I use the recipe from the whimsical bakehouse and it was working great. My stand mixer had broken so my wonderful husband would hold my hand mixer while i made it. made it three times no problem! My husband suprised me with a seven quart Cuisinart. The meringue whipped up no problem, I pured the melted, hot sugar water mixture into the meringue. It says to whip until the bowl is cool to the touch about ten minutes. I waited ten minutes, but it was still warm, i was worried about about over mixing so went ahead and added the butter. It immediately fell. and was pure liquid. I did this twice in one day, first time it fell after the sugar, second time it fell after the butter. The first batch was hopeless, the second batch i stuck in the fridge, disgusted, and the next morning i was able to whip it up enough to spread on the cake but that was it. I live in Dallas, TX and it was very hot and humid that weekend. Luckily it was for church. A week later - I added a little cream of tartar and it whipped up great, I cut the liquid from the hot sugar water by a tablespoon added it and still great. Fifteen minutes minutes later the bowl was still hot but i did not want to overmix it so I slowly added the butter and it immediately fell! I put in the fridge overnight, I was able to get it to firm up enough to do a basic design, but it was still way too soft and nothing like what it should have been
Could I put the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes before adding the butter to let it cool down? Or is something else the matter?
Thank you,
Missy
antonia74 Forum Fanatic
Joined: May 06, 2005
Posts: 1910
Location: Toronto/Kingston, CANADA
Birthday: Aug 08
Posted:
Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:37 pm
10 minutes isn't generally enough time, I don't know why they suggest that. Metal bowls need way more time than that to lose the heat they naturally retain.
You should have no fear of "overwhipping" it after adding the sugar syrup. I've left the mixer on at top speed for 20-30 minutes, no problem. It just turns into a smooth, thick glossy meringue...which isn't a problem at all.
When you add the butter though, the bowl should be practically room temperature or your butter will just melt to liquid and deflate the meringue mixture with it. If the bowl doesn't cool quickly enough for you, you can certainly take the bowl off the mixer after mixing the hot syrup in for 5 minutes or so. Just remove the whisk and put it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes or so, not too long. This cools the bowl down enough to begin the next step of adding the room temperature butter. In the summertime/humidity, you may need to give it a few extra minutes in the fridge, or even add butter that is ever so slightly cool still. Not rock hard mind you, just not super soft. Both of those tricks will help you to get the right consistency of IMBC to use it right away.
One other thing though, the icing you turned into "soup" is probably still totally useable. If you've chilled it, just let it come back up to room temperature very gradually then use your whisk attachment to get it back to the right consistency. (If it's the slightest bit cold still, it will go through a grainy, wet stage in the mixer that looks like porridge. You'll think you've done something really wrong but JUST LEAVE IT! It comes back together into a soft whipped-cream texture as all the ingredients return to room temperature.) Give it a good 4-8 minutes on med/high speed with the whisk. It should be soft and creamy and of very even consistency. No matter how tempted, NEVER ADD ICING SUGAR!! That actually screws up IMBC and makes it wet/grainy-looking.
For the last step, I like to switch to the paddle attachment and give my IMBC about 3 minutes on medium speed to get a super-smooth icing with hardly any air bubbles in it.
Mike1394 Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 785
Location: Michigan
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:40 am
On the boiling sugar. At 240 all the water is gone. So it doesn't matter if you start with 8oz, or a gallon. It won't get there until all the water is gone.
I was in a hurry a couple of weekends ago. I did the same thing as you did. I added the butter to the meringue. Yep it turned to soup. Always add the meringue to the butter. I've never had an issue doing it this way.
Always wait for the bowl to cool down. If your in a hurry you could wrap a cold towel around the bottom of the bowl to speed it up. You have to be careful doing this. If the bowl is to hot you'll get condensation inside the bowl.
Mike
cholmberg Junior Member
Joined: Aug 21, 2007
Posts: 53
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:34 pm
antonia74 wrote:
10 minutes isn't generally enough time, I don't know why they suggest that. Metal bowls need way more time than that to lose the heat they naturally retain.
You should have no fear of "overwhipping" it after adding the sugar syrup. I've left the mixer on at top speed for 20-30 minutes, no problem. It just turns into a smooth, thick glossy meringue...which isn't a problem at all.
True. Ten minutes usually isn't enough for me.
Quote:
When you add the butter though, the bowl should be practically room temperature or your butter will just melt to liquid and deflate the meringue mixture with it. If the bowl doesn't cool quickly enough for you, you can certainly take the bowl off the mixer after mixing the hot syrup in for 5 minutes or so. Just remove the whisk and put it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes or so, not too long. This cools the bowl down enough to begin the next step of adding the room temperature butter. In the summertime/humidity, you may need to give it a few extra minutes in the fridge, or even add butter that is ever so slightly cool still. Not rock hard mind you, just not super soft. Both of those tricks will help you to get the right consistency of IMBC to use it right away.
What I've done is take an ice cube and run it over the outside of the
metal bowl to help it cool. It seemed to work fine every time I've
done it. . if I was in a hurry. it melts quickly and I keep it moving.
I've added the butter too soon before and had it deflate. . I've added
the syrup too fast before and wound up with shreds of cooked egg whites.
and boy it burns my buns to waste that much eggs and/or butter.
Quote:
One other thing though, the icing you turned into "soup" is probably still totally useable. If you've chilled it, just let it come back up to room temperature very gradually then use your whisk attachment to get it back to the right consistency. (If it's the slightest bit cold still, it will go through a grainy, wet stage in the mixer that looks like porridge. You'll think you've done something really wrong but JUST LEAVE IT! It comes back together into a soft whipped-cream texture as all the ingredients return to room temperature.) Give it a good 4-8 minutes on med/high speed with the whisk. It should be soft and creamy and of very even consistency.
