JKalman~ You make me want to try this recipe! How would you cut it down to fit into a 4.5 KA?


Thanks,
Kelley

Check out this one I posted in the recipe section

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-5453-1-The-Well-Dressed-Cake-Swiss-Meringue-Buttercream-with-variations.html

It will easily fit in a 4.5 qt mixer.

So, I've been itching to make a cake and I came on CC to get some inspiration. I read this thread and thought I would try it. Any excuse to use my new probe thermometer! Call it beginner's luck or something but the icing came out beautifully. It never clumped, curdled or anything. Smooth smooth smooth. As I stared into the bowl thinking I had outdone myself, I then tasted it. And then came the flashbacks of several posts in this thread about using salted butter... Yes? Mouthful of whipped butter for one? Here you go...
I added some more flavoring but I'm afraid I'll put too much liquid in and it will come apart. Is there another way to remedy this? Will a few more TB of vanilla ruin it? Besides the colour it has taken on.

Any pearls of wisdom for this humbled SMBC novice??

You can add quite a bit of liquid to it before it gets too soft on you.. a couple TBSP of vanilla aren't going to kill it, but if you used salted butter.. it's always going to taste like sweetened butter. Definitely use unsalted butter next time.. it's a completely different icing. With unsalted butter it doesn't taste like butter at all.. it's more like vanilla ice cream.

ARGH!!!
OK, that'll learn me. On a positive note, I got a fantastic batch of pastry cream out of the yolks!!!

Ahhh the silver lining.. what could be better than pastry cream? Now make some pate a choux and make some cream puffs!!

Because there aren't enough calories floating around my kitchen right now!
I really should have known better about the butter. I grew up on alot of butter and when I moved to Italy I stopped eating it because I learned that it wasn't butter I loved, it was salted butter. Totally different in taste... But now I'm in the US and the options are endless!

Add some melted (but cool) bittersweet chocolate to it, it might take that buttery edge off...

Ok, any tips on how NOT to scramble your eggs? I've made this successfully once or twice (normally I'm an IMBC girl), however my last attempt I scrambled the eggs. At first I tried thought it was just a fluke, a few weird eggy bits, and tried to pick them out, then I realized it was too far gone. . I had them over the bain-marie and the water was definitely hot but had not begun simmering yet. Was the KA bowl too deep in the water maybe, perhaps I was supposed to have filled my pan up less??

In a double boiler set up your bowl should not be touching the water at all. That and never stop whisking.

And what calories??? Profiteroles are mostly air anyway..

Ding ding ding, I knew I had read that somewhere but I did it the wrong way anyway. I got what I deserved . Won't happen again. Phew. Thanks!

I just finished my first try at SMBC (The Well Dressed Cake's recipe, thanks) it is very delicious, WOW.....I wish this cake were for home Thanks again for the great picture tutorial and directions...that was so helpful to see it go through the stages and to know that it's normal.

I love the taste and texture......I may become part of this club

I'm so happy you had success with the recipe. Welcome to the SMBC club!

OK...I finally did it! I made SMBC for the first time...actually the second. The first time used all salted butter....I know, I know....was just so excited that I blew it. Sound familiar? The second time used the Very Vanilla recipe which calls for 5 sticks of butter, half salted and half unsalted. I used 3 unsalted and 2 salted. It came out beautifully...smooth silky...love love love it! It still had that buttery flavor note, so I think I will try jkalman's recipe next time and use only unsalted butter. But, I split up the SMBC and added peanut butter to some...I mean this is heaven on a plate!! I added nutella to some of the other and melted Andes mints. They were all wonderful. I hate the grit of shortening/PS buttercreams. I guess I am officially a SMBC convert!! Now, if I could only muster the courage for the IMBC!!

tomatoqueen, yay for you! I am dying to make some SMBC with peanut butter! Did you just fold the PB in?

Yup!! I had some Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter and I put it in a bowl with the SMBC and lightly folded together to incorporate. My sister and I are BIG peanut butter and chocolate fans, but I mean to tell you THIS WAS HEAVEN!! Go for it!! You won't be disappointed. This is what has converted me to SMBC!!

I do need to try it on a cake though. I am a newbie so I need to practice with a new frosting before I get the hang of it. I just used my PB SMBC on Butter Chocolate cuppies -- made cuppies for a kiddie get together!

Also, thanks for the tip about the kitchen torch! After putting it in the fridge, I brought it out the next day and let it warm up on the counter, but I think it was still too cold to whip up -- did I mention I am always in hurry -- and it really did get wet cottage cheesy. Used the torch on the bottom of my KA bowl while it was whipping and VOILA! Silky smooth creamy frosting ---like magic!!

i'm gonna make this cake for my birthday

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/

and i'm gonna use SMBC with PB in place of the PB frosting. It's gonna be awesome! I'm so excited!
Thanks for telling me how you did it.

