This post contains FromScratchSf's Cream Cheese SMBC - Page 4

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HTH

thanks for posting this!
it's greatly appreciated,
Jodi

Osmosis involves the transference of water across a semi-permeable membrane or other porous substance:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=define%3A+osmosis&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10&rlz=1I7GZAG_en

Osmosis experiment using eggs:

http://ilovebacteria.com/eggosmosis.htm

American buttercreams are shelf stable because the large amount of sugar (which is hygroscopic) controls the water activity in the small amount of liquid used:

Water activity & microbial growth:
(Prolonging Bakery Product Life.)

http://tinyurl.com/ya8po4z

WJ Scott in 1953 first established that it was water activity, not water content that correlated with bacterial growth:

http://tinyurl.com/bmsato

Formulating for increased shelf life:
(Decreasing water activity results in hostile environment for bacteria.)

http://tinyurl.com/csu2b9

HTH

I'm unsure what role osmosis plays in either crusting or controlling water activity. (I think crusting is caused by evaporation in the outermost layer of frosting, but the only link I found which states this, is the site which cannot be named.

Shelf stability is the result of controlling water activity (as explained above).

American b/c's are pretty standardized, and it's fairly easy to determine from the recipes whether or not they'd be shelf stable. I use American b/c's and have researched what makes them shelf stable.

I didn't comment because European b/c's (couldn't find a definitive explanation of this term) and/or the meringue b/c's can use different ingredients, different proportions and different preparation techniques than American b/c's.

HTH

I shall be attempting my first ever cream cheese icing tomorrow, very exciting! So Ive been reading this thread thoroughly.

When it was first posted I followed the instruction to beat my IMBC on the slowest setting once the butter had been added. The recipe (Warren Browns) said to expect 4-5 cups. I got SIX! Was delighted I was also glad to hear that you feel adding flavour reduces the butter taste. I am not a butter fan, and Warrens recipe tastes buttery to me. I would like to experiment with ratios as Linda talked about, but at this stage think Id better learn to walk before I run.
A couple of questions:
FromScratch: You do not refrigerage your SMBC. Ever? What if you are making it a few days in advance, do you still leave it out? If so, how long do you leave it out for before youd throw it away?

You also stated you have used your cream cheese icing on cuppies that have been out for 12 hours. How is this OK with the cream cheese content? I recently bought a delicious cupcake from a shop, and was told it was cream cheese icing. They do not keep them refrigerated, and said I could keep them out for three days. I asked how that was possible with the cream cheese content, and they said it was because the sugar acted as a preservative, kinda like jam. Everything else Ive read says cream cheese MUST be refrigerated, until I re-read your thread today. So my question is, if that is true, is there a magic ratio of sugar to cream cheese which makes it safe? And once the cream cheese is added into the IMBC, how long is it safe for? (I dont know if her 3 day rule was due to the icing, or the cuppie going stale).

As a point of interest in regards to the colour of butter, our cows here in New Zealand are grass fed, and our butter is VERY yellow compared to American butter. I lived in the U.S.A. for about a year and a half, and remember being surprised about it. The steak tastes different too! Our standard butter is 82.9% fat, just FYI!

I also thought about what was said about the weight of egg whites, so I weighed the egg whites I was using in a recipe tonight. They weighed approximately 39g each, almost 1.4oz. Thats almost 50% larger than you stated.... hmmm.... clearly we have giant eggs here, and I might need to start weighing mine too.

Looking forward to trying this tomorrow, Ill be chomping at the bit all day tomorrow waiting for tomorrow night so I can start!

zespri, I'm a Warren Brown IMBC fan. His suggestion to raise the syrup temp to 245 makes a much stiffer base. I agree about the butter flavor, but only in the vanilla. For the vanilla, I use a liberal amount of VBP and homemade vanilla extract (w/beans) combined. This works for me. The homemade vanilla is strong and amazingly flavorful. If you would like the recipe, pm me. For other flavors, again I use liberal amounts. I have found that for each stick of butter, his IMBC will easily hold 1 tbsp of liquid, such as Bailey's, Key Lime juice, or puree.

I know nothing about adding the cream cheese, I bow to the master...