This is good to know, thanks.
[quote]
No matter how tempted, NEVER ADD ICING SUGAR!! That actually screws up IMBC and makes it wet/grainy-looking. [/quote}
Yeah, I learned that the hard way too. I can second that advice. Don't. It's nasty.
stephaniescakenj Junior Member
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 70
Location: NJ
Birthday: Dec 11
Posted:
Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:33 pm
Whew!!! just recently I started having the same problem. I have a very humid kitchen and was attributing it to that but I was beginning to think I was going crazy. I was so frustrated! thank you for posting this question and the great tips. This is the only icing I like and I was so depressed that I was having so much trouble. I too have been putting it in the fridge for a little while and rebeating it. I also had better luck with it the next day. I thought I lost an entire batch a fews weeks ago but I refused to throw it out, I took it out the next day, brought it to room temp and beat it up...Iced my brother's birthday cake with it and it was fine. I'm going to start beating the egg whites and sugar a little while longer though. That must be my problem. Thank You!!!!!
MissyShay Newbie
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 10
Posted:
Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:49 am
Thank you all for your great advice!! I love cakecentral.com!
Missy
antonia74 Forum Fanatic
Joined: May 06, 2005
Posts: 1910
Location: Toronto/Kingston, CANADA
Birthday: Aug 08
Posted:
Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:16 pm
stephaniescakenj wrote:
I'm going to start beating the egg whites and sugar a little while longer though. That must be my problem. Thank You!!!!!
Not too long!! If you over-whip your plain egg whites before you add the sugar, you're actually "drying out" the whipped egg and THAT'S when you'll see those little cooked egg bits in your icing after adding the hot sugar and whipping it up. Your egg whites should only be whipped to soft-peaks, not much beyond that. If you whip them far beyond, say to the stiff-peak stage, you'll have to pass the finished icing through a fine seive to get out all those teeny-tiny bits of cooked egg white and it's a huge PITA!! If you don't, it ruins the smooth, glossy look of your IMBC. (Use it for filling instead! But NOT if you're going to make it chocolate or tint it, the white egg bits just show up even more in coloured icing!! )
Lol, so many things to be careful about....but the icing is gorgeous and worth it, trust me. Once you get the hang of making it, you'll never go back to other "buttercreams" with no butter in them!
SweetResults Forum Fanatic
Joined: Feb 13, 2006
Posts: 1327
Location: Massachusetts
Birthday: Nov 04
Posted:
Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:31 pm
No matter what I do I always end up screwing up any icing where I have to cook the sugar.
So I have given up on it. I buy pasteurized egg whites in a carton and use Duff's recipe - you can find here if you search or on Food Network website if you search.
You don't cook the sugar or the egg whites, Just whip the whites, then add the sugar, then the butter - DONE! So much better for those of us who are sugar challenged. I ALWAYS get crystals when I cook it. UGH!!
Mike1394 Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 785
Location: Michigan
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:43 am
SweetResults wrote:
No matter what I do I always end up screwing up any icing where I have to cook the sugar.
So I have given up on it. I buy pasteurized egg whites in a carton and use Duff's recipe - you can find here if you search or on Food Network website if you search.
You don't cook the sugar or the egg whites, Just whip the whites, then add the sugar, then the butter - DONE! So much better for those of us who are sugar challenged. I ALWAYS get crystals when I cook it. UGH!!
Are you stirring it? Get a pastry brush, and some water. "Wash" the side of the pot with the wet brush. Don't stir the sugar.
Mike
MissyShay Newbie
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 10
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:34 am
You might have the sugar turned up too high. When heating sugar you can never rush it or leave it unattended. The recipe I have says to heat it to a boiling then let it boil for seven minutes. When that seven minutes is up I take it off the burner. Like the previous post said, stir it constantly and use a pastry brush dipped in cold water to wipe any sugar crystals off of the side.
Missy
Mike1394 Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 785
Location: Michigan
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:39 am
Don't stir sugar, and cook it to a temp rather than time. If you over, or under cook sugar you will get a totally different response than your looking for.
Mike
MissyShay Newbie
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 10
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:21 am
What temperature do you stir it to? Would I use a candy thermometer?
Mike1394 Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 785
Location: Michigan
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:52 am
For IMBC cook the sugar till 240. Yes, a candy therm.
Mike
Cakemom777 Junior Member
Joined: Jun 18, 2008
Posts: 45
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:50 am
Hello...I'm a newbie on here. Ever since I started using IMBC (usually Rose Levy Berenbaum's and almost always with white chocolate) I hardly use anything else? Do most of you who use IMBC use it exclusively? With so many BC recipes on here, I get a little paranoid that it's not for everything...but I use it for everything..even under fondant. Even in the heat. ANyone else? THanks!
Cakemom777 Junior Member
Joined: Jun 18, 2008
Posts: 45
Posted:
Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:28 pm
Maybe I asked something that has already been discussed to death...sorry. Maybe someone could answer this....how much is too much bittersweet choc. to add to IMBC? I have NO problem with white chocolate...but I am making a cake for tomorrow and my IMBC was perfect until I added the thoroughly cooled chocolate. Now I am getting Lines of chocolate throughout, so it's seperating. I did a batch with two pounds of butter and 12 oz. of choco...was that too much choc? I used Baker's semi-sweet because that's what I can afford. I appreciate anyone's help on this. TIA!!!!!!
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