Thanks for the reply, jakalman. You are always most helpful.


June

omg!!!!
i just made my first 2 batches of smbc...............i will never make another batch of regulare bc again!!! EASY EASY ..............and its delicious! im so sorry i haven't tried it before. my question...........whats the difference between smbc and imbc havent seen a recipe for imbc yet. thanks whoever invented this and thanks jkalman for your recipe and instructions
mariu'

jkalman- Tonight is the second time making your recipe/SMBC. The first time I added peanut butter and it was perfect and in total heaven(eating spoonfuls)!
Tonight I decided to make some and add the 1/3 cup melted chocolate and did everything the same, but now I have a weird looking mixture. It is like it's separating ,the chocolate from the rest and air bubbles???

Can I fix this? If anyone can help it would be great!
Thanks
Nancy

Mariu.. IMBC and SMBC result in basically the same end product.. the method you get to the end product is just different. With SMBC you are making a Swiss meringue by heating the egg whites and sugar together and then beating the air in. With IMBC you are making an Italian meringue where you beat the air into the egg whites first and then add a hot (248 degrees) sugar syrup to the already beaten egg whites. I like SMBC because it is just less of a fuss for me.. you heat the eggs and sugar and just let it whip up. I don't like fiddling with the sugar syrup.

ncbert.. How warm was the chocolate? The chocolate should be cool to the touch but still melted. If it was too warm it will melt the butter and deflate the meringue.. it should however come back around if you let it cool off and whip it back up. Let it set at room temp for a while and try to whip it again.. you can even put in the fridge for 5 minutes and whip it and then another 5 minutes and so on and see if that helps. Chocolate SMBC is always soft when you first make it.. you really have to let it set at room temp for a while before using it, but it is wonderful in the flavor department.

HTH's

Thank-you jkalman....I tried all the tips you gave me. I had another look and taste and it seems the liquid settling on the bottom looks like vanilla...Opps maybe I added some extra...Could that be what happened. Anyways I am going to start with a fresh batch tomorrow and keep learning from my mistakes.

thank you again
Nancy

I'm working up the courage to give this a try...but I have a few questions if anyone can help! Can you decorate with fondant accents on SMBC, or will they fall off from the weight of the fondant? Also, can you put things like bows on SMBC or will the hardened fondant smear or smoosh the smoothed cake? Thanks for any help!

There's a cake in my photos.. single tier pink cake with a gumpaste bow. That one is covered in SMBC and the bow only smooshed the BC underneath itself. I haven't put fondant accents on the sides of a cake iced in any kind of BC, but I know people have. So long as they aren't super heavy (and it isn't too warm) they will be fine.

Nancy.. the liquid is probably egg whites or it cold be whey from the butter too. A good way to make pretty fail proof chocolate SMBC is to make ganache.. let it set up overnight (or at least 4 hours) and add that to your SMBC. That way it's cold and there's no chance of over heating your SMBC.

Thanks again jkalman...the ganache sounds like a great idea!
After a few coffees I'm gonna take another stab at it!

Well I did another batch this am and it turned out great like the first time! I actually had a jar of gourmet dark chocolate topping sauce and added some of that . It's totally delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday I used unsalted butter and I think I seemed to like salted butter better. Although I think 1/2 salted and 1/2 unsalted would be a touch less salty and perfect for our tastes. So I will try that next time.
Nancy

Thanks, Jakalman! I just got back from the store...let's keep our fingers crossed. I'll let y'all know the verdict!

Hello, everyone! We just got done reading the posts! Love the idea of the simplicity of the SMBC. Am going to try it tomorrow!

For those in Florida, we've been making 100% butter BC and it has been delicious! Now, we've been using our trade secret combination of butters! (HAHAHAHA) But we transport it in our cars, even in the heat, and there hasn't been a problem. When we make a cake for personal use at home, we leave it out on the counter in 76 degree temperatures and it is fine--even a few days later.

