does anyone know if you can use margarine instead of butter in Italian Meringue Buttercream?

DO NOT USE MARGARINE IN IMBC OR SMBC!!!!!!!! PERIOD!

Don't use margarine in icing...period!

I cannot imagine the flavor being acceptable for this use. This recipe is all about butter. Margarine is a pretty poor substitute for flavor, and it's much worse for your heart than is butter.

As said before, No Margarine.

Margarine is much softer than butter and is loaded with water.

Rae

thanks everyone. didn't want to waste ingredients and time. I don't use any dairy in any of my baking so i was curious. I always see IMBC and it looks so good, thought i would try it.

You can use a dairy-free margarine like Nuttlex or Earth Balance in IMBC ..

From what I've found some margarine certainly doesnt work (most likely due to water content) although there may be ones that do, and I'm sure I've heard of people using animal fat before, as it gives a perfectly white icing, although I think it sounds a bit gross!


To anyone who has already tried to make IMBC with margarine & been unable to get much air into it, you needn't throw it away. If you add a little self raising flour it puffs up into rather gluttinous pancakes!

I guess it depends on the margarine.
I'm from outside the US, and here somatimes I use a small percentage on my SMBC and it always turns out beautifully. But again, butter is better

I use Stork baking margarine mixed with puff pastry fat. Comes out perfect. I am in Zimbabwe. Butter price is high. People are not willing to pay the price. I will try it with butter for family cake. My friend told me that her kids who do not eat buttercream from supermarket cakes love my IMBC.

I don't use margarine for anything. It has a terrible list of ingredients and it takes weeks for your body to expel. If you are consuming it on a daily basis, you body never completely expels it. Butter is much better for you if you are going to use anything of this type. Lard is better then oils and shortenings as far as your body being able to break it down and expel it. Bowl butters...even ones like "I can't believe it's not butter" are not good for you.

Scratchsf I have not come across shortening here. Not sure if its the same as pastry fat. Its just labeled puff pastry fat and normaly used for pie dough. It stabilises the margarine. The marge brand that I use sells two types, spreading and baking margarine. Made in South Africa.