First off, I have made SMBC once before. perfect results, but I stood at the stove for at least a half-hour until the whites reached 160...so I thought IMBC would be easier....

Used Queequeg's recipe and thought I followed it perfectly...whisked my whites for 2 minutes on high...and added my sugar syrup that had been boiling for 5 minutes...added the syrup slowly while whites were still beating on high, and the whole mixture started shooting out of the KA mixer! Turned it to low and finished adding the syrup...recipe says mixture should look like thick cream...it looked like a billowy chunky meringue that filled the entire bowl. Whipped for 10 more minutes like it said, then started to add butter...good thing I stopped b4 adding all the butter..I noticed some chunks in the mixture and it was hard egg-white pieces..like they cooked partially..

Can I save it? Is this normal?

Not familiar with the recipe you are referring to, but this might help:

Warren Brown from Cake Love making IMBC:

awesome, thanks...think I'll start over...mine does NOT look like his!!

Use a sugar thermometer to get the sugar to 240-245 degrees. Don't just time it, it will get too hot or not hot enough depending on your heat source.

Hi, can you tell me what you would use this cream for? What kind of cakes would you use it for? Not something I have seen used in the uK - thanks

Here is the recipe I use for IMBC (from DeDe Wilson) and it never fails- but you MUST follow the directions. This is my most requested icing. When you refrigerate, it will harden back up like butter. It's a dream to crumb coat with when cold and you can smooth it out with a warm knife. It will hold up to 80* but shouldn't be in the direct sun. You can use fondant over it. You must use UNSALTED butter though. The only drawback is that you cannot get really dark colors with it. It pipes beautifully; just keep a coldpack out if you have hot hands and you can place your bag on it.

Italian meringue Buttercream (IMBC)
7 cups
  1 ¼ cups plus 1/3 cup sugar
  ½ cup water
  8 large egg whites at room temp
  1 tsp. cream of tartar
  1 ½ lbs. (6 sticks) unsalted butter room temp. 68*-72*
  flavoring
1.  Pour the egg whites into the kitchen mixer with whisk attachment.
Place 1 ¼ cups of the sugar & water in a saucepan and bring it to 238* YOU NEED A CANDY THERMOMETER
2.  Start to whisk the egg whites and when the egg whites are frothy, add the cream of tartar.
3.  Continue whisking on high until soft peaks and add the 1/3 cup of sugar
4.  Watch the sugar syrup it needs to get to 248* NO HIGHER (if it does, turn the burner off )
5.  Pour down the side of the bowl into the whites and be careful not to splash
6.  Continue to whisk for 10-15 min. or until the bottom of the bowl is cool
7.  Switch to the beater blade; add the butter chunks and flavoring and beat for about 5 minutes. It will look curdled but it will pass to smooth.
If you cant get it pass the curdled part:
1.  your egg whites were not cool enough
2.  you butter was too warm
To fix this: put the entire bowl in the fridge for about 30 min. and whip again. If that doesnt work, put it in the fridge again. It will come together when cold enough.
Flavour options:
Raspberry: 1/4 cup of raspberry puré or more pr. 2 cups of IMBC
Lemon Curd: 1/2 cup of Lemon Curd pr. 2 cups of IMBC
Chocolate: 2-3 oz of melted chocolate, cooled down to 98 F, pr. 1 cup of IMBC
Coffee: 2 tbsp of instant coffee mixed with 2 tbsp of warm (not boiling) water pr 3 cups of IMBC

thanks for posting, good question/answers
Jodi

Thank you

Moondance, this can be used for anything you want. I know bakers that use IMBC exclusively. If I owned my own cake shop and it had a good location, I would be using IMBC exclusively. I use Warren Brown's recipe from that YouTube video that was posted earlier in this thread. It's amazing.

