AI try so hard to make buttercream. The flavor is great but the consistency is horrible. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. No matter how much sugar I add, I can't get stuff or medium. Only thin. I even tried smbc that came out like water. It was fine until I added butter. I'm nit discouraged from cake baking but from making buttercream.

AKeep your chin up and you will eventually find success if you don't give up. I use Three. Little blackbirds SMBC. I follow the procedure carefully and weigh my ingredients.

AWith your SMB make sure your whites are ultra stiff and cool to touch before adding your butter and the butter needs to be soft. It will probably curdle at this stage but keep beating on low and it will come together. If it was watery I would say your white's weren't cool enough. I use sweetapolita's recipe its slightly sweeter than others.

I learned the hard way last week that not all pasteurized egg whites are equal.  I always use pasteurized egg whites for my SMBC with no issues, but used a different brand last week and 3 batches all failed miserably.  If you are using pasteurized egg whites, try a different brand or try fresh egg whites instead.  If it still doesn't work out for you with fresh egg whites, then you may need to look at your technique. 

AAnd not all methods for recipes work well for everyone. I actually don't wait for my smbc whites to get cool, I'd be waiting forever. So once they're sufficiently stiff, in goes the fairly cool butter. You just do what works for you, and if takes a hundred tries, and several recipes to figure it out...so be it.

Is it just SMBC you are having trouble with or also the traditional buttercream?  Easy fix with traditional buttercream, you simply add very little liquid.  I always have to add more liquid to mine than indicated.

As for SMBC, beat the heck out of it.  It can take what seems like forever and it goes through a curdling stage.

I love SMBC but my family hates it. They tell me it tastes too much like straight butter…

I wanted to add that the recipe calls for fresh egg whites but you can use pasteurized ones, it's totally up to you.

I haven't tried it with cold butter or cocoa powder. When I make the chocolate version, I add cooled melted chocolate to the already made SMBC. I said it was an easy recipe because I think it leaves more room for error. I also like it because the shortening and powdered sugar help to make it a little more stable.

I have tried different MBCs and had failures as they are temperamental at times. This is one of my favs to use that has never let me down. I love French and German meringue butter creams but I use them more as fillings.

Experiment with different types, you will find your favorite one too!

ASometimes it's not the recipe but technique/skill. Understanding the how and whys is more important than the recipe itself.

AI use FromScratchSF's SMBC. She has a fantastic tutorial on her blog that I found SO helpful when I first learned. http://fromscratchsf.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/tutorial-swiss-meringue-buttercream/

When you're making regular BC with icing sugar and butter or shortening, just cream your butter well and add your sifted icing sugar a bit at a time. Sometimes I'll add a tablespoon of milk to it at the end but if my butter is on the softer side I don't always need it. Which BC recipe are you using?

A

AI love SMBC but my family hates it. They tell me it tastes too much like straight butter… [/quote]

Seriously, if you want to.convert them, look up the SMBC recipe by Well Dressed Cakes, just Google it, and it will lead you back here (easier than the search function here, IMNHO)

I've been using a tweaked version of that for years, and the one thing I hear most from people who.have complained of overly buttery taste in mbcs, is how this is [B]not[/B] buttery. Buttery enough, but very very tame. Excuse the typos.

AThe only way to develop your skill is by doing it. A lot of times! And although this forum has a lot of members willing to help out, you should get a baking book (not a cook book) and read up so you will understand whatthe ingredients or procedure is for.

And bake some more!

AI ordered Sharon's Sugar Shack DVD on buttercream. The information is great. She walks you through the process, ingredients, fixes... I use her recipe on all my cakes. I love how easy it is to make and ice with, and all my brides love the taste.

I used RLBs IMBC recipe from the cake bible, and her classic BC which is basically a French Buttercream.

I've been making those recipes for over a decade and last week I could not get the classic BC to come together. I used ice, refrigerated and whipped. NO go. Eventually I had to add another lb of butter. The only thing I can figure is that the extreme high temps outside somehow changed the consistency. 

My point is that you can do everything right and sometimes it still goes wrong. 

But keep trying. Use a candy thermometer and be sure your sugar gets up to temp. 

So far, I have used 3 or 4 different recipes for SMBC, waisted like 10 pounds of sugar, many egg whites and  butter, and the result is either stiff but too buttery or soupy. But I will keep trying because I like it better than butter cream.

Don't get discouraged!

There's a lot of good suggestions here and a lot of good links to recipes/blogs as well. I had the same problem in the beginning when I was first making the buttercream and now I can make it in my sleep.

Whoever I gave the SMBC recipe to would always have a hard time because they forget that it will all come together if you have patience =).

Because of that, I posted a tutorial with step by step pictures (including the soupy, curdled stage) on my blog including troubleshooting and tons of flavor variations. It took me years of tweaking this recipe to get it to where it never fails me. I hope you check it out!

http://dessertdesignlife.com/swiss-meringue-buttercream/

Glad you en