Hey LisaPeps, you are the one who got me through my first batch of IMBC!!! I do change the blade to the scraper blade to add the butter.
FromScratch, thanks for the tip about leaving it out.
Really glad I could help make it work for you 
IMBC is amazing, I can eat it straight from the bowl. I find ABC far too sweet and the texture can be really awful - grainy and greasy... I went to a local bakery to sample their cupcakes and I couldn't eat them because of the frosting.
I never refrigerate my IMBC. I just leave it out at room temp, I have eaten it when it is a week old and it is still good. Just make sure it is covered with Saran or in an air tight container. Any that I don't use I freeze on the day I make it.
Sweetaudry, I'm sorry to say that after reading the entire forum post here, I believe your problem is your mixer. The egg whites (cooked very gently over water with sugar just until you cannot feel any undissolved sugar with your finger tips) should then be beaten with the wisk attachment (I use a Kitchen Aid pro) for maximum volume. They should be beaten until they are stiff and the bowl is no longer warm. Then you change to the paddle attachment and add the butter. The butter should be just soft enough to indent with your finger and no softer. It should be cut into 1-inch pieces and added in 2 batches. The first half gets dumped in, then you should pulse with the paddle just enough to move the butter to the bottom. Then you add the rest of the cut-up butter in all at once. Start the mixer on slow until all the butter is covered with the meringue and there is no danger of it coming out of the bowl. Then, gradually increase the speed of the mixer, with the paddle attachment, increasing to medium high speed and beating until you have a heavenly batch of smooth perfection. At that point you can add flavorings of various types in small amounts. I have never had a single fail with this method and I make it all the time.
I just use the regular beaters that come with the cheap stand mixer (like a hand mixer type beater). I was hoping that a whisk attachment for a hand mixer would fit in, but it doesn't.
So, I'm stuck with the beaters. I was afraid that maybe this was my problem, but I don't have much of another option unless I use a whisk by hand.
Is your stand mixer one of the ones where the beater sits in the middle of the bowl and whips but doesn't actually rotate around the bowl? Hard to describe.. Personally I think the mixer is the issue.
I have only just got my stand mixer and I used to make IMBC with a hand mixer and my mom helping me. My mom would whip the egg whites while I cooked the sugar syrup. When I added the sugar syrup my mom would continue whisking at the same time just extra carefully. We never had any problems, you just need to be careful that the sugar is in a slow stream and doesn't splash up. I would then stand there for 10 minutes whipping the egg whites and sugar (boring lol!!) and then my mom would add the butter. Just make sure your hand mixer is on the highest setting.
Has anyone made chocolate IMBC? I understand you add 16oz. of melted choc. chips and assume to add the choc. after the butter.
Question - semi-sweet or unsweetened and can cocoa powder be used instead of choc. chips.
Has anyone made chocolate IMBC? I understand you add 16oz. of melted choc. chips and assume to add the choc. after the butter.
Question - semi-sweet or unsweetened and can cocoa powder be used instead of choc. chips.
I recommend using 68% or more bitter-sweet chocolate, aprox. 8 oz to every 2 cups of buttercream. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler until smooth and let cool back down to room temperature, add to finished buttercream. If you use semi-sweet or milk chocolate your buttercream will be too soft and teeth-hurtingly sweet. You do have to be careful not to add too much chocolate otherwise your BC will seize and get a stiff mousse-like consistency. If you want a really bitter chocolate flavor use 6 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate. It will have a bite, but is really yummy on a really sweet cake like a white or strawberry cake.
If you just use cocoa powder it will not dissolve and give your BC a gritty grainy texture. I have heard of people having success melting cocoa powder with small amounts of the finished buttercream in a double boiler to make it a melted chocolate consistency, letting it get back to room temp then folding it in, but I don't know ratios or how good this tastes.
Jen
Thanks Jen, I'll try Ghirardelli bittersweet.
For all you meringue buttercream makers and lovers ... do any of you use the carton egg whites? Or strictly whites from fresh eggs? Just exploring my options ... thanks.
I use cartoned egg whites. I usually only use the Kroger Break-Free brand. I have tried several and they are the most consistent.
My recipe is based on a carton of egg whites, which is 8 whites...plus 1/4 tsp cream of tartar for each white. I then use about 2 cups of sugar, between 7-8 sticks of unsalted butter, about 1 1/2 TBS vanilla, and always 12 ounces of white chocolate. Or semi sweet or milk, but most often white. That's my go-to buttercream.
