RuthWells

Fun observation!

Great tip! Another little tip for the sugar syrup -- if the syrup is at target temp and the egg whites are lagging behind, add some water to the syrup to bring the temp down and buy yourself a few minutes to get the egg whites stiff.

I tried Swiss buttercream for the first time last week and found the flavor to be almost indestinguishable from the Italian, but much much softer in texture. I like to pipe decorations on cakes, so I prefer the staying power of the Italian. It will keep for weeks in the fridge and months in the freezer, and I have often left it on a cake at room temp for several hours (as long as it's not in the full heat of summer). Just as you'd expect, it doesn't hold up terrifically in direct sunlight in July, but in most respects and at reasonable room temp, it holds up terrifically.

Thanks, Alanamoana. Interesting question about the paddle v. whisk. If I'm not in a harried rush, I usually use the whisk up until it's time to start adding the butter, then I switch to the paddle for the butter (so that I'm not trying to smooth out so many d@mned airbubbles when icing the cake). If I'm in a rush, I just grab whatever's closest and go. I used to have an antique stand mixer with no whisk attachment, so I never knew that I wasn't *supposed* to be able to get stiff peaks without one.......

A lot of people seemed to have trouble with the IMBC recipe recently published in Fine Cooking, so I thought a demo of a very popular recipe, the one from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible ("Mousseline Buttercream"), might be helpful. Over the years I've tweaked my technique a bit, and it no longer truly mirrors Rose's instructions. Hope this helps! First, the formula: -- 5 egg whites (best at room temp) -- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar -- 1/4 cup sugar -- 3/4 cup sugar -- 1/4 cup water -- 1 lb. unsalted butter, softened but not warm or soupy (bringing to room temp and bashing with a rolling pin works well) -- 1 to 1.5 tsp vanilla extract or liquor for flavoring (** Ruth's note -- RLB suggests using as much as 3 oz. of liquor to flavor, but I find that the emulsion doesn't hold with this much liquid added. 1.5 tsp is even a bit of a stretch.) -- Equipment: a stand mixer works best, using the whip attachment for the eggs and switching to the paddle when you start adding the butter (to reduce unwanted air bubbles when icing the cake), and you'll need a candy thermometer. Okey doke. First pic -- nice soft butter: It doesn't *need* to be quite this soft, but it does need to be pretty soft in order to incorporate well with the meringue. But not so soft that it's melting. Okay, first you are going to get your egg whites whipping. You're going for stiff peaks. When they are foamy, add the cream of tartar. When you've got soft peaks, gradually add the 1/4 cup of sugar and whip to stiff peaks, as below: Now, while you're fussing with egg whites, you also want to get your sugar syrup going. Combine 3/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water (no need to mix it and risk crystalization) and set over med/high heat. It's going to come to a boil fairly quickly; when it does, pick up the saucepan by the handle and give it a little swirl to aid in dissolving all the sugar. You are going to get an all-over bubbly surface, and that's when you want to start checking the temp. When you've done this a few times, you will notice that when the bubbles get thicker-looking and the syrup takes on the palest of amber hues, you'll be right where you want to be (248*-250*F). Here's what it looks like at just about 246*. You can sort of see the more viscous quality of the bubbles, but it hasn't yet started to turn pale amber: At 248*, take this off the heat. If your egg whites are at stiff peak and you're feeling confident, you can leave the mixer running on high and start dribbling the sugar syrup into the bowl directly from the saucepan, aiming for the space in between the moving paddle and the edge of the bowl (if you hit the beater, you're going to lose a lot of your syrup to the side of the bowl, where it will stick and remain). If the egg whites aren't quite ready or you'd like a little safety net, lightly spray the interior of a Pyrex 2-cup measure with cooking spray *ahead of time*, and when you get to 248*, pour the syrup into the cup. This will slow down the carry-over cooking of the syrup and give you a cool handle to hold and a handy spout whilst pouring the syrup into the egg whites, as described above. After you've gradually poured all of the syrup into the whites, feel the side of your mixer bowl. It will feel HOT. You're going to let your mixer continue to run for several minutes while the mixture cools down -- keep the mixer on med/high for 2-3 minutes, then reduce to medium (but no lower). Keep feeling the side of the bowl to guage temp. Here's what the egg whites will look like after all the sugar syrup is incorporated -- this is an Italian meringue (which is useful for piped cookies and macarons, too, not just for buttercream!). The meringue is glossy, thick and dense, and very stiff. If for any reason you don't get a result that looks like this, stop and start over -- don't waste a pound of butter if your egg whites aren't right. Once the egg whites have cooled down (could take 5-10 minutes with the mixer running), you're ready to start adding the soft butter. With the mixer running on medium, plunk 1-2Tbs into the bowl at a time. After the first 1/4 pound or so goes in, the meringue is going to thin out considerbly and you'll be certain that you've made a mistake -- don't fret. This is what it looks like with a portion of the butter added: See how soft it is drooping off the paddle? No worries. Keep adding the butter, 1-2Tbs at a time. From time to time, feel the side of the bowl to keep an eye on the temp. If the bowl still feels hot, and/or the butter melts when you start to add it, stop adding butter and continue to beat on medium until the bowl cools down. If your bowl starts feeling cool (which is what happens to me more often than not), you may get something that looks like this: See how it looks lumpen and curdled on the beater? My butter, though soft, was a bit cool going into the bowl, and it started to sieze up a bit. At this point you're making an emulsion, just like mayo or ganache, and the mixture really wants to be watched closely. When I get this curdled effect and the bowl feels cold, here is my foolproof remedy: stop adding butter, soak a dish towel in hot water, wring it out and wrap it around the bowl while increasing beater speed to high. The gentle warming of the mixture plus the additional agitation will bring it into line pretty quickly, and you will see the emulsion coming together before your eyes: This is still not completely combined, but it's close. When you can see the emulsion coming back together and the bowl no longer feels cool to the touch, it's safe to start adding butter again. When all the butter plus vanilla or other flavorings are in, this is what you'll see: It's smooth and light, but able to hold peaks well, as you can see on the beater. You can incorporate melted cooled chocolate, lemon curd, raspberry puree, liqeurs (but only 1-2 tps to keep the emulsion intact), crushed nuts or nougatine -- sky's the limit. It holds up well enough to pipe roses and intricate borders. Everyone should try this buttercream at least once -- enjoy!

Hey y'all, I prepared a little demo on Italian meringue buttercream for another cooking site I frequent, and if anyone here is interested, I'd be happy to post at Egullet as well -- any interest?

It definitely looks like it was made in a mold to me.

Great website -- she does adorable cupcakes.

There is a formula for steeped ginger truffles in "Bittersweet" by Alice Medrich which I found very disappointing the one time I tried it -- I barely tasted the ginger. Go for the ginger juice if you want a pronounced ginger flavor.

For decorating cakes? A turntable/lazy Susan for the cake, non-skid shelf liner to keep the cake where you put it, and a long offset spatula are among my essentials. Lots of icing bags so that you don't have to stop and wash them too often. Of course, the non-essentials are really fun to have, too........

It's a thankless job no matter how you slice it. I puree the berries in the food processor and then force the pulp through a very fine sieve with a stiff plastic spatula. Good for toning the upper arms, but it is time-consuming.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. We're going through the same thing with my FIL. Sending you warm wishes from PA.

Swoon.

I've embarked on bread baking for the first time this week, and have been eating ciabatta for dessert. Does that count?

Yum! I think I have to make lemon bars tonight and it's all your fault.

You could use it for ganache, or brownies, or to add to buttercream, or any other recipe that uses melted, untempered chocolate.

Ooh, I can't wait to try this! Thanks for sharing.

I don't think RLB's technique is faulty, it's just tricky to get the hang of. Italian meringue buttercream is a bit finicky, and it can take a few tries before you learn how to cope with the various ways it can go wrong!

LOL! I thought you were a Fred, too, and I'm sure I called you Fred in earlier posts! To address your question, I'm guessing that "semi-firm" IMBC will take an impression mat fairly well. I wouldn't chill the cake down too hard, though, or it will be a bear. I'm curious to hear how you make out. With re: the meringue powder, my guess (and it's only a guess) is that if you use enough to get the buttercream to crust, it's going to make an unpleasant textural (gritty) change to the buttercream as well. My preference would be to try to make a go of it with semi-chilled IMBC. Let us know how it goes!

Lemon water ice. It kept me on my feet for both my pregnancies. And try not to take your pre-natal vitamin on an empty stomach -- that will just make matters worse. Hang in there; it does get better!

Well, I'm not going for a standard nougat, but for something that can be used as a cake filling. 250* is certainly lower than the recipe specified, but I want this to be soft enough to bite through easily (which it is). Also, I patted the mixture into a 9" cake round, so there will be no need to roll or cut it -- I'll simply lay the slab between my 9" cake layers.

JustKay's recipe is chilling in the fridge as we speak. I only took the sugar syrup to 248*F (figure 250* with carry-over cooking) and the texture seems right for chewability, though perhaps not as fluffy as a true 3M bar. The mixture almost behaved like fudge after I got it into the pan; the surface skinned up a bit. I'll report further after it gets consumed on Sunday.

I made the cake again a couple of times and I agree about the jello. Actually I didn't mind the flavor so much but I think it did give a little rubberiness to the cake. So I did what you did -- reduced the puree. I think I ended up using about 2C of almost jam-like reduced puree. This worked great, and made the flavor much stronger. I need to tweak the recipe some more, but I wanted to say that I thought reducing the puree is a great tip. ← Have you tried working with any of the LorAnn flavored oils, Patrick? I picked up a few bottles last month (haven't had a chance to play with them yet). I'm guessing a few drops of strawberry oil could sub for the flavor provided by the jello and solve the problem of rubberiness.

What about using 3M bars to make a chocolate mousse filling? Then cover the cake with a dark chocolate ganache? ← I am keen to try your from-scratch recipe, so I'm going to play a bit tonight. I'll let y'all know how it goes!

JustKay, THANK YOU!! This sounds like just the ticket, with K8's wonderful suggestion of chopped 3Musk bars in whipped cream (or maybe whipped ganache?) as a back-up plan. Chiantiglace, many thanks for your input as well -- I like the idea of controlling the final stiffness by adjusting the sugar temp. As this will be used as a cake filling, I think I'll ratchet the sugar syrup down to hard-ball and see how that goes. Don't want anyone's bridgework falling out.......