No word of a lie, my attempt at a Swiss Meringue Cream Cheese buttercream became one of those failures in which the cost of the repair quickly adds up (white chocolate, butter) and the thought of calling the buttercream quits becomes an awful consideration!! I managed to get it to finally emulsify (the white chocolate was the winner!)—but it never thickened past whipped cream.  I’m hoping refrigeration will help it—it will be going on the all occasion yellow downy butter cake so I hope it will be fine at room temperature and not end up sliding or puddling!!

To recap I made a swiss meringue buttercream with some cream cheese added—it was loose.  So I thought adding more cream cheese (and then butter) would be the answer—not so…curdled.  Then I thought I could use up the extra whites from the cake and add some meringue…not so.  Got really runny.  Tried adding roux, that helped a loose SMBC one time.  Not so…Finally added white choc—that enabled emulsification and then I added extra butter to try and thicken.  At this point I’m sure I’ve used 4 lbs. butter, 1 lb. white chocolate, 1 1/2 doz. eggs, and who knows how much else!!  OH, 3 pkgs cream cheese.  Very expensive whipped cream!!  Super smooth and yummy though!!

Sherrie - 30 April 2012 06:01 PM

cost of the repair quickly adds up (white chocolate, butter) and the thought of calling the buttercream quits becomes an awful consideration!!

Acquisition of knowledge is worth almost any price!

Wow, Sherrie, that’s some determination!  Excellent save!

I’ll bet it will be much firmer after refrigeration—you figure that melted chocolate is fluid, but once it gets to room temp (or refrigerated temp), it is solid, so it should have a firming effect on the frosting.

When I make my “roux” frostings, they’re always rather soft, but once the raw honey solidifies, they become (and remain) the texture of “regular” buttercream.

I’ll bet your buttercream melange tastes fabulous!

—ak

All that white chocolate and butter, sounds delicious!  Congratulations on saving your buttercream- love your perserverance

CharlesT - 30 April 2012 08:05 PM

Acquisition of knowledge is worth almost any price!

I would have preferred this acquistion to have been on another day   BUT…I do have the white chocolate solution in my arsenal.  Also learned, go with a Rose recipe as hers are well tested and perfected…that said, I was really wanting to try Swiss meringue for a change.  My thoughts are, if you don’t have a thermometer it may be more forgiving than Mouselline, but I can almost make Mouselline in my sleep and standing over a water bath whisking is not much fun (standing over a pot of sugar syrup with a thermometer and NOT stirring is preferable!). 

The complicated buttercream ended up firming in the refrigerator—thought it was almost impossible not to with all of that butter!!  I have vats of it in the freezer since I essentially doubled a double recipe in my attempt to fix it!  Will see how my husband and his coworkers think of the cake…

Great save Sherrie. I’ve never attempted that frosting so I really don’t know what you went through but it sounds as though your ingenuity and determination paid-off.  Good luck with your cake. Judging by your past cakes, I’m sure you won’t need to depend on luck

CharlesT - 30 April 2012 08:05 PM

Sherrie - 30 April 2012 06:01 PM

cost of the repair quickly adds up (white chocolate, butter) and the thought of calling the buttercream quits becomes an awful consideration!!

Acquisition of knowledge is worth almost any price!

If we had a *like* button, I would click it.

Sherrie:

Thanks for this posting.  I have long thought about trying to add cream cheese to mousseline buttercream…never got around to trying it. I think I will skip the adventure LOL

thanks for posting all of this great info…that’s how we learn!

CharlesT - 30 April 2012 08:05 PM

Acquisition of knowledge is worth almost any price!

*Like*