I made swiss meringue buttercream for the very first time for my daughter's baptism cake this past weekend. It tasted great and was silky smooth right after making it. I put it in the fridge since I wasn't using it until the next day and it got rock hard so I left it out and let it come back to room temperature and then rewhipped it in the mixer. I iced and decorated the cake and put the finished cake in the fridge overnight since it had a perishable filling. The day of the party, I took the cake out an hour and a half before serving it and the icing was still kind of hard. It wasn't rock hard like when I refrigerated the first time but I was expecting it to be softer and fluffier like when I initially made it. Can someone help me figure out what went wrong? Thanks!
Hi K8Memphis
I used the recipe from my craftsy class (ultimate cake bakers toolbox with james roselle.)
3 cups granulated sugar
10 egg whites
4 teaspoons meringue powder
1/2 cup shortening
2 lbs. butter
2 tablespoons vanilla
it first has you dissolve the sugar in the egg whites over a hot water bath and then whip it in the stand mixer. Once the egg whites are whipped then you add the butter, shortening and vanilla little by little
idk -- i don't use any meringue powder --
the ratios i use are:
- 1 1/3 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup granulated Not confectioner's sugar
- 3 large egg whites
from m. braun's lovely book "cakewalk"
so at three cups of sugar like yours i would be using 12 egg whites and five and a third cups of butter -- so that's nearly three pounds of buttter --
so i use extra whites, about the same in fat and sugar no meringue powder
there is not a right or wrong formula -- i mean it goes without saying that james roselle knows what he's doing -- i'm just saying my formula is a bit different -- it works for me -- and i have no idea why yours stayed so hard
CatherineGeorge - Do you think it's possible I didn't have the cake out at room temperature long enough? I thought taking it out an hour and a half before serving would have been plenty of time but the icing and cake were still slightly cold and the icing was still a little hard. How long does everyone else have their cakes out before serving?
I mean if you slice it the slices will warm up pretty quickly. Mine stay chilled a long time, especially on the inside.
If you're curious, a thermometer would solve the mystery.
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