I was looking for a yummy buttercream recipe and found one in the Whimsical Bakehouse book. I was all set to make it and then realized that the 12 egg whites are never cooked!
I'm pretty hesitant to use raw egg whites in an icing that kids and pregnant moms will eat. Am I being overly cautious?
Do you use raw egg whites?
Do you think I could substitute meringue powder? I'm guessing it wouldn't be the same.

I really wanted an icing that didn't have crisco. I wanted something with real butter, mostly butter. Do you have another suggestion for something that would work, taste good and be easily flavored?

Thanks!

Is the recipe you're talking about the one where you add a sugar syrup? If so, I think that the sugar syrup sort of cooks the egg whites. I've used Italian Meringue Buttercream in the past that uses raw egg whites that you whip to the meringue stage and then you add a sugar syrup mixture (sugar and water brought to 248 or 250 ºF). You beat it until the bowl doesn´t feel hot anymore and then you start adding butter. The texture is smooth and silky and it tastes yummy. I don´t think you can substitute it by meringue powder,though... but I´m not positive.

Inma

if you use meringue powder and not any butter, then you would be making royal icing, which dries very hard. i don't like using raw eggs either.

The syrup may be hot, but because you just trickle it in, the egg whites never get hot enough to be pasteurized. If this is a concern, you need to use powdered whites and reconstitute them. They'll whip up fine. I've heard that you can do the same thing with meringue powder, but haven't tried it. Oughta work.

Well, I would use powder in place of the eggs only and do the rest the same, I guess.

Otherwise, a buttercream with real butter shouldn't be too hard, right?

KarenOR,
I just did some reseach and according usda.gov website icing made from boiled sugar syrup and whipped egg whites are safe from salmonella. So that confirms what frindmi mentioned to you earlier in the thread.

I love the buttercream with the syrup in it but it is so tedious and sensitive to make.

You might be able to try using pasteurized egg whites. They come in a milk-carton-like container in the refrigerator section of the grocery store (next to the egg substitutes). I believe these still whip up, but wouldn't have the problem of salmonella since they have been heated to kill all of the micro-organisms that may be lurking in them.

There are several previous topics on this issue, do a search in the forums for Italian Meringue Buttercream. There are varying opinions on whether or not the egg whites are raised to a safe temperature by adding the cooked syrup. SquirellyCakes posted some very good scientific and factual information on this subject too.
I love IMBC and have switched to using powdered egg whites, just to be on the safe side.

Wow, there are so many nice people on Cake Central. Thanks Cake_Princess for searching on the salmonella. I LOVE Cake Central! Yahoooooooooooooo!

Thanks! I think I'll look for the pasteurized whites. That would solve my problem....

I did search for IMBC but I guess I didn't do it very well, because I couldn't find all the answers that I was looking for...until now!

I agree.... Cake Central is the BEST THING EVER!!!!

Miah

Here's one posts I was talking about
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=6472&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=safety&&start=0

Since I have no desire to crack eggs and attempo to seperate them-because i always end up leaving just a teeny bit of yolk and the whole recipe is a flop-I buy them in the carton. They are with the egg substitute cartons and are called Just the Whites. Wonderful time saver!! And I remeber hearing that the egg whites are cooked by the syrup to be safe from one the Food Network cake challenges.