Hi everyone! Last week I made smbc for the first time and I absolutely love it!
I'd like to make it again but honestly I'm nervous about the food safety aspect of it. I used pasturised egg whites from a carton so I skipped heating them (is this right?) How long does it keep without being refrigerated and would you consider this a safe product for children and pregnant women? I'm in the UK and there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about this. Despite having learned patisserie at college I'd never even heard about it until I started lurking in the cake central forum!
Thanks in advance
The heating of the eggs is also to allow for the sugar to dissolve so I personally would do that regardless, the temperature that it gets to however is not as important if you are using pasteurised egg whites.
Again a personal choice I chose not to eat it while I was pregnant and also used alternate icings when I made a cake for my pregnant SIL's birthday cake but I know plenty of people who ate soft cooked eggs during pregnancy and it carries very minimal risk even with non pasteurised eggs.
As for children I use it all the time for my kids birthday cakes, if your eggs are unpasteurised it carries the same risk as eating that same egg as a soft boiled egg with regards to Salmonella poisoning which most people do.
If using pasteurised egg whites, theoretically there should be no Salmonella risk anyway, I recently read a study where they tested thousands of pasteurised eggs and none tested positive, also the study concluded that if you ate a few eggs every week of your life the chances of coming across a contaminated egg were like once in every 80 years or thereabouts, still no fun if you do get that contaminated egg though.
I am sure other people will have more factual evidence to support the argument either way.
I use the egg whites from a carton too (I'm in Aus now but used to live in London and know the ones you mean) but I still always heat the whites, just to be on the safe side as well as to dissolve the sugar properly. I tend to forget to take my butter out of the fridge too so the warmth from the heated egg/sugar mixture makes it easier for my butter to blend in.
I tend to make it just before I am going to use it and then freeze any leftover.
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