Ok making a birthday cake for my MIL, out of powdered sugar so I decided to try IMBC. Got it all whipped up. Was expecting it to be white and it's not but can deal with that. It is just beauty in a bowl...silky texture, shiney....can't wait to use this!!!! UNTIL..........
I tasted it ....OMG! This is like eating a stick of butter. Is it suppose to taste like this? or did something go REALLY wrong here!
Help......I would like to do IMBC and use it sometime but can't see eating this .......will ck messages when i get back from getting ps to make my buttercream......
You're supposed to put some type of flavoring in it, usually. Sometimes I use it without any flavor and it's fine. It could just be that you don't like it! It's definitely more buttery than confectioner's sugar icing.
What recipe did you use for it? The basic that I've seen most places is 5 egg whites, 1/4 + 1/8 tsp cream of tartar, 1 cup sugar(cooked) and 1 pound butter. If you put more butter than that in it it can take it, but it will be too buttery.
the best italian meringue buttercream.. that i have ever made is from the whimsical bakehouse book.. it is delicious.. then from dede wilsons books.. love these two
you did nothing wrong. It usually tastes like that. Some people love it, some hate it. Never seen anyone who is lukewarm about it, it's either hate or love, LOL. I'm not a lover, not that there's anything wrong with being a lover
My favorite is to add melted and cooled white chocolate.
Also, make sure you are NOT using salted butter.
I'm a lover...me and my sister think it tastes like ice cream when vanilla is added to it!
patticakesnc you are sooooo not alone,I almost cannot post my feelings about it seeing that Ccr's love it soo much.It was just like butter to me,(disgusting), and I looooove butter so I don't know what went wrong.But I am going to try it again sometime anyway just to be sure i really don't like it. I read a white chocolate version and I like white chocolate so maybe i'll try that. All my friends hated it too.
I love it - and it's cousin SMBC (which I think is easier to make - no hot sugar syrup!). I think what puts people in the "love it" category is the texture. It is rich and silky smooth, with absolutely no grainey-ness (sp?). I do agree though that unless you flavor it, it will taste like - of course - butter.
Some favorites I've done are milk chocolate (fabulous on a peanut butter cupcake), lemon (use juice and curd) and raspberry (use strained puree - this a winner on chocolate cupcakes) and lots and lots of vanilla.
Please don't give up! It's worth it.
Did you use salted butter? If you did then yes... eeeeew. If you use unsalted butter it doesn't taste like a stick of butter at all. That and use a good amount of real vanilla. It's never white... but it shouldn't taste like butter if you use the unsalted butter.
PS based icings need the salt to cut through all of that sugar, but the meringue based icings don't need the salt because they have MUCH less sugar.
A recipe of PS based icing to cover an 8" cake would have 2 pounds (4 cups) of powdered sugar where the same amount in a meringue based icing would have one cup of granulated. It'a huge difference.
I always suggest making it with unsalted butter and it can make all the difference in the world. The first time I made SMBC I used 1/2 and 1/2 and it was still not good... so I switched to all unsalted and it's like night and day IMHO.
I think it just matters what your used to. I personally don't like it.. but my mom LOVES it. I make it when I make cakes for her. Jeanne I actually use your recipe
I enjoy the overly sweet powdered sugar buttercream. But then again, I have a raging sweet tooth! I think evverything tastes better w/ sugar on top. And I mean everything!
You can also put powdered sugar to your Italian buttercream, maybe 1/2 - 1 cup. A recipe that I have used in the past suggests that if you like it sweeter add powdered sugar. It also makes the buttercream more stable.
I can't figure out why it tastes like a stick of butter to some. I use "Classic Vanilla Buttercream" from the foodnetwork site and it doesn't taste like a stick of butter at all! Its smooth and airy, sweet but not overly, and sometimes I dont even add vanilla because its good without. I use half salted half unsalted, too. So maybe its the recipe, maybe it's the person. I have no idea, but good luck
I used this recipe.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipes_fileid-print-recipeid-2300.html
I just realized I DID use salted butter. Ughh! I tried adding ps to it and extra vanilla but it is a no go. I put it in the fridge might try at some point to make it into something........
do you have some cake scraps to try it on? Maybe it's just because you're tasting it alone. It's the best on chocolate cake. I loooooove IMBC, it's the only icing I make and sometimes if you haven't whipped it long enough, or you don't add enough flavoring it can taste too much like butter. I also use salted butter and haven't noticed a difference in the taste but now I'm going to make sure to try it with unsalted next time to be sure I can be a bit oblivious sometimes, now I'm dying to see what the difference is. I would say try it on a piece of cake scrap and see if you like it...
