Experimented today. I did something different with the Swiss Meringue ButterCream.
Used 8 large egg whites, and one whole pound of granulated sugar. Added 3 1/2 sticks of butter.
The eggs whipped up to a firm peak, and it came together AOK, but it was a touch soft. I piped these cupcakes with it:
It was sweet! almost as sweet as American ButterCream with powdered sugar, just soft, fluffy, and smoooooth......... I was surprised that the petals held up. It's fun to play with your food.
PS: in real life (and not in my photography) these are a rich yellow color with peach edges.
i think you should have doubled the butter -- did you mean 3 1/2 cups?
No. Not at all. Normally I use 8 oz. of eggs. 14 oz. of sugar and three sticks of butter.
with the extra sugar I added an extra one half of a stick of butter. We don't like it with more butter than that. I've only tried it once with all of the recommended amount of butter & sugar and most people disliked it. So I upped the sugar & cut the butter. Now everyone loves it here.
one pound of sugar is two cups yes?
when i use two and a quarter cups of sugar i'm using 4 cups of butter and 9 egg whites
1# of sugar 2# of butter and 9 whites give or take
and 3 tablespoons of vanilla
there's a ton of different recipes -- mine has twice as much butter i think
Yeah, lots of different ways of making the same icing. It's pretty flexible.
People keep posting that SMBC taste like butter, so just cut down the butter a bit until you like it. I guess I'm just too much of a mad scientist, as I will do variations on recipes just out of curiosity.
I like to "play" with cake recipes and fillings and icings.
My recipe for SMBC is: 1 part of egg whites and 1.5 parts of sugar and for every 3 oz. of egg whites 1 stick of butter.
Some times I want to do 12 oz. of egg whites, sometimes 18 oz. Want to try 24 oz. of egg whites to see if my KA can fit that much.
I don`t even taste butter in my SMBC.
I have tried 1 part of egg whites to 2 parts of sugar but it is too sweet.
I love my SMBC so much!
Perhaps because I don't put that much butter in mine (and I may be the only person to use this modification of this recipe) I don't really taste the butter much either.
It taste like sweetened vanilla flavored whipping cream, and it goes with every flavor of cake that I've baked so far. and when I put the caramel in it, it was heavenly.......simply heavenly.
I'd imagine that it would be easier to work with, and pipe, with twice as much butter as I use, which would be the normal recipe, but I'm ok with simple cakes. I'm a simple person with a sweet tooth teeth!
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one pound of sugar is two cups yes?
when i use two and a quarter cups of sugar i'm using 4 cups of butter and 9 egg whites
1# of sugar 2# of butter and 9 whites give or take
and 3 tablespoons of vanilla
there's a ton of different recipes -- mine has twice as much butter i think
@-K8memphis it just dawned on me.....slow lorax that I am,
that I actually have more sugar than butter in my recipe.
14 oz. sugar to 12 oz. butter 
I'm surprised that it works at all.
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Perhaps because I don't put that much butter in mine (and I may be the only person to use this modification of this recipe) I don't really taste the butter much either.
It taste like sweetened vanilla flavored whipping cream, and it goes with every flavor of cake that I've baked so far. and when I put the caramel in it, it was heavenly.......simply heavenly.
I'd imagine that it would be easier to work with, and pipe, with twice as much butter as I use, which would be the normal recipe, but I'm ok with simple cakes. I'm a simple person with a sweet tooth teeth!
Interesting, my SMBC tastes more like whipping cream too. I was able to pipe some flowers. I have purchased craftsy class, instructor uses royal icing, but I used SMBC This is the cake for my husband b-day.
A
Original message sent by Gator Gal
Can someone tell me how long SMBC can be left out of refrigeration?
On a cake I've left it covered on the cake 3 days and it was good up until then. Don't know about longer because the cake didn't make it that long before the men of my life destroyed it
I tried my first ever rose swirls and was so disappointed with the effort that I did not even take a photo. Made them too flat. Everyone else thought they were fine so it just goes to show you that most people have not idea. Unfortunately I'm on a no cake diet for the next couple of weeks because I want to try some of those cupcake flowers. like yours, MB.
Cazza1: Did you use a crusting buttercream for your roses? They stand up a lot better than a non-crusting bc - I know because I've made them with whipped cream and they only look good for a short while before they sliiiiiiiide down the cake (lesson learned!)
Theresa
Making roses or any other 'tall' flower out of b'cream takes just the right consistency b'cream.
I did some 95% of my decorating with b'cream. Roses and other flowers were never a problem. Yrs ago I posted a recipe for buttercream for air-drying flowers - it should be somewhere in the recipe section. Basically you use less shortening to sugar and NO liquid - just beat it slowly for a long time to make sure it is well incorporated and creamy. I'll go see if I can find that recipe and edit this if I do :)
Edited to add: make royal icing then add 1/2 C shortening you will have a great air-drying b'cream for flowers.