As we learn of a new recipe, the mind starts swirling with further combinations. We just want to bounce these ideas off of you folks and see what you think:

1. Make a batch of peanut butter and a batch of a berry flavor. After torting cakes, alternate layers with peanut buter and the berry. A PBJ cake!

2. Add liqueurs to the SMBC for "adult" flavors.

Question: Would adding melted marshmallows or some marshmallow fluff work?

I CANNOT wait to join the SMBC club tomorrow!!!

I add alcohol to it all the time (I mean vanilla extract is technically alcohol, but I'm talking more conventional stuff ) and it's sooooooooooo good. Bailey's flavored SMBC in a chocolate cake is so good.. add some white rum and fresh minced mint and layer a vanilla butter cake brushed with a lime and rum infused simple syrup with the minted SMBC and lime curd.. mojito cake anyone? Add some limoncello to lemon SMBC and layer that and lemon curd in a lemon cake and you got yourself a lemon drop. The possibilites are endless really.

Not sure about the fluff, but it's worth a try on a small scale.

Hey look what I found. It has a tutorial for each of the buttercreams!!!

http://www.joepastry.com/


(with pics!)

OMG....This is AMAZING!!! I love the taste of it! I still like our creation of butters we use to make our buttercream...But this just gives some new options...

Questions for the audience:

1. It took me almost 25 minutes to bring the egg whites/sugar mixture to temperature. Is this normal?

2. It took about 30 minutes for the egg whites in the kitchen aid bowl to whip up. Is THIS normal?

All in all, it took me over an hour to create buttercream and then frost the cake. Not that I'm complaining...It's just that I'm used to doing it quick with the other method I use.

Suggestions? Comments?

Hmmm.. it never takes that long to whip up for me. Usually it takes about 10 minutes to come to temp and then about the same to whip up (then it has to keep whipping to cool down enough to add the butter). I usually start them whipping and then do other things like mix up a recipe of cake batter or make some fillings while it cools enough to add the butter. It is more time consuming than your everyday powdered sugar based icing, but well worth it IMHO.

oops.. hit submit too soon.. adding on that SMBC is wonderful for fillings. You can add ANYTHING to it and it's like an instant faux-mousse. It's light and rich at the same time. If you use it for nothing other than a filling base it's well worth having in your bag-o-tricks.

Let me ask you this: I had the kitchenaid mixer bowl over the boiling water. Should I have heated the mixture in another bowl and then transferred it to the mixer bowl?

Nope.. that's what I do too. Mixer bowl over boiling water until 160-ish degrees then pop that on the mixer and whip it up.. no sense making another mess right? Perhaps you had some grease in your bowl? That can make it take longer to whip up.. or not whip up at all. hmmmmmm.. a mystery.

Mine took forever to heat up to 160, basically 20-30 minutes, I was getting hot!!! over the stove. Should I have let it warm up before beating??

THANK YOU JKalman!!!!! I made your SMBC yesterday for my mom's bday cake and it was sooooooooooooo incredible!!! I dont know how people can say it's not sweet enough I had to stop myself from eating it by the spoonful out straight out of the bowl There's no way I will go back to my powdered sugar buttercream for personal use It was WAY easier than I thought it would be... and didnt take anymore time, and was definitely less messy than PS bc. It kinda broke my heart to cover the cake in strawberries and piroulines, since it was pretty much the smoothest icing Ive ever achieved! I actually just watched sugarshack's buttercream DVD last week and I used a lot of her methods to get this cake filled and smooth. So thanks to sugarshack also!!!

Heres the cake I made:

OMG.. how delicious does THAT look???? You can send me one of those cakes anytime okay??

kettlevalleygirl.. I usually start with room temp eggs.. it will take longer to come to temp if you start with really cold eggs.

chefjulieatkins, that cake looks FAB!!!! I don't like strawberries but I wanna dive into that cake!

Thank you thank you thank you jkalman and everyone else!!!! I have wanted to try SMBC for awhile! My anniversary is Wednesday and I am going to make it for my husband's cake! He doesn't like the super sweet powdered sugar BC so wish me luck!

