ok, so i was making frosting for my friends b-day cake and i totally forgot to get merignue(sp?) powder!!! so i just decided to use 1 egg white, but now the frosting looks all glossy and weird!!?? i have no idea what to do. and i dk if it is alright to serve it since it has uncooked egg in it.
-please help!!-
thanks!!

I don't know for sure but I would say through it out!! Wouldn't want to take any chances. Maybe some more experienced cakers can help

It might be best to throw it out and start over (assuming you haven't put it on the cake). You can make your buttercream without the meringue powder and it will come out just fine.

I always eat things with raw egg in them (cookie dough, cake batter, etc...) and have never gotten sick...but better safe than sorry, especially when you're serving it to someone else.

ya, though i have to make it tomorrow and have no more ingredients to make frosting, so im pretty much screwed.

What kind of frosting were you making? For some raw eggs are fine to use, not so for others.

well i was making a buttercream frosting? is it fine??

It is safe for 3 days at room temp, or 2 weeks in the fridge. Egg whites are far less prone to bacterial growth than the yolks. All that sugar is a great preservative. I cant help much more unless you post what the rest of your recipe includes. If you used egg white and powdered sugar the result is royal icing and is probably why it is so glossy

well the recipe called for
- butter imulsion
-vanilla
-powdered sugar
-crisco
-merignue powder
-and water.

Shoot - I eat alot of things but 3 day old, room temperature buttercream made with an unpasteurized egg white - no thank you.

If you were the only one eating it, that would be one thing...but you are serving it to others, and some may be ill or immunocompromised and therefore more susceptible to becoming ill..and while eggs whites are less prone to bacterial growth, they are not immune to bacterial growth.

IMO, that's too risky. Just go to the grocery store for ingredients and start over.

hmmm, does it taste good? It is safe to serve and I would if it tastes good and you can not start over. Maybe you could add a teaspoon of cream of tartar. That might help give it a little creamier texture and volume. Good luck.

this one uses egg whites w/ the option to use either pasteurized or 5 big eggs...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-5303-52-Fluffy-Buttercream.html

This one uses 1 egg white

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-840-53-Fluffy-Buttercream-Frosting.html

I think you'll be fine....I think I might consider mixing it for a considerable amount of time just to make sure that egg is well incorporated...ugh...could you imagine someone getting a snotty bite of icing....ugh.

ummm
I wouldn't want to serve it... but that is just my opinion .. you know what they say LOL

Whoops double post, sorry about that.

I did some research, and went to the american egg board. It says that bacteria are MOST likely to be in the white, but can not grow without nutrients. It also says that salmonella can begin to grow within 20 minutes out of the refrigerator and can double in numbers every 20 minutes.

aeb.org/learnmore/eggsafety.protectfamily

On salmonella.org it states "Most of the work figuring out how Salmonella and similar bacteria (like E. coli) grow is very old. People tried to guess what it would be like in the intestines, where they knew that Salmonella grew, and copied that. They tested different temperatures and found that 37 celsius (98 F) works the best. This is also the temperature of our bodies! Also, they tried lots of combinations of nutrients, and found that Salmonella like to grow with a carbon (sugar) source. Glucose is the best source, just as it is for us."

Do what you wish, but personally I would never serve any icing that contained raw egg.

I wouldn't serve it. Just taking the chance is not worth it to me. B/c you don't know for SURE if it will make someone sick or not. That could be a HUGE problem for you if you did make people sick. You really don't have to have the meringue powder for future reference. I never use it and my icing is yummy and still crusts.

Were the eggs pasteurized?

This is so odd to me. My whole life my mom has made sugar cookies and the icing that she makes for them is just egg whites, cream of tartar and PS. I have eaten and given them for every holiday for the last 36 years without even thinking about it. Hmmmm... My mom even has a compromised immune system and I have fed them to my kiddos from the time they were babies (6 months anyways) and no problems. As long as the eggs came from the store and not from a farm, then I think it's fine.

We have been making royal icing with raw egg whites for decades and I have never heard of anyone getting sick from eating it!!
You can read statistics from all sorts of sources but the fact is we have been eating it for years.

I just meant that if you get them from the store, they will most likely be pasteurized. We, actually only buy organic now and I was surprised to learn how many fat grams were in organic eggs!