Another good recipe, which is very similar to the one posted by healingforce1, is the Rose Levy Berenbaum/Cake Bible "Mousseline Buttercream". It advises pouring in a small amount of the syrup with the mixer stopped (pour on the opposite side of your whisk), turn onto high for 5 secs, stop the mixer and pour a larger amt in, turn onto high for 5 secs, and then pour the last batch in. This is an easy technique for avoiding getting the syrup on the whisk (at which point it will be flung around your bowl, creating sugar globules) or getting stuck onto the side of the bowl. I also like to add my butter in at "colder" than room temp. Not straight out of the fridge, but somewhere in between.

Just my 2¢! Whatever method works for you is obviously the best one to follow.

As Rose_N_Crantz said, this kind of buttercream icing can be used for any cake at all. I use it on everything from children's birthday cakes to special event cakes for adults. It is my standard go-to buttercream icing, and I only opt for something different if the recipient specifically prefers powdered sugar icings (or if the cake is just beggin' for ganache LOL). It is light and silky, while also being very rich from the butter. Just about the only thing it would not be good on is an ice cream cake, since it is best served at room temperature.

For the above-recipe, I'd advise 3TBSP of vanilla if you are trying to get a "plain" flavored buttercream. Of course the flavoring options are fantastic too!

The recipe I posted is basically the same as Rose's. It just makes a little bit more IMBC- 7 cups. The big difference in the Mousseline and IMBC is that the IMBC pipes better and will withstand hotter weather. The taste of both are delicious and you can add whatever flavoring you wish. Make a batch of both and see what you like best and what works best for you. In Rose's book, TCB, she describes what each one of her buttercreams are best for; how to use them and how they will hold up. Some are softer than others. Her white chocolate cream cheese frosting is the ONLY cream cheese frosting I will make. Although she did make a couple of changes in her new book, Heavenly Cakes. It is a softer icing and will pipe, but you have to work quickly.

Colleen

Does the IMBC need to be refrigerated? I'd like to try it under fondant but don't want to keep my fondant cake in the refrigerator.

You will find mixed answers to that question. When I first read about IMBC, I'd read that it must be refrigerated. So I refrigerate all of my IMBC cakes, including those covered in fondant. Others will swear to you that it can sit on the counter for 3-4 days. I have been unable to find a definitive answer (like, from health communities or wherever) so I always err on the side of caution. However I do not hesistate to leave it out for 4-8 hours i.e. the day it is served, for both display and consumption.

If you choose to not refrigerate your IMBC cake I strongly suggest you make it with pasteurized egg whites, as that is a whole 'NOTHER debate....the issue of whether or not the hot sugar syrup properly cooks the eggs to safe temp. For pasteurized/carton EW, I have had problems getting All Whites to whip into a meringue, but I regularly use the Trader Joe's egg whites, or the supermarket generic, with no problems.

Whether or not you refrigerate the fondanted cake, IMBC firms up in the fridge nice and SOLID for use under fondant, so you can put a full coat of icing under your fondant if you chill that baby up first.

sounds to me like you poured your sugar too quick... that's why it cooked the egg whites.... it needs to be poured slowly and at a steady stream.... irght on the edge of the bowl...so you won't hit the whisk attatch.

Good Luck

I made a batch of IMBC using a recipe that called for egg yolks from "Zoe Bakes" http://zoebakes.com/?p=573
This was an incredibly creamy yummy frosting that I will definitely be making again. But I had the same problem with my eggs cooking. There were tiny lumps of scrambled eggs throughout the frosting. I ate it anyway because it was just too tasty to throw out LOL!
I commented on Zoe's blog and received the following advice from her...
"Next time you make it bring the water in your double boiler to a raging boil, turn off the heat and then put the bowl with the egg/sugar over the steaming water. The residual steam should be enough to melt the sugar into the eggs, without actually cooking them. You also need to stir constantly with a rubber spatula. It amy take a few more minutes but you will not get that scrambled egg in your buttercream."
I'm going to try her advice and see if it helps!