Oh Wow Why Didn't I Find This Sooner?
Decorating By fortheloveofcake1984 Updated 25 Mar 2011 , 11:04pm by Renaejrk
well I made a cake and tried out SMBC and WOW i have never had anything so tasty!! The cake was delish why havent I tried this before LOL
Because it's so much more work than regular buttercream! But I've heard so many raves about meringue buttercreams that I'm just going to have to break down and try one one day soon.
You'd like IMBC too then...a lot of people (myself included) find IMBC much simpler and easier to make. Essentially SMBC and IMBC are the same thing, just a different method.
Straight meringue buttercreams can be too 'buttery' though. I've tweaked my IMBC recipe to increase the sugar a little, reduce the butter (I use unsalted) a fair bit, and add a little (white or dark, depending) cooled melted chocolate. The result is perfect 
Well id heard that lots of people have problems with it, so it always put me off. But it came out perfectly first time. I added the butter in little cubes at a time tasting to ensure it wasnt too buttery.
My darling H2B says he hasnt tasted such a nice cake and plleeassee could I make it as a tier for our wedding cake.
SO all I have to do now is plan 2 more tiers
You'd like IMBC too then...a lot of people (myself included) find IMBC much simpler and easier to make. Essentially SMBC and IMBC are the same thing, just a different method.
Straight meringue buttercreams can be too 'buttery' though. I've tweaked my IMBC recipe to increase the sugar a little, reduce the butter (I use unsalted) a fair bit, and add a little (white or dark, depending) cooled melted chocolate. The result is perfect
Oh Coral3 That sounds fab especially the chocolate mmm delish
once you've tasted SMBC, you'll never go back! It is SO WORTH the extra work. the flavor cannot be beat, and it so easy to frost a cake with.
you can freeze the egg yolks and use them to make curds - lemon, lime, passionfruit, etc.
For those who've not made IMBC before and want to try there is a good tutorial here:
When you've got the method down then you can just tweak it to taste. My recipe is not an exact science, I reduce the butter and increase the sugar for the syrup (when you make the syrup you need to use enough water to just wet all the sugar, so if the original quantity of water is not enough then add extra water a teaspoon at a time until it's just wet). When I've got all the butter beaten in I add in cooled melted chocolate & vanilla extract to taste, then beat until it's done.
For those who don't know what to do with the yolks---You can always buy pasturized egg whites in the carton. I use them in my IMBC without any problems.
...or dried egg whites which work equally well.
My only lament with dried egg whites though is that I can't get free-range. 
In addition to the wonderful taste, there is also the added benefit of its luxurious texture - like edible satin!
Sometimes when it is very hot, I add some of Indydebi's buttercream to it and it still is really, really good!
I make IMBC but the end of this post still works for that. And there's good info here for SMBC users. A few of us have tried this and it works.
http://fromscratchsf.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/tutorial-swiss-meringue-buttercream/
For me making a regular batch of american buttercream is much more trouble and time consuming than making a batch of SMBC.
I love the velvety texture and the silky feeling of meringue buttercreams.
The other best part is flavoring SMBC/IMBC, I recently made hazlenut-praline SMBC and it was heavenly delicious!!! 
And here's the cream cheese SMBC.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=711181&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0
Alright y'all, help a noob out :p what is smbc and imbc? Feel free to add little descriptions of each if you got the time :p still trying to learn!
You'd like IMBC too then...a lot of people (myself included) find IMBC much simpler and easier to make. Essentially SMBC and IMBC are the same thing, just a different method.
Straight meringue buttercreams can be too 'buttery' though. I've tweaked my IMBC recipe to increase the sugar a little, reduce the butter (I use unsalted) a fair bit, and add a little (white or dark, depending) cooled melted chocolate. The result is perfect
Coral would you care to share your tweaked recipe, it sounds divine!
Alright y'all, help a noob out :p what is smbc and imbc? Feel free to add little descriptions of each if you got the time :p still trying to learn!
SMBC = Swiss Meringue Buttercream
egg whites and sugar are heated on a double boiler then whipped to stiff peaks and butter is added at the end.
IMBC = Italian Meringue Buttercream
egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks while sugar and water get boiled to about 248 degrees Farenheit. The hot syrup is then poured over the whites and once the mixture is cooled down while beating, butter is added at the end.
Both take flavorings and they are the same end product just a different process.
I haven't tried SMBC because I have no idea what to do with the egg yolks and hate wasting them.
Whenever I make a white cake that uses only egg whites, I use the leftover yolks to make Rose Beranbaum's Neoclassic Buttercream from the Cake Bible. If I'm not going to use it immediately, I put it in an airtight bowl in the freezer til I need it. It is FABULOUS! I used to make the CIA's SMBC, but hated to waste the yolks in both the buttercream and the white cake. Here's a fabulous way to keep from wasting anything!
Alright y'all, help a noob out :p what is smbc and imbc? Feel free to add little descriptions of each if you got the time :p still trying to learn!
SMBC = Swiss Meringue Buttercream
egg whites and sugar are heated on a double boiler then whipped to stiff peaks and butter is added at the end.
IMBC = Italian Meringue Buttercream
egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks while sugar and water get boiled to about 248 degrees Farenheit. The hot syrup is then poured over the whites and once the mixture is cooled down while beating, butter is added at the end.
Both take flavorings and they are the same end product just a different process.
thank you very much!! 
If you google or find it here you'll see that the recipe is kind of universal. The people who have "tweaked" versions of it are just adding more sugar to the syrup yo make it sweeter or adding some melted chocolate at the end as flavoring. Or taking a little butter off. All you have to learn really is technique. I posted a link before.
Warning: some people will still end up not liking it because they're used to the gritty sweet flavor of regular buttercream.
I am one who loves to use the cartoned egg whites, and I always add melted, cooled white chocolate to my IMBC. I recently posted my recipe in the recipe section, but it hasn't gone through yet. I tweaked it to use a whole carton of egg whites so I don't waste them, and it gives me a larger volume of icing.
Here are some pics I once posted of whipped carton egg whites. I think they work great (depending on the brand!)
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-688611-.html
My fear with IMBC/SMBC is shelf life. Can someone confirm it has to be refrigerated? If it does, that takes it out of the running for me
It can be left in the counter without any problems. Again, I posted a link before and there was a discussion on cc about it. Some people never refrigerate it. Some people freeze it and then leave it out the day before. I'm on my cell so I can't look for the thread but search for SMBC and FromScratchSF and you'll probably find the thread.
Thanks imaginethatnj, I've been avoiding using it because I thought it wasn't shelf stable. Now I'll have to give it a try
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