OOOOOOHHHHHH BBBOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYY!! Love love love that cake and the pictures are wonderful. Enjoy!

I have also made the mistake of using salted butter previously in this recipe. But instead of throwing out the icing I added chocolate, coffee, and a bit of kahlua to it. My cake decorating instructor had told me that salt enhances the taste of chocolate and I really didn't want to waste all the butter and eggs so I decided to make these additions to it. The result - it was quite yummy!!! So don't throw it out - just add some chocolate, coffee and liquor.

yesterday i successfully made 4 batches of SMBC!!

4 batches--Congratulations!! Any neat flavors?

Oh-la-la!! I finally took up the courage to make SMBC for the 1st time tonight. Oh my, it is delicious. I cover a little cake with it and my husband had to stop himself from eating the whole cake. It is very easy to make. I love how I don't have powdered sugar all over my counter.

I have a question on covering a cake that's frosted with SMBC with fondant. I know that you all said to put the cake in fridge first so the BC will harden and then put fondant over it. My question is, how thick layer of SMBC you use to frost the cake under fondant? I wonder if I can only frost a thin layer so the weight of fondant won't smoosh the SMBC after it comes to room temperature.

I hope you understand what I am asking. Hope I am not confusing everybody.

Thanks for the great tutorial and all the tips.



June

Well, I made a second batch last night and used unsalted butter this time (!). My mouth still expects the density of regular BC and to me the SMBC feels like I put a spoonful of shortening in my mouth. However, there is no greasy feeling in your mouth after. Interesting...
Anyway, I added about 10oz of white chocolate melts without any vanilla since I wanted the icing to stay white. Not too bad!
I iced cupcakes for my husband's birthday. It pipes very nicely.

I'm really wanting to try this since my children though grown do not like Buttercream cause they say it's too sweet. Isn't this more expensive to make with all that butter and eggs? How do you store it? Does the cake need to be refrigerated? I didn't read this whole post since it's so long I hope I'm not asking something that's already been answered. Thanks for your time doing this for us!!!! I'm a visual learner also.

i hope some of you SMBC experts can help me as i am new to the club making my first lovely batch today, yum!!

my question: is there a chemical reason for the sugar in the recipe other than taste or does anyone think splenda or the like could be used? they have the splenda for baking, would it work? my mom is diabetic and i know she'd love this icing.

I made SMBC for the second time today. The first time I it was ok, but today I got outstanding results. The only problem I had was trying to smooth it (because of the air bubbles), but it was well worth it... everyone just loved the taste. I used plain vanilla for the icing and for the filling I mixed it with a strawberry coulis.

Thank you very much for the recipe... I'm a fan now!

zakia6.. for mango I find it helps to add some citric acid to give it a punch in the tang department without making it taste like lemon. I made sweetened mango pure with frozen mango and added some citric acid until it had the tang I was looking for.. very good.

June.. I put a full layer of SMBC (about 1/4 of an inch) on all of my fondant cakes.. even sitting out at room temp for a day they never sag or settle.

Skirt.. it's definitely different that the frostings we are used to. It took my DH a few tries to come around to it but now it's his favorite.. he likes good old fashioned powdered sugar based frosting too, but he does love SMBC.

debster.. for storing it I go by these guidelines.. if you will be using it in a day or two then just leave it covered on the counter. If you are wanting to store it for longer than a few days but less than a week or so then put it in the fridge and allow it to come to room temp before you whip it back up. If you want to store it for months then lay some plastic wrap on the counter and plop your icing on that and wrap it up tight and wrap it again and place that in a zipper bag and put it in the freezer and follow the same rules for using it out of the fridge. As far as the cake goes.. if you are going to keep it more than a day I tell people to put it in the fridge and allow it to come to room temp (or cut off your servings and allow them to come to room temp) before eating.

Cas17.. I haven't tried it with splenda, but my gut tells me it may not work as the sugar acts to stablize the meringue. There is markably less sugar in SMBC as compared to a powdered sugar based icing and you could take out additional sugar without ruining the recipe. I'd say 3/4 c per 5 egg whites would be fine and maybe even as low as 1/2 cup but don't quote me on that. It could be worth an experiment with the splenda for baking.. if it let me know as that would be great news. If I have time I might grab some (I only have regular splenda) and try it too.

Danzia.. if you have loads of air bubbles I suggest warming it up in your mixer bowl until it is just a wee bit too soft to use and then letting it sit for an hour or so and then come back to it and frost your cake. If you don't have that much time, then the bubbles will work themselves out if you keep smoothing. I use a warm (not hot) bench scraper to smooth it.

HTH's and I am glad that you are all having luck with SMBC and that my post pushed you to give it a go.