So last night I made a batch of chocolate meringue based bc frosting. First of all, I have to say the taste was absolutely wonderful compared to regular buttercream, and that's even allowing for the fact that I don't think I got it quite right. I love how it is so light! I always loved how fluffly the texture of frostings like Walmart/Sam's club frostings were, just wondered how it could taste so darn bad heheheh. And it was also awesome how well the meringue powder I used instead of fresh egg whites whipped up so perfectly. I had no idea!

Now, the question I have is regarding the part where you pour your sugar syrup into the meringue. The book I referenced called for cooking the sugar syrup to the "softball stage", 240 degrees. Well, definately got that part right. When I went to pour it into the mixer though, and I used a folded piece of foil to make sure it went straight into the bowl of the KA, not on the bowl or on the mixer, it seemed like half of it flung out and got stuck to the sides of the bowl anyways. Also a lot was on the whip attachment, and it was HARD! I was actually worried about some of those hardened chunks of sugar syrup getting knocked loose and ending up with frosting full of hard sugar lumps, so after a moment transfered the mixture to a different bowl and continued mixing with a hand mixure.

It really felt like a lot of the sugar syrup didn't make it into being absorbed into the meringue. I just kind of wondered if this was just to be expected, or if I might need some work on my technique.

Anyways, thanks for any help!

You pour the syrup on side of the bowl at a steady stream. I use egg whites though, never tried mer powder. when you cook the syrup as soon as it gets 3 degrees to the point of done take of heat(It is still cooking) and then pour in a pyrex glass measure cup and poor. I hope this helps.

What frosting are you using?

I exclusively use IMBC and I absolutely love it. The texture is so awesome and smooths beautifully!
I use a combination of fresh whites and meringue powder. Typically I use 8 whites and 3 T of powder, plus 2 T water. That is for a 6 qt bowl.
I boil my sugar to 248, then add it in 3 additions. I whip the whites to soft peak, stop the mixer, pour in 1/3 of the syrup, beat on high for 10 seconds, stop it, add the next third, beat, then once again. It never sticks to the beater or the bowl.
After adding the syrup, I beat for about 10 min till cool before I start adding the butter. Sometimes the meringue tries to escape from the mixer, but I've found that this is the perfect size batch for me.
Hope that helps some!

Sharon

Monica, If you love this then try Rose Levy Birenbaum's Mousseline BC. It's in The Cake Bible. I am hooked on this. Isn't this so much better than the shortening kind? I don't understand how shortening frosting ever got to be called Buttercream. You just have to be careful to try and pour your sugar syrup between the beater and the bowl sides. Quite a feat, I know.

Does IMBC or SMBC crust enough to smooth with Viva or sponge roller? Or do you have to smooth it with a spatula?

SugarPlumStudio...how much does your recipe make??

I just made IMBC for the first time as well and I could not believe how perfectly it turned out. I cooked my sugar to 238 and then poured it straight from the pan into the mixer bowl. I used the whisk attachment on med-low and slowly poured the sugar down the side of the bowl in a continous thin stream. Once it was all poured in, I turned it up to medium to mixed until it was cool enough to add the butter. I did not have even one sugar crystal in my icing, it was perfectly smooth and soo delish!!

Imbc and smbc do not crust for the viva method.

I laughted reading your entry since the situation you described sounded just like the experience I had making the icing. I had to make two batches since on my first batch I took my eyes off the syrup and next thing I know, it was dark brown and burning. The second batch I made was better but I did have some of the sugar chunks mixed in the icing so it was a mess. I am going to try it again and I would like to try it with the meringue powder.

sugarlaced:

I use 2# of unsalted butter to the whites/meringue/sugar syrup mixture, so it yields about 2# of buttercream

Vixterfsu, If you need to you can hot knive it very carefully.

Can you get this icing as smooth as the crisco buttercream...since it doesn't crust?

Lea, I can post it Monday in the afternoon at the latest. Tomorrow is Football something or other and we are having a football party (Yawn.)

I would love it if you could pm me the recipe.

I still suspect I might have cooked the sugar syrup too much for it to harden so fast. Right before I took it off the heat it really started to thicken up quite a lot, and I wonder if this is normal. Maybe by wasting the time to test the "softball stage" it overcooked.

Monica

Yes, once I had added all my sugar, the buttercream did start to thicken. It sounds like maybe you in fact did cook the sugar too long. If heated too high, the sugar will clump in the bowl. If heated too low, the buttercream will be too thin. You really should get a candy thermometer for this recipe since it is so picky, they are only $2.99 at Walmart.

Here's the recipe I use and always get rave reviews.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2300-0-Vanilla-Italian-Meringue-Buttercream.html

There is another recipe on this site, Italian Merangue Buttercream, Shirley's Method. I prefer this recipe because it calls for a little less butter and her directions are perfect! I have heard many people complain that IMBC tastes like a stick of butter so I opted to use this recipe. Also, it may be a good one to try for beginners because it makes a smaller batch, it only uses 3 sticks of butter instead of 6! And I really recommend using the method of pouring the sugar in a slow consistent stream down the side of the bowl. This has worked for me every time and you do not have to keep starting and stopping the mixer. There really are many recipies out there for IMBC and they call seem to call for a differant boiling temp. for the sugar. When I was researching though, I found the most commen temp to bring the sugar to was the softball stage, 138-140. This worked out perfectly for me. Hope this helps, good luck!

I made IMBC with Shirley's recipe this weekend and it is the BEST frosting I have ever tasted. The directions are very clear and easy to follow (good for me!) and the result was the silkiest texture ever. THANKS Shirley, this is my new fave recipe.

I love using Martha's recipe for IMBC ;o)
However I would like to try a chocolate version of this... Anyone have a good recipe for the chocolate version?

TIA

Someone posted Duff's buttercream here once and it does not call for cooking the sugar at all and I love it! I'll see if I can find the thread and re-post.