Just made my first recipe of Rose’s Mousseline Buttercream. I did have a bit of problem with the syrup. I left it on low heat on my gas stove while I beat the egg whites, but it just kept bubbling vigorously and I was afraid it would over-cook. So I took it off the heat while I beat the whites. There was a whole lot of crystallized sugar around the edges when I came back to the syrup. I made the mistake of scraping the edges and stirring it into the syrup—result, even more crystals. I beat it into the egg whites anyway and oddly enough it all ended up just fine!

Next time I think I will take the syrup off heat right away—and not scrape down any crystals.

Barbara ~ I’m jealous….I wanna make some now.

Hector ~ I was thinking as I was typing if the generalization would be insulting to you.  But I was hoping my inquisitive and ignorant manner of asking would come through in my typing and you would not be offended by me.  I actually looked for a spam cookbook just because I had heard that rumor and thought it may be interesting to see all that can be done with it, but was unable to find one.  I ate spam all the way through childhood, so I thought it would be a little nostalgic for me to find a cookbook.  But yet, I am always drawn to the baking and dessert books.  Our first choice was to stay on Oahu at Turtle Bay.  But we met a couple other people who recommended Kapalua, so we changed our plans.

Congrats on your first batch of Mousseline.  How do you like the flavor?  Once you’ve made it a couple of times, you’ll get the timing down. 

I avoid crystals completely by painting a water ring just above the sugar syrup line with a wet pastry brush - this will melt any crystals that might have formed (I keep it and a cup of water close by just in case crystals form).  Also important, don’t stir the sugar syrup after the sugar dissolves.  Oh, and I don’t put my candy thermometer into the sugar syrup until I know there are no crystals in the syrup.

If you keep the lid on, the drops of water from the condensation drip down the sides of the pot and prevents crystalization.

Rozanne - 14 June 2008 07:25 AM

If you keep the lid on, the drops of water from the condensation drip down the sides of the pot and prevents crystalization.

Oh yes, that’s another good trick - helps to heat the sugar faster too.