has anyone tried the italian meringue frosting. i would like to know if its any better to frost the cake with when using fondant, i don`t care for the taste of buttercream frosting to begin with, just wanted to know if it was any better

If you mean Italian meringue butter cream, I use it exclusively. Even when I cover a cake in fondant I use it underneath, but it does have to be chilled.

It tastes just like Swiss meringue butter cream, the only difference between the two is the method of whipping the egg whites. So if you don't like SMBC you won't like the Italian but I find most people have never had a cooked butter cream and when they do taste it they love it's velvety texture...don't get me started on the chocolate version.

ty for the info ras3 i was thinking of trying it now if you knowthe answer to the my other question how can clean the powder sugar off the color fondant. after i roll it out it gets dull

Well, I never roll my fondant out with powdered sugar so I'm not an expert, but I would try using a pastry brush to brush it off or rub it off with a soft cloth like a tea towel.

You will find that some people LOVE italian meringue buttercream, some people don't care for it, they prefer a powdered sugar frosting. Count me amongst the LOVES. I can't get enough of it. As ras3 mentioned, it is great under fondant and you can apply a full coat of buttercream too, just chill the cake until the bc is rock-hard and then apply the fondant.

I too would use a pastry brush or soft towel to wipe away the PS. If its' really resistant you can use a damp towel but you must be careful or the moisture can create streaks.

thanks ceshel, so r u saying i could use both italian meringue, and butter cream on the cake before i cover with fondant

Yes, you could use either. Although I think what I meant when I typed buttercream was that I was referring to the italian meringue buttercream (IMBC), which is the long fancy term for Italian Meringue . I doubt you would use "both" IMBC and normal BC on the cake unless of course one of them was the filling.

Here's a thread I wrote about using icing under fondant; the first three cakes I photographed were iced in a normal layer of IMBC, chilled until firm, and then covered in fondant. http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-673052.html

thanks a lot ceshell u answered my questions and thoes pic. were very helpfull

You are most welcome; I am glad I could help!

hey,ceshell,while we r on the subject,do u have a good recipe for mmf and italian meringue, i would rather follow a recipe that someone already made and tried, then try to get one

Hi mommynana - I'm glad to help.

For MMF I use Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant from here in the recipe section. A simpler recipe is also fine, I can't remember what it's called here in the recipe section but it pretty much just amounts to marshmallows, water, and powdered sugar (with some shortening to grease the bowl) so you can look for that one too.

A tastier fondant which gets less sweaty if you decide to refrigerate it is "MFF" Michele Foster's Fondant, also in the recipes section, although if you are a first timer you may prefer to stick with the marshmallow version. Her recipe is really simple and just involves nuking a bunch of stuff in a glass measuring cup...but I admit that nuking ONLY marshmallows is simpler .

If you don't mind picking up some glycerin in your Wilton aisle, you can make MacsMom's fondant which is essentially the Rhonda's MMF recipe plus glycerin.

For IMBC I love the Rose Levy Berenbaum/Cake Bible "Mousseline Buttercream" recipe. Here's a link to it: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Mousseline-Buttercream-45835

Ignore the last tip "Allow to come to room temperature completely before rebeating to restore texture or it will break down irretrievably." well - letting it come to room temp is correct, but "irretrievably" is totally NOT true. If you beat IMBC that is too cold, it will break apart into a curdly mess but guess what, all you have to do is warm it up slowly and it will come back together! I run my hands under hot water and wrap em around the bowl. Similarly if it is too WARM it will turn into soup. I almost threw that out once but rechilling it (a LOT) and then beating it also returned it to normal. You can almost ALWAYS retrieve your IMBC! I am so glad I ignored that part of the instructions!

Here are some great tips on smoothing IMBC from Antonia74 (scroll down to find her post http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-661033-plastering.html). I know you are planning on using fondant but I still like to smooth my IMBC before chilling the cake and applying fondant.

thank u so much ceshell, hey if ur ever looking for a place to stay i`ll take u in

Ceshell, a question on the Rose Levy Berenbaum recipe. It says that the bc can sit out at room temp for 2 days. If I torte and ice during the day on Thursday, would it still be okay for a Saturday evening wedding?

