Swiss Meringue Buttercream Issues
Decorating By esquared939 Updated 12 Mar 2013 , 4:11am by esquared939
So I just tried making swiss meringue buttercream for the first time. I heated the egg whites and sugar to 160 and it seemed like the right consistency, but then I started whipping it and it didn't incorporate air at all. It just turned the consistency of marshmallow fluff (tasted like it too, actually), even after upwards of ten minutes on high speed. I've been looking around on the internet, but no one seems to have my exact problem. Has anyone else had this problem? Could it have anything to do with my cutting the recipe down to 1/4 of a batch?
Was there any fat or egg yolk in your utensils or bowl? I made a 1/4 batch Saturday and it turned out fine...just like my full batch. It did take awhile for the whites and sugar to grow in volume and cool down.
Marshmallow fluff is airy. In mu opinion it's the right consistency tomstart adding your buttercubes.
What happened with your mixture when you added the butter?
It's possible there was grease or oil residue on your beater, or in your bowl. That might affect the fluffiness of your merigue. As suggested by Sweetapolita, I wipe my bowl, beater, and spatula with lemon juice before I start, just to make sure everything is grease-free. However, once you started adding your butter, it should have all come together and turned into icing eventually. Did it?
Check out this recipe and photos. It pretty much explains it all.
http://sweetapolita.com/2011/04/swiss-meringue-buttercream-demystified/
Yeah, there was potentially fat residue on the bowl, since I'd just used it to make cake batter, and only washed it out with dish soap. Definitely keeping that in mind for next time. Thanks!
Also, didn't add the butter. I probably should have, but at this point I figured I'd only wasted some egg white and sugar and I didn't want to waste the butter too. Maybe it would've turned out fine, but it really hadn't increased in volume at all. Sticky goo.
did you stir it constantly while it was heating up
and you had cooked it over a water bath
and the hot water didn't touch the bottom of the pan the eggs & sugar were in
probably a good call not to toss in the butter if it was that low volume
coulda tried it with shortening--might not taste too good but you coulda figured out if it might work at that consistency
i mean it's cheaper than dang pricey butter
or you could a tried half of it or something
but still a good call i think not to chance it with the buttah
hopefully the next batch will be great!!!
Batch number two worked out perfectly. Thanks for the help!
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