I think it's a personal preference...........I was so excited when I made it the first time and it came out perfect.
I liked it but unfortunately everyone else that tried it did not.
So.................I'll save it for MY birthday cake
Be sure to use very good quality flavorings, that makes a huge difference!
I think it's a personal preference...........I was so excited when I made it the first time and it came out perfect.
I liked it but unfortunately everyone else that tried it did not.
So.................I'll save it for MY birthday cake
Be sure to use very good quality flavorings, that makes a huge difference!
I did use good vanilla, real not imitation..... But it was just so buttery. I have put it in the fridge and think I will use it as a base for some buttercream so it doesn't go to waste. But it is ok...I got the cake done in buttercream and i am pretty happy with it.
I did use good vanilla, real not imitation..... But it was just so buttery.
Then I agree with the others, it's got to be the salted butter......I did use unsalted so that was probably the difference. Although the others who tasted mine also thought it tasted too much like butter, not sweet enough. But, they're used to American BC, so that's all they had to compare it to.
I think the salted butter idea is right...I thought about that yesterday after posting.
My husband and I also think its taste like sweet butter. We ended up using it on toast and muffins. I was very disappointed. I actually liked it before I added the butter when it was just a meringue but can you use it in that state without the butter?
IMBC is definitely different tasting from BC, especially if you are used to BC, however, on a cake it tastes wonderful. You can add different flavorings to it like some of the LoAnn oils, any of the coffee syrups or extracts and it is even better tasting. I made a Mocha Freckled cake last weekend and my mother in law said she wanted "just a small piece" and I gave her a small piece. She said it was such a big piece of cake she did not know if she could eat it all, well she raved about the icing and cleaned her plate up. I gave a lot away as we had too much for the 2 of us and everyone raved about the icing as well as the cake. Try it again, give it a chance and flavor it. Who knows, everyone may like it next time. Good luck!!!!
if you used salted butter, try adding melted chocolate to it. it's yummy and chocolate "kills" the buttery taste.
addietx, i think that would be like a boiled icing or 7-minute frosting. I have used that before. in my pictures it's the spiky cake. Lots of people actually like that here.
the best italian meringue buttercream.. that i have ever made is from the whimsical bakehouse book.. it is delicious.. then from dede wilsons books.. love these two
MMM... I'll have to try it! I love Jeanne's SMBC recipe! It's sooo delicious!
I'm not fan either. I can practically feel my arteries clog up when I eat the stuff. And it's way too expensive to make for cakes I sell. I use a meringue (powder) based bc, but with powdered sugar added. Similar texture, and I like the taste better, and less expensive.
Well, I was out of PS so I just wanted to try something different. But now I know....sigh... I really wanted to like it, but that's ok. I LOVE my buttercream and the cake I made was AMAZING in taste so it was all good.
I appreciate it you guys. I may try SMBC sometime to just see what I think of it.
SMBC is the same as IMBC in taste and texture... it's just a different method for making the same icing. I like SMBC because you don't have to boil the sugar. But I swear... it's a completely different if you use unsalted butter compared to using salted butter. I couldn't imagine eating it made with salted butter.
I have recently gone back to using SMBC after trying to adapt many American BC recipes. I actually had a kid tell me my cake was good but my frosting was too sweet. So I tried a recipe for White Choc. SMBC and it is SOOOOO freakin' good!
It's your basic SMBC with melted and cooled white choc added. I think it's 10 egg whites to 2 1/2 c sugar, 2 lbs UNSALTED butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 lb white choc. It tastes like a velvety marshmallow
The white chocolate taste doesn't hit you over the head, it keeps the satiny texture but adds enough sweetness for the kids cakes as well as keeping the elegance that I want for weddings. DH, who has a huge sweet tooth, loves it and he always complained before that my icing tasted like sweetened butter. So that's my compromise
I still like American BC on my cupcakes, though!
Tammy
Leahs, would you mind sharing your recipe? I'd love to give it a try. I love IMBC, but I agree that it is expensive. Especially around here where butter is near $4/lb lately.
Watch out at Walmart, they will have sales for $1.50 per pound on butter. I normally buy a lot when they do and store it. It always gets used before it goes bad.
Also look into getting a BJ's/Sam's/Costco membership. I can get 4 pounds of butter for $6.50-ish. It comes is 1 pound blocks, but it's easy to weigh it out for smaller applications. I just bought 36 pounds of butter yesterday along with 15 dozen eggs... it goes quick.
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