I started using IMBC last winter and loved it - the texture was great and it was so easy to smooth! No problems at all.
Last week I made it twice. The first time it didn't want to cool down so I ended up beating it forever and then when I thought it was cool enough I started adding butter. At first it was OK, then it ended up being a soupy mess. I threw it out and remade it the next morning and it was better but only slightly. At least it was workable, although soft. It firmed up nicely on the cake in the refrigerator.
Last night I tried it again and was extra careful to cool it a bit from outside the bowl. By the time I was finished adding the butter, though, it seemed a bit weird again and somehow fluffier but runnier than normal. The volume seemed to be OK, though. I decided I just couldn't work with it so I put it in the fridge overnight. This morning it's a little granular looking, like the butter might not have been incorporated properly or something. The strange thing: it seems fluffy and is still spreadable, even after a night in the fridge. That stuff should be hard as a rock, shouldn't it?
What's going on with my IMBC? My only guess is that it's the heat (we don't have AC) but even my efforts at reducing the effect of the heat (working in the morning before it gets too warm or cooling the bowl from the outside) don't seem to be helping. Even the eggs didn't really seem to want to stiffen up properly.
I don't have a lot of experience to draw on - does anybody have any they could share? I'm really frustrated and am not sure what I should be doing differently. Any ideas would be welcome.
Thanks!
Jenny
I haven't made IMBC before so I can't speak first hand but I do know that this happens here are just a few links I found about IMBC turning soupy, maybe it will help you out. I have made SMBC and I know this can happen to it as well (as well as the curdling) and the advice has always been to re-whip it and that the bc will come back together.
Here are the threads:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-639553-imbc.html+soupy
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-593018-imbc.html+soupy
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-582898-imbc.html+soupy
Here's the search:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-fsearch-results.html
HTH
It might be that you whipped the whites to far, and they broke down. Only whip to soft peaks.
Mike
I usually reserve one stick of butter for warm days. I keep it in the fridge and put it in the bowl still hard, so that it cools it down if it needs it.
Your first "soupy mess".....I would have put a towel over my mixer and turned it on high, then walked away for 15 minutes. As K8Memphis says....just beat the frick out of it. Some times it just takes longer, especially when it is warm.
Once I add the butter, I never throw it out. It can be salvaged either with refrigerating then beating some more, or just beating and beating.
Also, even if I have added all the butter in the recipe and it seems to soupy or too warm, I add another stick straight from the fridge.
Thank you for all the wonderful ideas!
I nuked a portion of it like in the other posts (thanks xstitcher!), mixed it for nearly 5 minutes, decided I hadn't nuked it enough, nuked a little more and then after another 5 minutes I just got IMBC magic! That really is the coolest stuff, isn't it? I was really getting frustrated after 3 apparent failures but this experience has renewed my faith in the recipe.
Now I really regret throwing out the first batch last week! Never again!
Thanks again for the help! And next time I'll take Cakemom's advice and keep some of the butter a little cooler when the weather's warm.
Cheers,
Jenny
Glad it worked out for you Jenny! It sucks when you throw out things you didn't have to but at least it was just the once (for IMBC anyway ). Have a great weekend.
Cheers
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