Has anybody tried this? On my quest for the perfect frosting/icing, I am trying the MB recipe that was posted a while ago. However, I am wondering if I were to add just a bit (maybe 1/4 cup) of corn syrup, if it would have the shiny finish that Toba's Glace does.

Part of me knows I should just try the new recipe first and then alter it, but the other part just wants to dive in and add it and see what happens. Sooooo, has anyone tried this?

Oh, and I'm also substituting the meringue powder with the pasteurized egg whites in the little carton as I don't want any hint of the powder taste in the frosting. I just hope it dries hard, or at least stackable hard.

Can anybody tell that I have issues with following directions? LOL!

OK, off to try..............

Well, the powdered egg whites is the first issue...ewww. Second, SMBC (if that's what you are using) is pretty dang glossy on it's own! I wonder if the pwdered egg white are what is not making your icing shiny?

As far as stacking....just make sure your support legs (starws, SPS, dowels are cut to just the right height, so your tier isn't smooshing down at all on to the bottom tier.

I am the queen of substitutions. I'd love to know how this turns out.

I'm sorry Heidi.....one of the greatest thing about meringue buttercreams for me, is the silky smooth softness, and the complete lack of crusting or hardening. That's what my customers love too. So the fact that you want something that hardens,....I would stick to regular old buttercreams.

I think, since this is in the cookie section, she's talking about a crusting buttercream?? Powdered sugar, butter/shortening, and adding the meringue powder to up the crust. SMBC on a cookie wouldn't work for stacking at all.

Adding egg whites from the carton isn't going to do the same thing as adding meringue powder to your BC will do. It will thin it out a bit, but I'm not sure that it would crust. Mernigue powder has lots more than just powdered eggwhites in it. It has sugar and various gums as well that aid in the crusting. And it doesn't leave a powdered taste at all.

The frosting is for cookies, not cakes.

I tried it, whipped the egg whites to peaks, added the extracts, added the softened butter and powdered sugar and about 5 Tbsp of milk and it was perfect! It was soft, tasted really good but super super sweet, and that's where I should have stopped, it maybe would have been good for piping details or words. After that I ended up adding almost a half cup of milk to get it to flood consistency and I'm pretty sure I ruined it. Unless some act of god is going to let it dry hard by tonight I think I have a bowl of soupy sugar/milk/butter that I have no idea what to do with. Crap. I knew I should have taken out just a half cup to add the milk too but I really thought it was going to work. Oh, and I didn't add the corn syrup at all.

I swear, if it's the last thing I do, I will find a flood consistency icing that tastes like buttercream, dries hard and does not have MP in it. I really do love Toba's Glace but I think I just need to practice more with it, the different consistencies and such. OK, thanks for reading my ramblings.

OMG, I just looked at the Tupperware dish I put the frosting in, and it already seperated and there is a half inch of yellow liquid at the bottom. DISASTER! I wonder if I would have not added all of the milk but just the first 5 Tbsps if it would have dried hard.

Oh geez. I didn't even look at the section. Sorry!

I bet it would have been fine if you didn't thin it. You aren't going to be able to flood with a buttercream. You'll bring it out of suspension with all the liquid. Is there a reason you aren't using RI or glace? Just for something different? Maybe a modified royal would work for you??

1lb sifted powdered sugar
3 Tbl. Meringue Powder
5-6 Tbls water
1/2 stick butter (softened)

Add all ingredients, mix until smooth.

Jeanne - Thank you for the response.

I am looking for a frosting that doesn't have MP in it that still hardens up. I think I will try a RI recipe again and just sub the liquid egg whites for the MP. It's like I want a little bit of all the different icing/frostings that people use on this board, just not one in particular. It seems a lot of people are looking for a buttercrean that hardens and if I wouldn't have added all of that milk it would have I think. I may just have to flood with toba's glace and pipe with this MBC if it hardens.

Thanks!

You can sub the MP for egg whites with no issue.. just use 5-6 TBSP of them. I use egg whites rather than MP all the time. I just make sure to add some cream of tartar to sabilize them. I love using fondant to put a base coat on cookies. Just bake your cookies and while they are baking use the same cutters to cut shapes from the fondant and as soon as they come from the oven put the fondant on them and the heat melts the fondant onto the cookie and then decorate with RI. Good luck finding that perfect icing for your cookies.

Thanks Jeanne!

I have never tried fondant but I have always wanted to as it gives cookies such a crisp clean edge that no frosting can. Do you use the MMF recipe that's on CC?

I use Michele Foster's recipe. I much prefer it to MMF. I have tried so many fondants, and her recipe turns out everytime just perfect. It's here in the recipe section... just search for foster and it'll pop right up.

You can decorate cookies with buttercream, but you won't be able to stack them. Adding liquid will only break your BC, as jkalman said. Several people have tried Dixie's icing. It's a pre-made icing, that you can slightly warm for flood consistency.
http://www.dixiesicing.com

If you want an icing that will harden and is stackable try Toba's Glace'. The recipe is for flooding so you'll need to thicken it a bit for piping outlines.

Now I love decorated cookies, but I wouldn't waste SMBC on them. JMHO.

I'm sorry, but what do all of the letters in SMBC stand for?

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-2926.html