I think you over mixed it too.. mixing in the KA heats up the mixture quite a bit after a while. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to incorporate your flavorings. I always use room temp strong brewed coffee to make espresso SMBC and it works great.. a bit soft at first, but if you let it sit for a while and come back to it it will be more than fine. I don't like the flavor that instant coffee imparts on the BC. You can tell it's instant. I use Starbucks Breakfast Blend.. works great and isn't too too strong. I also never use it right after I mix in flavorings.. it needs to set up a bit. Chocolate is especially moody. It is soft and seems like it will never be okay to frost anything with, but it will set up if you leave it for a while.. (an hour or so or even over night.. then you can re-whip in the morning and warm it up if you need to. It's cold up here in NH so if I let my SMBC sit for a while it gets too cool and I have to hit it with the torch for a few minutes.. you may not have the problem down south though. Chocolate SMBC will behave just like the stuff on the spatula in that picture if you give it time... I promise. Next time too, you could try adding ganache rather than melted chocolate.. it makes it easier since the ganache is completely cool. I tend to use the flavored SMBC's as fillings more than icings though.. you can add plenty of flavoring to it for a filling. I like a nice clean outer icing so I usually use vanilla, but sometimes chocolate.

As for coloring it.. I would never do black SMBC.. it would soften it up a lot. If you do color your SMBC though try using candy colors rather than gel colors. Since the candy colors are oil based they melt right into the SMBC rather than bead up and look grainy. Powdered colors work well too, but you must color them ahead so they can develop.

Thanks guys, I will try again next week. My goal is to have a versitile filling base up my sleeve and I think that this is it. Fingers crossed !

Thanks again and I will post my results.

Mandi

Oooooh...more tips on SMBC. I made some mocha SMBC the other night, wasn't real thrilled with it. Used instant coffee...apparently a no-no! I have lots of Starbucks varieties on hand...will start some experimenting!

Thank you for sharing! I just made my first batch and included the mascarpone cheese to use it for a tiramisu cake like you mentioned. Now that I look at the pictures again,,, I think I may have stopped just a few minutes too soon as mine is not as smooth as yours. Oh well, I'll just have to try it again sometime soon to get it right. The the taste is wonderful! Thank you so much for your post - it made me crave it, and my imagination was right on!!

I don't have a stand mixer yet so I would like to know if smbc will work with a hand mixer. also, has anybody added cocoa powder to it to make chocolate smbc?

by the way, what an excellent thread!!! I have gotten some great ideas

Thanks again.

I love your avatar Jamie!

Hee hee....thanks!

I made a batch of Cream Cheese SMBC to go in a banana cake using jkalman's recipe. Oh my gosh! Seriously, so delicious. I do have a question though.

I am making a 3 tiered fondant covered cake for my birthday party on Saturday evening and will probably being doing most of the decoration on Thursday and Friday. I will be painting on the side of the fondant and adding fondant accents to the sides as well so I am a little leary about putting the tiers in the fridge.

So would a cake filled with cream cheese SMBC need to be refridgerated? What about one filled with strawberry SMBC using a cooked strawberry puree?

Thanks for you help!

great thread and pictures...thanks..

I have a flavoring question. Has anyone ever used the Lorann flavorings in the SMBC. Good/bad/so-so? Just curious.

I'm another newcomer to this thread, and very happy to have found this.

If you're reading this post for the first time, it is WELL worth it to start from the beginning--there's awesome info here! I experimented with a batch tonight & it turned out GREAT! This was the 2nd time trying this recipe...I hadn't found this thread the first time & it definitely made a difference.

The variations below are for a standard (5 EW) batch of the Well Dressed Cake SMBC http://cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-5453-The-Well-Dressed-Cake-Swiss-Meringue-Buttercream-with-variations.html:

For Raspberry SMBC: Add 1/3 c. of raspberry puree (recipe in previous post), 1 t. almond ext and 1.5 t. Chambord (rasp liqueur). Heaven on a spoon!

