No, no, I’m not disagreeing with you, Hector. I always defer to your extensive experience and creativity,

I’m only suggesting that the product should have come together into something spreadable if beaten longer and possibly if the room was cooler--just to salvage the batch.

I admit, I am a reckless frosting maker. I push the ingredients to perform at less than optimum environments, relying on technique to make it all come out in the end! lol

however, 85 degrees! omg i could never work at that temp. my mind would fry! lol

jen

Hi Jen =)

Your C-SMBC wasn’t spreadable?  I thought it was too spreadable.

For most frostings you can abuse the making.  YES, you can abuse the making of the silk meringue or the mousseline, too, but not on the temperature of the sugar.  If you get the temperature of the sugar exact, you will have the best consistency for both:  frosting the cake and piping decorations.

The way I abuse the silk meringue or the mousseline, is by not letting the meringue cool completely (takes too long to cool in my 85 weather) and by adding the butter on the cold side.

Hi

I thought I would share the outcome of my silk meringue buttercream.

I defrosted the buttercream and the consistency was good for frosting.  But when used for piping it began to melt due to the heat from my hand.  My verdict is that the buttercream was successful but the weather caused it to melt. 

Will continue to explore!  Thank you for all the advice.

i wish I’d read all this correspondence about sugar/candy thermometers last week!  I made a cake , which turned out very well, and then proceeded to make a frosting which was based on an Italian meringue syrup.  I blithely went ahead not fearing anything could go wrong, how wrong I was!  the sugar syrup didn’t get to the right temp. my fault because I was too impatient, and consequently after adding the syrup to the whipped egg whites the frosting separated.  It was a complete waste and I was in a foul mood all day afterwards because I hate failure as much as I hate waste!
I have now recovered and am ready to have another go, watch this space!

If there is any bit of oil, fat or yolk in your egg whites or utensils, the whites will never whip stiffly.

I had this same problem and couldn’t figure out why until I honed in on my plastic whisk. Plastics tend to hold on to a thin film of grease. I changed to a clean metal whisk and my problem was solved.

Julius,

When you say your plastic whisk, it makes me wonder . . . Do you make meringues without benefit of power tools?  If so, more power to ya!

JennyBee