Swiss Meringue Buttercream............... Any Tips?
Baking By AJayZa Updated 10 Jun 2018 , 4:15pm by -K8memphis
Hello! Last time I posted, I asked a question about making Swiss Meringue Buttercream with an electric hand-mixer. I was quite anxious and especially hesitant at the time but, now I have decided to take on the challenge! Even though I have decided to be brave, I am still sort of concerned. Does anyone have any tips that they would like to give me? Or different recipes for different flavors of SMBC, for someone that doesn't like the taste of regular SMBC? If so, that would be amazing! Would you mind sharing your experiences with this buttercream? Thanks in advance!
I was actually thinking of you last weekend as I was making a huge batch of smbc. 18 egg whites! I used my large kitchen aid and the darn meringue would just not cool down. Turned out that after running for so long the mixer was getting hot. I could see that as being a problem if you use a hand mixer...you'll have to run it longer.., it might heat up. Of course the poor meringue couldn't cool down in those conditions. Since then I've read about a slightly different technique where you make your meringue syrup, cool it in the fridge, and then whip it. I did something similar to this in the past but have since lost the recipe. In that one you freeze the syrup for future use, but add a little corn syrup to prevent the sugar from crystallizing. Good luck!
http://thecakeblog.com/2014/06/no-meringue-swiss-buttercream-recipe.html
To help prevent the overheating, you could always wrap and ice cold towel around your bowl to help it cool down. I also use the Swiss meringue buttercream method where you make the syrup first, let it cool down, and then whip it into your better a little at a time. I get pretty good results with it.
idk -- all you have to do to get the meringue to cool down is wait -- or put it in the fridge
whatthedogate -- my 6 quart ka only holds 15 egg whites -- with enough room to whip up properly -- so unless yours was bigger that might be a factor?
ajayza -- the reason I am holding off answering your questions is because you need to make it first and see what questions arise -- there's so many videos i'm sure and recipes and blogs --
but here's an idea -- make a small batch -- especially if you don't like it -- what didn't you like about it?
you know that it can get to a stage after you add the butter where it can look curdled/ruined and your stomach does flip flops -- just keep beating -- that is very normal
I use 360gm butter, 4 large egg whites and 1 metric (250ml) cup of caster sugar for mine.
I use a hand beater with whisk attachment - the whisk is amazing for whites/cream etc, super fast.
I heat my eggs/sugar in a saucepan, using a double boiler set up, I then tip that across to a cold bowl using my spatula to scrape it out.
Next I let it cool for just a few minutes in the fridge before I start whisking, in just a couple of minutes it is at stiff peaks. I then throw in all my butter at once (it should be super soft but not melted, throw on the standard beaters and beat on low until it's almost combined, turn up the beaters and beat until smooth, add flavouring as desired, beat in and you are done.
If your butter is the right temp and your whipped eggs the right temp when you add the butter it will only take around a few minutes from adding butter to perfect SMBC with the small batch. I have never had the need for a larger batch so I don't know if that only works for small batches or also for large ones sorry.
Also what is it that you don't like about SMBC? If you want it less 'greasy' you can play with the amounts of eggs/butter in the recipe to give you a more meringue style SMBC but you will of course effect the textures and stability of the recipe, not necessarily in a bad way but you will just have to try it and see what you like :-)
as for big batches, bubsfirst, done in a few minutes -- but I've whittled the time down and frankly like you am superefficient making it -- my water is boiling hot in the double boiler -- I whisk like crazy standing on a step so my arm doesn't fall off -- whip it up -- add the rest -- no problem-o
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