Meringue Buttercream Not So Good In Colored Cake Icing?
Decorating By rhowe7778 Updated 30 Mar 2009 , 2:39am by prterrell
Does it really hard to incorporate or mixed the food color to meringue buttercream? I tried this once before and it turns out not really so good (looks like small drips of color in the cake). Or just so happen I didn't mixed well?
Any suggestions for great and yet not so sweet cake frosting and mixed well with colors.
Any comments are highly appreciated. Thanks.
I make swiss meringue buttercream all the time, and I have no problem coloring it. I typically put gel food color right onto some of my butter, and add the butter as normal in my recipe. Never had any problems. Just keep in mind that your buttercream is naturally a pale yellow, so if you only add a small amount of red you'll get orange, etc.
Thanks for the tip Timhenk. Would you mind to share your swiss meringue buttercream recipe?
Sure!
Egg whites: 1.5 cups
Sugar: 600grams
vanilla paste : approx 5 grams or to taste. Or substitute other extract.
Unsalted butter: 2 lbs.
Put whites and sugar in your KA bowl and heat over simmering water, whisking/stirring constantly until it hits 140 degrees. Do not whisk too much air in, just keep it moving to avoid burning and to heat evenly. Once it comes to 140, immediately attach to your mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on High until it is shiny, fluffy, and almost completely cooled. The trick is that you want it to be cool enough so that you don't melt the butter when you add it. This may take up to 10 minutes or so depending on your mixer.
When the meringue has cooled, add your room-temp butter in small chunks, about a TB at a time, until it is all incorporated. I typically add my vanilla and any gel food coloring at this time. Butter should be added with the whisk attachment on low/medium speed. Buttercream may look loose, but will start to come together as your adding the last stick of butter. Once you have all the butter in, turn it up to high for a minute or so and buttercream should come to a great creamy texture. If your BC is still loose at this time, you can add up to another 1/2 stick of butter, but I RARELY do this.
Several key points: Meringue must be cooled down or it will melt the butter. Butter must be room temp or BC will break. If BC breaks, gently warm the mixing bowl with a kitchen torch for 2-3 seconds at a time while beating.
Can be stored at room temp for 3-4 days, in the fridge for a good week or slightly more, and in the freezer for months. Bring back to room temp before using or serving. You may want to rebeat after freezing or refridgeration.
This will give you a nice creamy, "light-textured" buttercream that does not crust. Suitable for frosting, filling, and piping.
For chocolate, melt dark chocolate and let cool, then mix in after all butter has been added. I generally use about 14% chocolate to the BC. So, I might weigh out 1000g of BC and use 140g top quality chocolate.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you try it out!
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