Pasteurized Egg Whites Not Suitable For Meringue?
Baking By LindaF144a Updated 15 May 2010 , 3:44am by mamawrobin
I bought a quart of liquid egg whites and have been using it three times now to make frosting.
Now today I read this statement on the carton: Due to the pasteurization process these eggs will not whip and are not suitable for meringue or angel food cakes.
I have been using them for my SMBC. Each time I have made the frosting, the result has been a little bit better and better. But I still don't think it is stable enough to use under fondant. At least I think. I have never seen a stable SMBC so what would I know. 
Has anybody else have something they could share with me on this? Are they just being cautious, or will I get a better frosting with "real" egg whites. I was just about to make another frosting mix with this. I'm thinking for today I might try real egg whites.
Thanks.
i've had bad luck using the liquid egg whites for IMBC, but i do love having it for making royal icing.
for IMBC, i've been having great success using Wilton's meringue powder. it's so convenient because it doesn't expire as fast at the liquid eggs. and i don't feel like i'm wasting yolks from using whole eggs.
I use SMBC made with "Just Whites" brand egg whites all the time! It whips up great and I always use fondant over it. It is actually what is called for in the recipe for SMBC from the Confetti Cakes cookbook. I've never tried anything else though, so I wouldn't really know if real egg whites would work even better.
Well I just answered my own question!
Real egg whites vs the liquid egg whites work far better in volume, taste, and stability. The frosting is so delicious on its own too. In the last two batches I have had to be heavy on the flavoring, not with this one. This is so good that I have even amazed myself. I had no idea I was capable of making something soo darn good. 
Isn't Just Whites a powder? That may make the difference too between the Just Whites and Liquid Whites.
Because I have so many liquid egg whites left over, I think I'll use it for the RI I need to make for our cake decorating class next week. Thanks for the tip.
I think you might have the wrong ones. The eggbeater type ones are denatured and no good, but some of the other ones are ok, like I said on another thread, I use the fresh and easy ones, which I think might be similar to the 'just whites' and they will whip up to a stiff meringue...
I used the "Just Whites" liquid egg whites to make IMBC and was very pleased with the outcome. My carton had the same warning, but I decided to try it anyways. The main reason was because I didn't want to have yolks lying around or thrown out.
But just a couple weeks ago hubby and I vacationed in Las Vegas and in almost every buffet we went to, they had creme brulee. He seriously flipped out about how good creme brulee is and how much he loves it. So now I'm not going to be concerned with left over yolks, I'll just make creme brulee!
It's a win-win. I make the best possible quality of IMBC, hubby gets his favorite dessert.
I used the "Just Whites" liquid egg whites to make IMBC and was very pleased with the outcome. My carton had the same warning, but I decided to try it anyways. The main reason was because I didn't want to have yolks lying around or thrown out.
But just a couple weeks ago hubby and I vacationed in Las Vegas and in almost every buffet we went to, they had creme brulee. He seriously flipped out about how good creme brulee is and how much he loves it. So now I'm not going to be concerned with left over yolks, I'll just make creme brulee!
It's a win-win. I make the best possible quality of IMBC, hubby gets his favorite dessert.
You know, I was just going to look up and see if creme brulee was made with all eggs. My DH and I love cream brulee! Thanks for the heads up. Now I have another dessert that I can research to death before I make one. 
I also use powdered egg whites for my SMBC and royal icing. Works great!
If you use real egg whites you can use the yolks to make a butter cream icing (I think it's called French Meringue Buttercream) that makes an excellent rich BC for fillings. It takes flavors beautifully.
I use the All Whites and have never had any problem with making my SMBC until last night. I could not get them to form a "soft peak" at all. The mixture was soupy and after beating for 15 minutes I realized that they weren't going to work. This has NEVER happened to me. So, I wash my equiptment and proceed to make another batch..same problem! All I could produce was a soupy egg white/sugar mixture that would not whip up. We had extremely humid weather yesterday and last night. Can this in any way affect SMBC?
I'm at a loss as to why I couldn't get it to work.
Does anyone have any ideas as to why I couldn't get the eggs to whip? BTW..the second time around I seperated eggs and used the whites rather than the all whites. Couldn't get them to whip either. 
Mamawrobin:
I'm sure you know this, but any trace of fat on your equipment will affect the egg whites & their ability to whip up properly. I know you mentioned that you washed all your equipment between batches but there might have been something on your dish towel. If I'm whipping egg whites I clean my stuff then, just to be safe, I squeeze 1/2 a lemon into my KA bowl. I use a paper towel to wipe the juice all over the inside of the bowl and then use the juice soaked PT to wipe my whip attachment & spatula. If there was any residue on my dish towel then I've fixed the problem before my egg whites hit the bowl. Just a thought!! 
Mamawrobin:
I'm sure you know this, but any trace of fat on your equipment will affect the egg whites & their ability to whip up properly. I know you mentioned that you washed all your equipment between batches but there might have been something on your dish towel. If I'm whipping egg whites I clean my stuff then, just to be safe, I squeeze 1/2 a lemon into my KA bowl. I use a paper towel to wipe the juice all over the inside of the bowl and then use the juice soaked PT to wipe my whip attachment & spatula. If there was any residue on my dish towel then I've fixed the problem before my egg whites hit the bowl. Just a thought!!
Thank you Kerbear...yes I do know this. That's why after the first round failed I carefully washed (clean dish rag/clean dish towel) my equiptment. I have never had this happen to me so I am just completely at a loss. Even the first time I made SMBC it came out perfect. I'm stumped. Is the weather EVER an issue when making SMBC? Didn't think so but it was extremely humid here yesterday and last night and that's the only difference I can come up with. I'd really like to know why this happened.
