So, I have been getting up the nerve to try SMBC or IMBC and, was finally going to bite the bullet today. I heard rave reviews about this recipe:

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 eggs
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil without stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat. In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beast the eggs briefly. Slowly
add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup may splatter. When all the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium,-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between
additions. As youre adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lemon juice, and the frosting is ready to use.



The process sounds like Italian Buttercream but, it uses the whole egg. So, I guess my question is, what kind of buttercream is this? And, will the yolks alter the flavor much or, just the color? I would think it would make it more rich and custard like which, I don't think I want. I NORMALLY use a whipped cream cheese frosting but, don't like that it is too soft to pipe finer details so, I'm looking for alternatives. I want to avoid American Buttercream because I'm not a fan of the super sweetness. I like a nice subtle light frosting.

My first question would have to be "WHY" ???

Sorry, hon, but this, although sounds YUMMY, is WAY to time consuming for me........

I make smbc and imbc also. I have several recipes using the whole egg also. I have not tried it, but want to also. The ones that use this recipe says it makes it more richer. I believe them. Some call it french meringue buttercream. Reading this now, i want to go and try it. I really believe it will be great. hth making some lemon curd and adding it to it will be great also.

It's a French buttercream. I've never used it, but I know scp1127 uses it. I watched an episode of Baking with Julia which featured Martha Stewart. They made a giant batch of French buttercream to cover an almond wedding cake. It looks good!

Oh see, for me, it is totally worth any effort for a killer frosting. I think the icing makes the cake!

I will be giving this a go in a few hours so, wish me luck and, I'll be sure to report back!!

OK, back and happy to report that, it was a piece of CAKE! I don't know why I feared the european buttercream for so long!! LOL I even did it with a hand mixer. It is sweet and rich but, not that sickly sweet taste that you get from American Buttercream. I did the recipe as is except, reduced the lemon and added some Malibu Rum as these are going on Pina Colada Cupcakes!!

Although, I think I will try the IMBC or SMBC next because I think the yolk makes it heavier so, would certainly have been nicer with just whites!!

FBC is my favorite, although I use a yolk-only recipe. It is no different in technique than IMBC. For those of us in business, a mix of FBC/IMBC will use up the eggs, but I use plenty of pastry cream and custard-based frostings too, so I use all of the egg.

In my opinion, it is a little too rich for plain vanilla frosting, but for all others, it is by far, a much richer frosting. But for heavily flavored frostings, the taste ends up pretty close to each other. When using yolks, be sure to study the techniques and the temps, as the yolks are more prone to contamination.

Just need to make a note of something for you. I LOVE French BC, It is divine, not meant for every cake but the cakes that it does go on OMG amazing! but you have to use it all at once. What I mean is if you make a large batch and then you need to go some where DON'T put it in the fridge! If your not going to use it all at once and be done then you need to keep it at room temp or maybe just below. But until you are finished do not put the buttercream you are frosting your cake with in the fridge (feel free to put the cake with buttercream on it in the fridge but not what you are using to frost it!).
That may sound a little over board to go and say the same thing 3 or so different ways but, there is a reason (trust me, i know from experience!) if you refrigerate your FBC and it does not come to room temp perfectly before you re whip it (and you are supposed to re-whip it if you say let it sit over night.) then it will break! and I mean into little lumps with the butter weeping out of it! even if you cover it with fondant its no good!
once again i know! it was for a cake final and it was weeping out if the bottom and then someone smashed the corner on accident and it was this big weeping mess! and my beautiful cake that looked like an A received a C. Curses! *sigh* that was like 2 years ago and I'm still sad over it
But if you do use it all at once no problem! It will be awesome!

Sorry, I must disagree, creative. I've found that it keeps beautifully in the refrigerator and re-whips perfectly. It is good for a week or so (never had any longer than that). I make big batches (IMBC too) and keep it on hand to test new flavors. I find it indestructible.

I'm sure our different experiences are due to different recipes.

well then if you are willing to share I would love to try your recipe! I would love to try one that whips back together well!

I re-whip them cold. I think they work better.

Here's the basic recipe I won't add the details.

6 lg egg yolks, whipped to light yellow
1 c sugar
1/2 c water
4 sticks butter barely room temp, still rather hard
1 tsp boiling water (optional for final smoothing)

I get the syrup up to about 240 - 242 degrees so that it pours at 238 degrees. I use a Pro6 KA with the beater blade and just let it run until smooth. The heat of the revolutions will soften the butter.

scp, Thanx for the recipe I'm sure that I will be trying it this weekend!

It's funny because I am used to using a whipped frosting (cream cheese, sugar, whipping cream) I ALWAYS put it in the fridge after I put it in my piping bags so that it firms up a bit for piping so, I inadvertently did the same thing with this and, OMG, when I went to pull it out to pipe on my cupcakes it was HARD AS A ROCK. However, I just let it come to room temp and tried to pipe it. It was a bit sputtery coming out so, I just squeezed it all out into a big bowl and, re-filled the piping bag (not knowing I had to re-whip) and, it came out great. When my husband came home and saw them, he was amazed at how beautiful and glossy it was and, when he tried it, his first comment was, "OMG, it's so smooth and velvety".

SCP, looking at your recipe confirms what I thought about this one...a bit too much sugar. The very first thing I thought when I tried it was that I would use less sugar the next time I made it.

Here is the finished product all dressed up:

http://cakecentral.com//gallery/2108520

yeah, Ive done that too but not the whipping i'm talking about. its more the cold from the fridge into the mixer and oh look its broke!

creative, it breaks, at least IMBC does, but it comes back. I learned something from Warren Brown. In IMBC, and I apply it to FBC, factor in the cooling down of the syrup from the pan to the mixerand up the original temp. When I started doing this, the stability and the consistency changed considerably. Also, calibrate your thermometer to boiling water. Just a few degrees wrong, and the stability suffers. I take my IMBC syrup to 245.