Am I Looking At A Disaster Waiting To Happen??
Decorating By ronronneuse Updated 21 Feb 2011 , 9:36pm by ronronneuse
Made some SMBC the other night for a cake that I was going to ice the next day. It looked gorgeous when I put it in the fridge. When I got it out the next day I started rewhipping it and it separated into liquid and solid ooze--I think this is normal though, right? I covered my mixer with a towel (cause the liquid was spraying everywhere!) turned it on high for a few minutes, and eventually it all came back together. But the consistency seemed a little weird...I dunno...wet? softer than usual? Well, both softer and less spreadable. I iced the cake and got it in the fridge, and I'm concerned that somehow I messed the frosting up and once it hits room temperature at the party, it's going to separate again and start leaking liquid out from under the fondant. Are my fears justified??
Thanks
I have found that it is not ever the same once you rewhip after fridging. It's fine, but there is definitely a difference in consistency and "spreadability". Occasionally I will freeze left over icing, and only ever use it for filling, since it doesn't matter what it looks like/how it spreads when it's a filling. Next time, take it out of the fridge, and chop it up into smaller chunks so it can warm up faster. It really needs to be the temperature it was when you were done making it originally for it to whip back together and use.
I chop it up, but also set in it a warm water bath to melt some of it before re-whipping. This seems to help.
ronronneusse, you messed up the frosting already.
You never take SMBC or IMBC out of the refrigerator and start rewhipping right away.
You can freeze it, you can refrigerate it, but it's gotta come back on its own to room temperature. It does, and then you can rewhip.
I appreciate everyone's responses; now I know to let it warm up completely before rewhipping (it did sit on the counter for about 30 minutes). My question remains though: is there any chance this thing will start leaking?
When it separated, did you take the water out? This happened to me the very first time, I just threw out the water. Maybe it will be OK. Here's another thread. I'll keep on looking. In the winter, when I have put IMBC in the freezer and take it out, I let it thaw overnight, it sometimes takes about 5 hours for me. Once I let it thawing in a colder place and it wasn't ready. I knew better, so I just made a new batch. Next time, let it thaw way ahead of time. Better yet, do some tests to figure out how long it would take for you.
I would say not to worry too much. Chances are it will be OK. Nothing you can do anyway, right?
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6805498-.html&sid=521669a1ad05fbabb2944907cc18072c
I appreciate everyone's responses; now I know to let it warm up completely before rewhipping (it did sit on the counter for about 30 minutes). My question remains though: is there any chance this thing will start leaking?
No. You broke the emulsion when you messed with it before it got back to room temp on it's own. But you kept mixing so you got the emulsion back, but you lost some of the volume and fluffyness of the meringue. The consistency is closer to plain butter and it probably seems a little opaque.
Never toss the liquid if it separates - it comes partly from the eggs but mostly from the butter.
If I have a lot of orders for the following day I'll make batches of SMBC, put them in large ziplocks, make sure there is as little air in the bags as possible and leave on my workstation. No point sticking it in the fridge overnight. It tastes exactly the same the following day.
Good luck!
Jen
Thanks again, everyone, for your responses--that thread was especially helpful. And I can confirm for anyone who finds themselves in this situation that it will come back together if you just keep whipping, and that it won't break down and leak under the fondant. However, you're right about the consistency--the friend that I made it for said it was a lot like eating sweet butter, and she wasn't crazy about it. Lesson learned! It was a fun cake to decorate though, if you'd like to take a look:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1949431/
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