Mamawrobin:
I'm sure you know this, but any trace of fat on your equipment will affect the egg whites & their ability to whip up properly. I know you mentioned that you washed all your equipment between batches but there might have been something on your dish towel. If I'm whipping egg whites I clean my stuff then, just to be safe, I squeeze 1/2 a lemon into my KA bowl. I use a paper towel to wipe the juice all over the inside of the bowl and then use the juice soaked PT to wipe my whip attachment & spatula. If there was any residue on my dish towel then I've fixed the problem before my egg whites hit the bowl. Just a thought!!
Thank you Kerbear...yes I do know this. That's why after the first round failed I carefully washed (clean dish rag/clean dish towel) my equiptment. I have never had this happen to me so I am just completely at a loss. Even the first time I made SMBC it came out perfect. I'm stumped. Is the weather EVER an issue when making SMBC? Didn't think so but it was extremely humid here yesterday and last night and that's the only difference I can come up with. I'd really like to know why this happened.
It was extremely humid here too - 78% - but cold! So maybe heat and humidity? I don't know if you were warm where you live. I made two batches of SMBC and had no problem.
LindaF...yes it was really hot here as well as humid. I've never heard of that affecting SMBC but I wondered if anyone else had. I would like to know what caused this to happen.
LindaF...yes it was really hot here as well as humid. I've never heard of that affecting SMBC but I wondered if anyone else had. I would like to know what caused this to happen.
I'm not much help probably, but my first time making SMBC it was a hot and humid day here too. I know now that the meringue didn't get to the stage it was supposed to do either. I hadn't turned on the AC yet, so it was hot in my kitchen. The frosting barely stayed on the cake. It was my cake for the last Wilton course 1 class and the classroom was just as hot too.
Maybe the heat and humidity can effect it. I did see a pic on cake wrecks of a woman who was a culinary trained cake decorator. She was trying to make a cake in the heat and humidity of Houston and it wasn't working. If she was having problems in those circumstances then maybe that would explain it for you too.
I really think it's hit-and-miss with the All Whites brand. Something happens during the pasteurization process that MAY prevent them from whipping up...which is why they put that warning on the carton The only time I tried that brand, they wouldn't whip up, period, and I have read other posts which relayed the same experience...as well as posts like the ones here swearing that they work! However I have NEVER had a problem with the liquid EW from Trader Joe's, nor any store/plain-wrap brand from supermarket chains. (All brands carry the warning about not whipping to meringue, though)
I did a taste test once with fresh ew, pasteurized liquid, and powdered ew, and although I do agree that the best taste came from fresh ew, the difference was only noticable when testing side-by-side with the other two methods. Liquid was nominally better than powdered, but powdered still produced a good IMBC. My only comment is that the powdered EW STINK!! when reconstituted...they smell like wet cardboard 
. I seriously thought I was going to have to chuck the icing, but once everything was added the icing tasted perfectly normal.
Of course I can't answer for mamawrobin's bizarre no-whipping experience even with fresh ew....??!! 
No kidding...ceshell...I am still "scratchin' my head" over that.
Glad to see that I'm not the only one, mamawrobin. I tried the liquid ew this weekend and had the same problem as you, only difference was that our weather was not humid. Two batches, wiped everything down with vinegar for the second batch, but still the same problem.
Interesting point about the dishtowel, kerbear. Makes perfect sense and could very easily have affected my second batch.
Sitting back and wondering about going back to fresh eggs...
Glad to see that I'm not the only one, mamawrobin. I tried the liquid ew this weekend and had the same problem as you, only difference was that our weather was not humid. Two batches, wiped everything down with vinegar for the second batch, but still the same problem.
Interesting point about the dishtowel, kerbear. Makes perfect sense and could very easily have affected my second batch.
Sitting back and wondering about going back to fresh eggs...
mpetty I used real ew in the second batch. Still flopped. I'm at a loss and not so eager to try it again . I have made SMBC so many times and NEVER had this to happen. Weird isn't it? 
I swear, I don't care what kind of frosting it is, it's a darned challenge...
For real Even my first batch of SMBC came out perfect so I'm a little rattled as to why I failed
The only thing I can think is that somehow, somewhere, some shred of fat must have gotten into it. Give it a week, then try it again -- if you've had this much success with it, I can't imagine you'll never make it properly again...
I just had a thought on this. Do you use the new beater blade? The one I have has a hole in the center. I was surprised to see the last time I went to use it that there was still some of the Wilton icing that I made the day before left inside the hole. That darn Crisco does not melt off of stuff like butter does. And the hole is small enough that I can't get anything besides a bamboo skewer inside to clean it out as best as I can.
I no longer use it for meringue or RI. And I check that hole everytime I clean it now too.
This may not be the case for you guys, but I thought I would throw it out there.
I thought that was probably my problem with the first flop. So...I wash EVERYTHING in hot soapy (dawn) water and start over only to have the same disaster. I'm thinking that somehow this is what happened. I just can't for the life of me figure out how
I'm going to try it again this weekend and I will be sure to let you guys know how it turns out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.
The trouble with the liquid junk from the carton is that they add stuff to it before they pasteurize it with heat.
I always use eggs that have been pasteurized in the shell because they taste just like good fresh eggs.
I also always add a couple pinches of cream of tartar to them before whipping them. This will break the protein bond in the white that the heat (from pasteurization) helps to form. I've always had terrific results.
thai chi- can you taste any difference with the cream of tartar added?
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