I made a carrot cake at the shop on Saturday that did not get purchased. Oh well, I guess I get to bring it home then!!! Anyway it was a cream cheese frosting that stayed out on the counter while we ate it for the next 3 days. None of us got sick. Yes, it is the sugar ratio, but I can't tell you what the magic number would be. My CC frosting is not a SMBC with cream cheese added. Mine is a more tangy, stronger CC flavor frosting.

But I am not saying don't refrigerate it. I do not want to be responsible for someone else leaving it our for eons and then blaming me.

And the recipe here is for SMBC, not IMBC, so there may be some differences with that also.

Yep, get a weight scale and weigh everything. Even our eggs are not consistent in weight. I weigh everything.

Angelfood4, your icing sounds awesomely good!!. I am not sure that awesomely is a word, but i made it one just now. Lol!!

Everyone's sounds good and thank you so much from scratch for putting your instructions on here. I have never tried the meringue buttercreams that everyone on here talks about so much mainly for 2 reasons. The instructions sounded complicated and 2 because of that I wasn't willing to risk having to throw a batch out. Sugar is so expensive these days as is everything else now. I will have to try it.

Does anyone on here know of a good orange cake, from scratch that is not the dreamsicle cake or creamsicle cake? I just tried a bite of the most scrumptious cake last night at a restaraunt. It was orange cake. very orangey in flavor and color, the icing I am not sure that it was a buttercream, but it was orange also. A buttercream would work, I know. BUt the difference in this cake and others that I have tried is this. on top of the cake it had lemon meringue on it on top of the icing. This was lemon meringue like the fillng for a pie. It was awesome. I would have never thought of that combination myself, but it was superb. Has anyone else ever had this? Thanks to anyone and everyone that might be able to help me out.

That sounds delicious! I have tried two orange cakes, one from Warren Brown's Cake Love calledl 'Sassy', and one from The Whimsical Bakehouse. Sassy is bold, Whimsical's is delicate. Both are good.

Besides Sassy on Cake Love, there's a Grand Marnier Chiffon Cake with White Chocolate Cream Frosting in Sky High. It's really good.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarah_mst/3262468794/in/photostream/

http://mashrabiyya.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/orange-grand-marnier-cake/

jules, it was probably a sweet curd. I made one that I wanted to add to IMBC and it was too sweet. But it was so good that I immediately developed a lemon meringue cupcake around it. I can dig it up if you are interested.

Linda, we have left our CC frosting out too. But I will never suggest it and I will instruct my customers to put it in the refrigerator. If you say two days, it may be there a week later. Lately, we do keep them in the refrigerator because it takes us forever to eat a full dessert. We just take out what we will eat and let it come to room temp.

imaginethatnj: thanks for the tip off for the Grand Marnier Orange cake. Will have to try that soon.

Scp1127, I would love for you to dig up what ever you have along that line and thank you. I am going to be experimenting until I find the combo I like. Also I took a small tast of the lemon meringue without the cake and icing and it was just like the pie filling you would make. It and the curds are very similiar in texture, but this was like a true pie filling. I am leaving tomorrow to go on a short vacation with my hubby and in-laws and very much looking forward to it. when I get back I have a couple of weeks before my parents get here and I may just be playing around with this. I know they would love it and I want to find the combination that was the closest to what I tried. We have an event coming up on October 1st at our church and so I know that I can make a cake for that and try one of the recipes and I found another on line the other night after I tried that cake. I just had to come home and try to find an orange cake recipe while I was still vividly remembering the flavors.

Has anyone made the Duncan Hines Orange cake? Is it real orangy in flavor? also n the past some have made the comment that to add orange juice instead of water to a recipe would add more sugar and I can see that, but how exactly does that affect the baking and quality of the cake's outcome? I am no scientist and in my mind I would not have thought it to be a problem because I was using liquid, but I can see that many of you have much more experience experimenting than I do. I do not have the money for flops that can not be eaten. Thanks for any help and explanations.

I've made the WASC recipe on here and just used orange juice for the liquid without changing the sugar and added the zest of an orange as well. Turned out very orangy. I then made a swiss meringue buttercream and used about 2 Tbsp of grand marnier for flavouring and it was really good.

pmarks, thank you. I have never tried Grand Marnier before. Is it really orangy? This sounds really good. May try this.