cake, 3D elements that need to be embedded in a firm surface.

Fondant is the better choice for:

• Intricate painted designs (hand-painted floral or watercolour effects)
• Geometric designs with sharp tile or panel-work
• Novelty and sculpted cakes where the surface needs to look like something other than cake
• Photo-quality edible prints (the smooth surface takes detail better)
• Cakes that need to travel significant distances in warm weather (fondant is more stable than buttercream)

Practical considerations

Heat and humidity

Buttercream softens in heat. An outdoor summer wedding in direct sun, or a marquee in July, is a challenge for buttercream — especially for a tiered cake on a table for a few hours before cutting. Italian meringue buttercream is more stable than simple buttercream, but neither holds in 28°C sun the way fondant does. For outdoor summer events, fondant is genuinely the more pragmatic choice.

Lead time and shelf life

Fondant-covered cakes can be finished 2–3 days before the event and stored in a cool, dry room. They do not go in the fridge (condensation ruins the surface). Buttercream cakes are best finished no more than a day or two ahead. For bakers managing large orders with tight schedules, fondant-finished cakes offer more flexibility — though we'd argue good planning removes this advantage.

Cost

Fondant covering takes time — rolling, draping, smoothing, and repairing any cracks or wrinkles. A large tiered cake in fondant often takes longer to finish than a comparable buttercream cake. In practice, fondant and buttercream cakes at a similar size and complexity level cost about the same from most professional bakers, or fondant slightly more for elaborate work. Neither is dramatically cheaper than the other.

What we recommend at Crumbs of Sandbach

Our preference, and what we make most of, is buttercream — Swiss meringue, properly finished, with real decorations. It tastes better, it suits the kind of fresh, seasonal celebration cakes we make, and most of our customers come to us specifically because they want something that looks natural and gets eaten.

We also work in fondant for customers who specifically request it or whose design requires it — sculpted novelty cakes and certain painted finishes genuinely benefit from a fondant surface. But we won't push it, and we'll always be upfront if buttercream is a better fit for what you have in mind.

If you're working through which finish suits your cake, get in touch at [email protected] and we'll talk it through. You can also read our guide to storing and freezing cake — the finish you choose affects how long the cake keeps and how to store it before the event.