Italian buttercream

You can keep it in the fridge is you plan to use it in about a week's time if not put it in the freezer. Either way be sure you let it come to room temp then rewhip to get it ready to go again!

Berta

Hi Berta,

How long can the italian meringue buttercream last in the freezer?
Thanks!

I have kept it about about a month and a half. Be sure it is tightly sealed because the butter will absorb ANY smells in there especially the longer it sits.

It will mess up if it is not room temperature when you rebeat so get it out with plenty of time.

I use the Whimsical Bakehouse Recipe by the way...I don't think it would matter which one you use since they are all very similar.

Berta

thanks for that! i also love the WBH italian meringue buttercream! do you personally have any concerns with using raw egg whites? i know a lot has been written about the saftey of this issue but i just would like to know what's your take on it?

i'm still unsure whether i want to use it for cakes to sell. so far i've made it for family only.

thanks!

If you use the pastuerized egg whites from the store there are no concerns. There is such a debate on the safety it is probably best to use the pastuerized ones. Lots of people use regular egg whites and have no problems also. I really need to research it more to see whether it is safe or not.

Berta

Italian meringue is prepared by the addition of sugar syrup made by heating sugar and water (and sometimes the addition of corn syrup to stabilize the crystal structure) to the soft-ball stage, which clocks in at around 240 °F, to egg whites whipped to soft peaks. The sugar syrup cooks the egg whites, heating them well past the 140 °F needed to kill salmonella and any other potentially harmful bacteria. The syrup and egg white mixture is then whipped until cooled to around 100 °F.  Both Italian and Swiss meringue are considered to be cooked meringues, and not harmful to be consumed by children or elderly.

I was a little apprehensive about it too the first time I made Italian Meringue BC but now I love working with it.  It pipes great and I love the sheen.  Definitely store it in the freezer if you won't be using it within a few days.  If you're concerned about leaving it at room temperature...I can say that I've left an IMBC cake out at room temperature for at least 4 or 5 days without the buttercream going bad.  I'm not saying that you SHOULD do that but it wasn't a problem for me.  But, I do tend to keep it really cold in my apt so that might have something to do with it... :)

 

-Manoj

If you're concerned about the safety of the egg whites and whether or not they are getting heated properly, you could use Swiss meringue instead where you KNOW your eggs are getting to 160F.

My buttercream when trying to rewhip it seems to seperate, and produce some liquid, can ou advise?

 

When I freeze SMBC, I line the plastic container I'm using with plastic wrap first, then spoon the icing in, and then place another piece of plastic wrap right on the icing in the container (like you would with pudding so it doesn't get a skin), before putting the container lid on.  I tried that after my first experience with the icing coming out of the freezer with a slightly different taste than it had going in.    It helped a lot!