I'm going to be trying an Italian Merainge buttercream this week on some cuppies for my husband. I've nerver made anything other than buttercream before, any tips or hints? I really want it to come out right.

Thanks!

You go girl!!!

Tips on Italian Meringue:
1) Slowly add the hot syrup to the whipped egg whites, down the side of the bowl
2) Beat on high until you can touch the bottom of the bowl with your hand and it is just warm, NOT HOT
3) Slowly toss in SOFT, ROOM TEMP butter (it will look like it is curdled and not coming together but stay with it)

RECOVERY TIPS:
1) If it is too soupy - remove some from the bowl, place it in the freezer until it is firm and add it back to the soupy mixture and beat on high until it comes together. Depending on how soupy it is (meaning the butter was added too soon and it melted) you may have to repeat this.

2) If it is too firm/hard (means you waited too long to add the butter) no problem, warm the bowl with a little torch, or if you don't have one, allow it to sit at room temp, or sit the bowl in a warm water bath or if you are pressed for time, soften bit by bit in the microwave and re-whip.

The beauty if IMBC is that it is easily "salvage-able"

Funny story: When I was in Culinary School, neither my partner or I had made IMBC before. Each team had to make about 15# in a 20 QT mixer. Ours did not come together - it was soupy. We were panicked because of the amount of ingredients, we knew the chef would kill us if we wasted ingredients. We did not know what to do. We had a dinner break and were supposed to come back and ice our cake. So, we decided to go to dinner, pray about it, and come back early to check on it. So we did. Man, did we pray. When we went back to the kitchen, we turned on the mixer and it came together beautifully! We thought God had answered our prayers!!! As it turns out, it just needed time to cool down, we had added the butter too soon and the meringue was too hot. :live and learn and ENJOY!

Yes, it always come together, so like bakingpw...have faith!!

bakingpw, that's a funny story.

CalhounsCakery, a few tutorials (that you might have already), just in case. I made IMBC the other night with a CC friend from Florida...I was on the bus in NJ, lol. She was making it for the first time. It all worked out fine.

Thank you both so much! I hope it works out, cause the recipe looks so good. I'm making chocoalte caramel toffee cuppies. Fingers crossed!