Imbc Soup! Help!!

Baking By alschmelzle Updated 24 Mar 2017 , 3:53am by bubs1stbirthday

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alschmelzle Posted 24 Mar 2017 , 1:41am
post #1 of 4

I have made italian meringue buttercream a few times now and it has always turned out perfectly.  However I hesitate to make it anymore  because my little mixer man just has a hard time with it.  I made some today and it took over 2 HOURS for the bowl to be even close to room temp, but even after 2 hours it was still too warm.  I ended up adding the butter prematurely and it all turned into soup!  Maybe it's just my hands but I thought it felt room temperature.  Is it possible for the butter to be too soft?  Why won't my IMBC cool properly?!

My poor little Mr. Mixalot works so hard that by the time the bowl is cooled he is overheating.  I usually have to tie a large ice pack around the top of him during the cooling process!  Is it normal for IMBC to take this long to cool? 

The recipe I use is  Yolanda Gampp's recipe from How To Cake It.  I always follow it just as she says.

3 replies
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Paola__ Posted 24 Mar 2017 , 2:15am
post #2 of 4

I have a kitchenaid mixer so it usually takes me about ten minutes to cool the mixture down. I have used almost fully melted butter in my IMBC before (by accident) and it was really soupy. I put it in the fridge till it was  firm and stiff then I whipped it up again till it was light and soft and airy and it worked jut fine. 

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alschmelzle Posted 24 Mar 2017 , 3:01am
post #3 of 4

I have a kitchenaid mixer too. It is a Kitchenaid Artisan and still it takes so long to cool even on it's highest speed. 

I'm glad the butter was not the problem. Maybe my hands just can't tell the difference between warm and room temp! I put it in the fridge for a while and it turned out fine. 

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bubs1stbirthday Posted 24 Mar 2017 , 3:53am
post #4 of 4

You could try switching to SMBC where the egg whites and sugar are cooked together over a double boiler (I use two pots of the same size).

Once your egg mixture reaches temperature just tip it into a bowl (you could chill the bowl first if you wanted) and allow to cool before you beat it. I use the egg whisk attachment on my hand beaters and whisk until egg whites are stiff (only takes me a few minutes to do 4 whites & 1 cup sugar) then switch to standard beaters to combine the butter.

If my whites are almost room temp and the butter is room temp it takes just a few minutes to throw in all the butter (360gm) at once and beat slowly to combine then a bit faster to smooth it all out beautifully.

If I am in a hurry I just sit my bowl of egg whites on an ice mat while I whisk them without cooling them straight out of the pot (tipped in to a bowl of course).

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