I have also made IMBC with powdered egg whites, but I prefer the carton. I've even made it with Wilton Color flow.
I just use the regular beaters that come with the cheap stand mixer (like a hand mixer type beater). I was hoping that a whisk attachment for a hand mixer would fit in, but it doesn't.
So, I'm stuck with the beaters. I was afraid that maybe this was my problem, but I don't have much of another option unless I use a whisk by hand.Is your stand mixer one of the ones where the beater sits in the middle of the bowl and whips but doesn't actually rotate around the bowl? Hard to describe.. Personally I think the mixer is the issue.
I have only just got my stand mixer and I used to make IMBC with a hand mixer and my mom helping me. My mom would whip the egg whites while I cooked the sugar syrup. When I added the sugar syrup my mom would continue whisking at the same time just extra carefully. We never had any problems, you just need to be careful that the sugar is in a slow stream and doesn't splash up. I would then stand there for 10 minutes whipping the egg whites and sugar (boring lol!!) and then my mom would add the butter. Just make sure your hand mixer is on the highest setting.
My mixer is the kind that has the beaters off to the side and I have to turn the bowl. It incorporates it pretty good, but I'm not sure if it's just that the beaters are to rough on the egg whites or something like that. *Sigh*....I don't know.
And to luddroth, I do everything that you have described here, I just do not have a kitchenaid pro. Thank you.
I crack my own eggs. Carton eggs taste funny to me and don't whip into meringue the same. They whip, just not the same.
Oh I deffinitely cannot afford my own chickens!
My recipes are 238 to 245, so they are right. What butter do you use? I only use Land O Lakes, so if it is another brand, hopefully someone will chime in.
While we are on the subject of IMBC I have a question. I hope I am replying correctly, still getting use to posting.
I am able to make a beautiful batch of IMBC. I have a KitchenAid pro 6 and use LOL butter. I am having a problem remixing the IMBC after it has chilled in the fridge (usually overnight). It separates. I have tried letting it sit out to room temp, taking the chill off in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time at 30%, using the paddle or a fork and it separates every time, looking like glumps of butter swimming through syrupy water. I would love to be able to make IMBC before making cakes and letting the kitchen cool down.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
This happened to me once when I didn't cook the syrup long enough. Looked fine at first but after a while separated. I've cooked it longer now with no problems
Your mixer is the issue. Are the blades like these?
http://www.bestbuy.co.uk/MultiMedia/Products/300x300/101/1000101795__MAIN_300x300.jpg
I had a hand mixer like that and it would work perfectly, just just need to whisk it on high. Can you get someone to help you do it with the hand mixer?
Your mixer is the issue. Are the blades like these?
http://www.bestbuy.co.uk/MultiMedia/Products/300x300/101/1000101795__MAIN_300x300.jpg
I had a hand mixer like that and it would work perfectly, just just need to whisk it on high. Can you get someone to help you do it with the hand mixer?
Yes the beaters are like the hand mixer one. So if they work in a hand mixer form how come they wont in a stand mixer form?
It'll have something to do with the rotation of the blades. You need to be able to mix in all areas of the bowl. Try it with just the hand mixer, I bet it will work!
I couldn't afford a fancy stand mixer like Kitchen Aid or Kenwood, over here they are £250 + so I bought this one
Your spins whilst stationary, and as you turn the bowl it is still stationary, you don't get the movement around the bowl.
Correct me if I'm wrong, just want to help you experience IMBC
OK so I use soley SMBC. I LOVE it. I love how easy it is to make, and how abusive I can get with it.
1. I use carton egg whites sometimes
2. sometimes i use a combo of carton and real eggs
3. ive made it with a hand mixer
4. ive made it in a cheap stand mixer
5. I use my kitchenaid whisk attachment the entire time, until everything in together.
6. i dont take the temp of my bc. i do make sure i cant feel sugar in the eggs
7. sometimes i add the butter before the merigue is completely cooled.
8. sometimes i use room temp butter, sometimes straight out of the fridge.
9. if its soupy i whip longer/add more butter (right out of fridge) or add some crisco. ALWAYS works
10. i freeze it, let it come to room temp & rewhip, never seperates unless its too cold.
I'm definitely going to have to try this!! Y'all have me convinced!
Ohh ok, I get your point now. I wish I could afford $100+ for a mixer. But I do not make cakes for a living right now so it's deffinitely do expensive for me.
I have tried SMBC...didn't work out well at all. That is actually the last kind of BC that I made. I don't know. I must be BC stupid...or my mixer is...probably my mixer.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%