I tried my first ever rose swirls and was so disappointed with the effort that I did not even take a photo. Made them too flat. Everyone else thought they were fine so it just goes to show you that most people have not idea. Unfortunately I'm on a no cake diet for the next couple of weeks because I want to try some of those cupcake flowers. like yours, MB.
Congratulationscazza1 !!
Your'e an experienced baker like me, who ventured into a new and challenging area of decorating. Something new was sugar paste flowers made out of @costumeczar 's gumpaste for me. It's buttercream for you. If it's the Cooked Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe from Carey Madden's book ' Sensational Buttercream decorating ' then you've learned to make one of the most supremely soft silky smooth and super-delicious icings of all time.
However for making stand up roses American buttercream is the easiest icing to use as @kakeladi explains. Royal Icing is also super easy! With SMBC the "cupped flower" such as Chrysanthemum ( White Flower Cake Shoppe Signature flower) are the hardest of all for me. so save that for later.
Did you try the "rosettes" on page #120? You can make those with either the tiniest little star tip, the 1M tip, or the really large Ateco Pastry tips. Same concept. For me..ha... I put rosettes on rosettes. Heres' an example that I wish I'd made the top flower out of a darker color just for better contrast:
And most importantly of all @cazza1 buttercream flowers and leaves are just a delicious joyful happy representation of a flower, a hint to the shape & color of a flower. When you look at a fat fluffy delicious buttercream flower you have made it perfectly as long as everyone who sees it knows exactly what flower it is. Success. That's success. I'm very happy that you gave it a go and that everyone liked them. Cheers to you cazza1 
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".......Edited to add: make royal icing then add 1/2 C shortening you will have a great air-drying b'cream for flowers."
Agree with @kakeladi that this makes my favorite recipe for standing up roses. The consistency is very nice to work with.
MBAlaska~~LOVE the 1M swirl on top of a 1M swirl (roses on roses photo above) with the leaves. When I saw the expanded photo I did a "DOH! [smack on my forehead] moment". It has never occurred to me to do the 1M swirl "rose" with 2 different colors. THANKS FOR POSTING!!!!
(Tonight or tomorrow I'm baking a double or triple recipe of the banana pudding cake you posted earlier. My entire home smells like overripe bananas right now because I've been letting them get really, really ripe.)
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Ok....where is this recipe for banana pudding cake? That sounds soooo good! I love banana pudding -- it's always been my favorite along with tapioca pudding. I'd really like to try this cake. Sounds delicious!!
@Gerle here is the thread & the recipe http://www.cakecentral.com/t/778778/best-ever-banana-pudding-cake-recipe
Enjoy !!
MBAlaska~~LOVE the 1M swirl on top of a 1M swirl (roses on roses photo above) with the leaves. When I saw the expanded photo I did a "DOH! [smack on my forehead] moment". It has never occurred to me to do the 1M swirl "rose" with 2 different colors. THANKS FOR POSTING!!!!
(Tonight or tomorrow I'm baking a double or triple recipe of the banana pudding cake you posted earlier. My entire home smells like overripe bananas right now because I've been letting them get really, really ripe.)
@Apti That's just one of my 'mad scientist Messy Baker' experiments. Putting the bottom layer of icing helps seal in the freshness of the cupcake. It occurred to me later that a nice dark green color in a piping bag with a rose petal tip would have sealed the edges also with less icing on top of course. Just run a strip of green around the edges, then change to a leaf tip after you've made the rosette and pop in some leaves. Will try this out someday.
That's why it's so cool that @cazza1 has stepped in and given it a try. It's just food, it's fun, it's delicious and enjoyable to eat your practice trials.
I used the 1:2:3 Swiss meringue buttercream recipe. I love the taste of it. I will maybe have to try ABC for the roses but I don't like the taste anywhere near as much. Thanks for the advice kakeladi but I won't use shortening in my icing because I don't like the taste and taste is just as important to me as look as I have to eat all my experiments. I am on hold with this for a couple of weeks as I am on a no cake diet (2 days so far and in withdrawal already) and have got to get the Christmas cake done. Then, I am on to it and have in mind to try an inside garden picture cake (bought some tutorials from Terri in South Africa-Bokdoos) and then have a buttercream garden on top. I am nothing, if not ambitious.
AI did a paintball cake that i hesitated doing the splats in buttercream... But I loved how it turned out. The silouette is fondant,,,, the rest of the cake is buttercream.... Gotta love buttercream!!
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Hi,
Does the book have her yellow cupcake recipe in it? If so, would you mind posting it here, please?
AButtercream is my favorite medium. I use fondant for accents but the base is buttercream. I have covered a few with fondant but it scares me lol ! I did a 4 tier wedding cake covered with fondant...it took me twice as long and my arms and chest were sore for days!
When my cake is going to be standing for a while or transported I use 3/4 shortening and 1/4 butter and this tends to keep it stabilized. If it will be used within 24 hours I will use 1/2 and 1/2. I do not use plastic carriers only cardboard cake carriers. Hope this helps some.
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