For Chocolate SMBC: Melt about 1/2 c. of semi sweet chips, let cool & stir in. Not chocolate-y enough? Melt some more chips & add to taste.

For Mocha SMBC: Dissolve 3 T instant coffee granules in ABOUT 3t. of vanilla--just enough to dissolve all of the crystals. Stir in to Chocolate mixture above. Heaven!! I started with 1 T of coffee granules & went up to 3 by the time I was happy with the flavor.

I think a Chocolate Raspberry SMBC version could easily made by adding raspberry puree, almond & Chambord to the Chocolate variation.

You really can't go wrong with this stuff...as FromScratch/jkalman suggested, just start adding things a little at a time until you get what you want.

THANK YOU to everyone who came before me with these great tips. It took a bit, but I learned SO much reading through all of the posts.

Perfectly calorie friendly snack:

One tablespoon of chilled Raspberry preserves. Mix with one tablespoon of room temp SMBC. Mix. Shove into mouth. Or savor it. If you can stand teeny little bites. I can't!

My husband just saw how much butter it takes to make the SMBC!! his eyes were like popping out!! he was asking if I can make it with less butter than what the recipe requires!! I said I don't know if it will mess up the recipe....

charmed - that is funny. It's not really any more butter than in any other buttercream icing recipe - it just makes MORE that's all. Just tell him to eat a smaller serving! heehee

Yep. Plus no shortening is involved...even better!

I'm on my first batch! Wish me luck!

The closest thing I can compare it to is real fresh whipped heavy cream. Texture wise I mean.

Hmmm, stretchy, no. I don't think so. I use a thermo, I need to know that it got to 160 degrees. If you getit too hot, the egg whites will cook into little gummy strands, too cool and you don't cook the eggs at all. Should be silky, yes.

I use a double boiler as well.

Alright, well I'll just have to try again with t thermometer and see if the results are the same. Either way i can still use this first batch for home stuff! Yay! My hubby likes it better than my normal BC anyway! Thanks!

I finally tried the recipe posted at the top of this topic. Wow! I was going to do a taste test comparison between SMBC and the C&H buttercream I've had on every homemade cake my whole life. Once I made the SMBC, there was no going back! I do have a couple of ?s

Is there a reason why you don't use cream of tartar? Would that help make it more firm for piping? I've seen other recipes that use it.

This recipe seems pretty soft. Should I chill it a bit before trying to make BC decorations?

Okay, I've eaten too much and i'm in sugar shock, I can't think of my other ?

Thanks for posting this info for the hobby decorator like me. I'm making a cake next month for a baby shower and I will definately use this.

Cream of tartar, I believe, (Chef Tara?!?! Help!!) is to stabilize the whites when they are going to be baked only. Again, if I am so off base with that, please shoot me down! Lol!

I packa bag of frozen veggies around the bowl before I start adding the butter.

I add firm cold butter. Not room temp, not right out of the fridge, almost in between. And it is finicky in the heat.

It's a tradeoff, you have to baby this stuff, but well worth the effort!

I use the Rose Levy Berenbaum "Mousseline Buttercream" recipe, which is an IMBC. Her recipe calls for cream of tartar. I have no idea why though! . I am told that IMBC is slightly more stable in the heat (meaning, it lasts an extra degree or two) than SMBC. I agree with Jamie- it's worth the babying. The other downside is that you can't get super-vivid, deep colors so you must cover with fondant if you are doing, say, a red cake. To which I say: who cares?! It's worth it .

Jamie I like your tip about using cold butter. I admit, every time it's turned to soup and I've had to chill it to revive it, it's been with room temp butter. Obviously the whole thing wants to be colder.

rbuckhoff, if you want to firm it up a bit for piping, just fill your icing bag and then pop it in the fridge for a short bit.

I have 2 questions.

1. What size eggs are you all using, and does it make a difference? i.e. large vs. ex-large.

2. If I use this icing on a cake that I need to deliver about 1-2 hours from my home, (depending on traffic) will I be committing cake suicide?