The first time I made SMBC, it worked beautifully. Every time since then.....SOUP! I have tried the recipe on CC, Elisa Strauss's recipe, and Debbie Brown's recipe. This week I tried 5 different times! Same recipe each time (as the one that worked in the beginning) , same ingredients.....soup every time.

It works great right up until I add the butter. My merengue is beautiful with shiny peaks so stiff you can barely lift the head of the mixer out of the bowl! Then I add the butter and ...POOF....eggy soup! What gives!!!!!??????

It sounds like you aren't beating it long enough. The mixture will look soupy, then curdled before it comes together. How long have you been beating the butter into the mixture? It normally takes about 5-10 minutes for me depending on the size of the batch.

You can also stick the whole thing in the fridge for a while, then try re-beating it.

You definitely have not beat it long enough. (I hope you didn't throw it out!)

The butter will break down the meringue, and then the mixing will cause it to emulsify once again!

If you have to, throw a towel over your mixer, turn it on high, and let it go for 10 minutes or more. It WILL emulsify!!

If it doesn't, it's probably a little too warm, and you need to cool it down by putting it in the fridge for a bit or by using an ice bath on your bowl.

Once again, I repeat, once you add the butter you will get eggy soup. That is supposed to happen.

HTH.

Thank for the responses. Well I did some research before I ever tried the first time, and I knew to expect it to look soupy until the very end. But I also knew it was supposed to come back together and it just never did. i tried beating it for 5-10 minutes. The last batch I let go for about 20 minutes. Still soup. I tried refrigerating it to cool it down, then when I mixed it again, it had like a very tiny little curdled texture. It never got smooth. and it never got any thicker than potato soup. I could pour the stuff!

o I may try that! I was standing there at my mixer holding a couple of ice packs on the outside of the bowl so it would cool faster! I'm sure it looked hilarious!

I totally fell in love with SMBC after that first successful attempt, but I cant continue using it for my cakes if it's so unpredictable. I've wasted 6 dozen eggs and about 3 or 4 pounds of butter just this week!

I make sure I can put my hands on the outside of the mixing bowl comfortably before adding the butter, and my butter isn't cold (like right from the refrigerator) but not room temp either. Hope you figure it out.

Butter should be a little soft, but still cold. I'm almost sure is the butter temperature. I don't leave my butter out too long. I take it out of the refrigerator and cut into pieces, and just leave it out for no more than 10 min.

There are some really good pointers in "The Cake Bible". Look into it and I think you should be able to avoid the soupy mess.

Misdawn, at this link, there's a practice SMBC recipe, small amounts.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-swiss-buttercream/

Once I had the soupy mixture so I put a wet towel around the bowl as it was mixing and it came together perfectly

ok I have tried waiting until the bowl was cool enough to touch and I've tried the butter cold and at room temp. I am going to try the little recipe on the link posted above and try the cold butter/ cold bowl suggestion. I'll try it this weekend and let you guys know how it goes! Thanks for the help so far!

yayy!! good luck!

I agree with putting something frozen under there, I put a bowl of icecubs. Good luck!!!!

Misdawn, really, if the ingredients are at the right temperature and once you get the hang of it, you'll be fine, it will work without trips to the refrigerator, without wet towels, ice or anything like that. Just let it whip for a long time after you add the butter.

Here's a good video about it:

don't mix the meringue too fast either, mixing anything too fast causes irregular air bubbles which break easily. Mixing everything on low speed and just waiting a longer time gives you a stronger base to work with.

I've been having the same problem. LOVE SMBC, but once I'd decided to commit to it, I started having a lot of problems and it's an expensive buttercream! I, too, will be trying your suggestions. Another question for those of you that use it regularly: do yo ever have problems with getting smooth even color when you color the SMBC? I use Americolor gels. Also, how do you contend with heat? I often felt that my shortening based bc tried to melt before we reached the car!