Can you guys help answer something?
I always make italian meringue buttercream with melted sugar, except after watching the CakeLove IMBC tutorial on YouTube, I noticed they added an extra 2 oz of dry sugar to the egg whites before adding the hot sugar syrup. Will the 2oz of uncooked sugar melt down after the syrup is added or will it cause the buttercream to be gritty?
Does this addition make the buttercream more stiff?
Hope someone can answer this, thanks so much!!

The dry sugar added to the egg whites is meant to stabilize the eggwhites and help prevent over-whipping and breaking of the whites while the sugar is being cooked. It's not 100% necessary, if you are good at timing your sugar and egg whites correctly, but it helps. It will not be gritty at all.