AThis is my 3rd time trying smbc and its still really runny. Last two times I did it I miss read the recipe and needless to say I used way too much butter. This morning i followed it exactly and it's been mixing for over an hour. I made sure I had stiff peaks in my meringue and added the butter little by little and it's still soupy. I even put it in the fridge for a bit. It's just a family cake for me and my sister's birthday but I wanted to try something new. Any ideas on how I can save this?

AButter can be too soft. Throw it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Keep trying to cool it if the first 15 doesn't work.

I use sweetopolita's smbc recipe. It has never let me down.

There is a free class called Modern Buttercream on craftsy.com that is very good. You might want to look at that.  Good luck.

AI used that recipe all three times. And put it in the fridge. I'll have too look into the class. Thank you both. I'll keep at it.

If your meringue is too warm when you add the butter, you could get soupy SMBC because of the melted butter. I usually go by the temperature of my bowl rather than the stiffness of the meringue. There are times when the meringue looks ready but is still too warm for the butter. I keep on whipping till the bowl is somewhat cool (more like room temp) to the touch.

What SMBC recipe are you using?

Edit: Is your kitchen hot?

AWhen I ran into that problem it was when my butter was too soft....ie, left it on counter overnight over running dishwasher. Made the butter super, super soft. Took a few trips to the fridge and that seemed to do the trick.

Hope you can figure out what's going wrong. It's a great recipe.

AI'm thinking it was too hot in my kitchen. It was a nice Cali day. I was trying to keep it cool. I'll saved it for next weekend and will see if having it frozen and thaw it a little bit. I'll keep trying. Not one to quit. :grin: