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[–] DorothyMantooth 0 points 9 points (+9|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Last week I made Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

For those who don't know, Swiss meringue Buttercream is made by making a meringue (sugar and egg whites beaten until stiff) and then using a mixer to incorporate an obscene amount of butter--the one I made last week used 500ml of egg whites, 300g of sugar, and 680g of butter--a little over a pound and a half. Basically, you turn the mixer on in the meringue and then drop the butter in, in one-inch chunks. The meringue is warm (you heat the eggs and sugar to 160F--some people go to 140F, and if you have pasteurized whites that's fine, but I'm a safety girl) so the butter sort of melts into it, but also adds stability to the meringue.

Lots of people have trouble making Swiss meringue Buttercream, because it has a tendency to curdle if the temperature is not Just Right. Well, if it's too cold the butter won't incorporate, but if it's too warm it curdles. Newbies often don't realize that the solution is to stick the bowl and the butter in the fridge for five or ten minutes and just keep beating, so they think their buttercream is ruined and throw it out.

And who can blame them? A curdled Swiss Meringue Buttercream looks like this:

https://imgur.com/a/GnqKAeb

Which is why I immediately thought of it when I looked at this monster's curdled-egg thighs.

The difference is, a curdled SMB can easily be saved, and does not need to be thrown out. Not the case with this beast.

Yuck.

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[–] Skinny_Barbie 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Wow! I love this post!

When I see Dorothy's name I know it will be good. This one covers all the bases and reaches a lovely conclusion.

Thanks, Dorothy!

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[–] DorothyMantooth 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

Oh my goodness, thank you! That's so kind of you to say!

(I was a little worried people would be like, "Why TF is she going on about buttercream for so long?" But I hoped the long explanation would give the punchline more...well, punch. Plus, I thought there might be other bakers here interested in an explanation of how to make SMB.)

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[–] mmmmdonuts 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Remind me not to make buttercream.

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[–] hamslayer3000 ago 

What do you do with this buttercream? Is it its own dessert or do you use it on profiteroles or? Looks really good.

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[–] DorothyMantooth 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

It's cake frosting, but you can fill cupcakes and profiteroles with it if you want, too. I filled cupcakes with the recent batch and then dipped the cupcake tops in melted chocolate (the kind designed for that purpose--it's called "Candy Coating chocolate" and they have it at just about every grocery store. So it was kind of like a cake profiterole. Really delicious, and SMB is really delicious; the problem with it is that it tastes so light that it's hard to remember it's got an enormous amount of calories. (The filled cupcakes I made were for a charity bake sale.) I've been doing extra walking and going lighter on meals to fit the leftover cakes into my day, lol, but they're almost gone and I am not making more.

It really is delicious, though, and much less sweet than a traditional American buttercream (the combo of butter and powdered sugar you get at most bakeries. Which I also like but which is very sweet, as I'm sure you know.)

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[–] OldGoatNuts [S] ago 

Excellent read. I'll nver be hungry for it again