I've tried both recipes before, and somehow I like the Italian meringue buttercream better.  Can anyone else tell the difference?  Which do you prefer and why?

I prefer SMBC cause I don't like burning myself and flinging hot cooked sugar all over my kitchen.

If you make me some IMBC I'd be happy to eat it though.

Oh yes, I tried the faux IMBC recipe, made with marshmallow crème and it was tasty.

Haha! I know what you mean about the hot sugar flinging everywhere.  The first time I made it it was fine, the next couple of times the sugar got hard really quickly and there were chunks of sugar in my buttercream which was not cool when it came to coating the cake. Will try the faux one next time! Thanks!

actually swtangle102, I think that I should cowboy up and give it a try again, making Italian buttercream that is.  Just thinking of all those old fashioned bakery piped cakes makes me dreamy and hungry.

Go Big or Go Home yeah.♦

AHaha, if you stop the mixer and pour the sugar in a bit at a time, mixing a few seconds in between each pour, there is no burning sugar rain of death. I prefer imbc, although its probably entirely in my head :) I definitely prefer to make it, awful luck with Swiss.

AI make IMBC. I've never experienced the problems mentioned. That said, the recipes are two different methods which produce basically the same icing.

I've never made SMBC but I've tried it.  Texturally it is almost the same as the IMBC.  I think IMBC produces a bit of a stiffer meringue from the start because of the very hot temperature of the sugar syrup.  I think with SMBC you're shooting for 140 degrees, right?  With IMBC you're taking it beyond the soft-ball stage to 245.  It may drop a few degrees from the stove to the mixing bowl but it still goes way beyond the safe cooking temperature for eggs.  That's not the reason I prefer IMBC though, as I'm not one of those people who freaks out over raw eggs.

I just prefer IMBC personally because you just boil the syrup and pour it into the whipping whites.  It's a lazier way of making buttercream.  You shouldn't have any issues pouring it if you use a small enough saucepan (I use the smallest one in my set) and pay attention not to hit the whip when you're pouring it in the bowl.  Look up Warren Brown's video for IMBC on YouTube.  I use his recipe with slight modifications (extra large eggs and 1/2 cup more sugar, and use a lot of flavoring). 

ATaste wise - use your left over yolks in a similar way as you would use whites in your IMBC recipe to make FRENCH meringue buttercream.

Soooooo delicious.

Not as stable as the others, but fine as a filling. And soooooo good on cupcakes......and no more wastage of the yolks!