Jeanne,

I really wanted to thank you for all the time you dedicate to solve our doubts and troubles with this wonderful bc. Hadn't I seen your instructions with pictures and all, I would have never-ever ventured into making smbc. Now I'm a fan, as I've already told you.

I followed the advice you gave me regarding air bubbles; I made another batch of smbc this weekend. I didn't have time to let it rest, so I just kept smoothing with my barely-warmed bench scrapper... it worked like magic!!! Of course, I didn't get it perfect (specially on top... I need to practice more) but then, I've never been able to smooth any icing to perfection.

I think I will never go back to regular bc... you see, people here is not used to bc, most cakes are iced with plain whipped cream, that's it. This time, I made orange flavoured smbc. But I didn't make enough and had to defrost some regular bc I had in the freezer for decorations. Well, my family loved the cake and the frosting (which they usually just leave untouched-I begged them to at least taste it), and they ALL agreed that the smbc was much-much better by far... and there were +40 people at the party!!! (yes, my family is quite big).

I know smbc may sound scary to try, both for the prep and for the fact that it doesn't crust (so, be supposedly more difficult to smooth), but I swear that it is incredibly easy to prepare, and smooths like silk... now, regarding the flavour, you cannot beat it!!!

Sorry if this was too long...

Here is a tip I just remembered....... I always put a few drops of vinegar in the bowl when I wash it because it will get out any trace fats that can inhibit your meringue from coming together. HTH!

I do that too JEM or rinse the bowl and beaters with warm water

daniza, what a lovely story. although for the life of me i have never eaten cake without frosting. where's the fun in that? LOL welcome to the SMBC club!

I finally got up enough courage to give it a try. I had read the recipe earlier and tried to do it by memory~ BAD CHOICE! I dumped the butter in with sugar and ew and then realized what I did but it was too late. That batch was ruined and I only had one stick left of unsalted butter . I remembered it was mentioned about also using hi ratio shortening so I used a cup of that with ( added at the right time) my remaining stick. It wasn't tasting too good prob with the shortening so I tried adding more vanilla wasn't sure if adding more sugar at this point would help or even mix up. I had some Dixie's so I threw some of that in and finally it tasted pretty good although I'm sure if you use shortening your going to have to have much more sugar to mask the shortening taste . I plan on making some with all butter next time. Any ideas how much sugar if using shortening and would you need more ew too? I used pwd ew also because I was afraid to chance it as I don't have a candy thermometer. I'm going have to lock up the SMBC as I was finding myself taking a spoonful every time I went by the kitchen!! I put this one a WASC spice cake with french apple filling .

Kelley

I use 2:1 butter to shortening ratio and it didn't have any shortening taste at all. I guess it depends on your ratio.

i got another question about smbc...

can i use this for opera cake? it needs coffee buttercream... and after reading this thread i am very terrified with what will happen if i am going to add coffee (p.17)... my question is, is it safe to add diluted instant coffee(3-in-1 kind) to SMBC? like 1T water and 1T instant coffee. i know jkalman mention about this on p.17, just want to hear another brave baker's experience

help, i'm going to make the opera cake and assemble it also tonight... need you guys...

maimai, the 3-in-1 coffee might not be a good idea since it has coffee, sugar ad creamer in it. just use the usual instant coffee and do what jkalman did, mix the coffee first and add it bit by bit once the SMBC is done. I tried to be ms. genius and added the granules to the egg white and sugar and it turned out fine but kept sweating brown liquid which was not... appetizing (this was with the left over BC). HTH

*raises hand frantically*
There is a shortage of butter where I'm from and i couldn't find unsalted butter. Will it be alright to use salted butter since i'm making peanut butter SMBC anyways? will the PB mask the saltyness or add to it?

help?

thank you soo much cupcakeshoppe

you just made my day...

about using salted butter for PB SMBC, IMHO you have to add a little more sugar just to balance the saltiness that could possibly be a little strong. well, i haven't tried making PB SMBC but its worth a try... good luck