Hey I didn't even notice that it said that!

The answer to that question will vary depending upon who you speak to. I always refrigerate my IMBC cakes, but I know of several CCers who do not refrigerate them. I would THINK that if it says 2 days then it will be fine if you are off by a few hours, but personally I wouldn't go that route unless I used pasteurized egg whites (liquid or powdered)...which I always do anyway. I know that at least some of the CCers who don't refrigerate use the SMBC method, where the egg whites are cooked to safe temp in the pan. I always end up scrambling my eggs using the SMBC technique so I stick with IMBC.

And THAT'S a whole 'nother topic - i.e. the issue of whether or not the ew are cooked to safe temp when the hot sugar syrup is poured into the whites. I am not a risk taker, especially when it comes to peoples' health, so I always use pasteurized. I have found that most generic brands of liquid egg whites work great, but I have problems getting Just Whites to whip up into peaks.

Boy, sometimes it sounds like the meringues can be so touchy. I'm going to have to try it for my soon-to-be niece; thank goodness for the CC forums!

BTW where do you find the liquid egg whites in the grocery store?

I think they usually stash the liquid egg whites in the egg case, don't they? I'm not sure; I myself buy them at Trader Joe's, as the brand they carry ALWAYS whips up (and it's a great price, too).

Italian Meringue and Italian Meringue Buttercream are TWO DIFFERENT things!

Italian Meringue is egg whites whipped with a hot sugar syrup. It is also known as 7-minute frosting.

Italian Meringue Buttercream, starts with an Italian Meringue and adds room temp unsalted butter.

Both can be used to frost cakes, but only IMBC can be used for decorating or under fondant. Italian Meringue must absolutely be refrigerated. There is some debate as to whether IMBC can be, although most come down on the side of refrigerated to be safe, especially if not using pasturized powdered egg whites.

thanks prterrel, but im going to have to refrigerat anyway cus im going to have a filling in the cake so that wont be a problem

is moussline bc the same as imbc and smbc?

Oooh, good catch prterrell. I just assumed the OP meant the buttercream frosting and was kind of shortening the words.

And yes, RLB's Mousseline Buttercream is the same as IMBC.

thanks again ceshell [/img]

i just read where some guy says he freezes IBM for months and he takes it out the night before he needs it and beats it back to smooth,has anybody ever tried this before.

Yes, you can absolutely freeze IMBC. It lasts anywhere from 3-6 months; who knows...maybe longer, depending on your freezer. I prefer to make it fresh and use Antonia74's smoothing instructions as I am concerned about beating air into it, but when I have leftovers I absolutely freeze and reuse it.

where can i find ANTOINA 74`s smoothing instructions ceshell,

and dose anyone no where i could get the 16oz bag of marshmallows i could only find the 10.5 bags or can i use the 16 oz bags of the large marshmallows

sorry prterrarel, that was`t meant for the imbc.it was meant for the marshmellow fondant

Here are Antonia74's instructions http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-661033.html - hers is the 4th post. If you look at some of my oldest cakes in my gallery, I tried smoothing my IMBC cakes using the hot spatula method and they look pretty crummy. Then, starting with the Surfin' Santa cake, I used her technique. OMG what a difference, not only in results but also in EASE which was the part I didn't expect. Try it, you'll love it! I prefer to put it onto my cake with an icer tip which also sounded like a PITA but in reality simplified the process.

As for marshmallows, if you don't have a kitchen scale...well, get one. LOL. If that's not an option then just get two 10.5 bags and you can split one bag in half by estimating...either that or calculate the remainder of the ingredients at 2/3 of the original recipe since the 10.5oz bag is 2/3 of 16oz.

thanks ceshell, and ur right i should get a scale, its just that us italians never measure anything everything is a pinch of that and a hand full of this....ha ha