Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and each
time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like this.

bring 4 whole eggs to room temperature. Bring 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted
butter to cool room temperature (65-70 degrees). Heat 1/2 cup of sugar
and 1/2 cup dark corn syrup in a small saucepan over high heat for
about 2 minutes or until the mixture just comes to a boil then take it
off the heat and set aside. Whip the eggs in a mixer on high until
they are very light and fluffy. then turn the speed to low and with a
bulb baster slowly drizzle in the sugar mixture. When all the sugar is
in turn the mixer up on high again for 2 minutes or until the side of
the bowl is just warm but not hot to the touch. Then turn the speed to
low again and start adding the butter 1 small chunk at a time waiting
until each chunk is fully integrated before adding the next one.

Now this sounds pretty straight forward. But everytime I get down to
about 8 tablespoons of butter left the entire batch in the mixing bowl
turns into something resembling cottage cheese floating in a brown
soup. I've tried using colder butter and warmer butter and same thing
happened each time. Can somebody please tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Oh there are a couple things I have noticed but I don't know if they
mean anything.

1. I notice that no matter how light and fluffy I get the eggs, the
foam always deflates when I start adding the butter.(I dunno if this is
normal or not)

2. When the batch goes bad it happens suddenly rather than gradually.

JArthur wrote:
> Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and
> each time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like this.
>
Seems to be a bit of overkill going on. My mom always made it simply this
way:

16 oz. confectioner's sugar
6 Tbs. butter, softened
3-4 tsp. whole milk or half & half
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt

In a large bowl with hand mixer at medium speed beat all ingredients
together until very smooth. Add more milk as necessary to spread smoothly
but not be too thin. This yields enough frosting for a 2-layer cake or a
13X9 sheet style cake, tube cake or 2 dozen cupcakes.

Jill

jmcquown" > wrote in message
t...
> JArthur wrote:
> > Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and
> > each time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like this.
> >
> Seems to be a bit of overkill going on. My mom always made it simply this
> way:
>
> 16 oz. confectioner's sugar
> 6 Tbs. butter, softened
> 3-4 tsp. whole milk or half & half
> 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
> 1/8 tsp. salt
>
> In a large bowl with hand mixer at medium speed beat all ingredients
> together until very smooth. Add more milk as necessary to spread smoothly
> but not be too thin. This yields enough frosting for a 2-layer cake or a
> 13X9 sheet style cake, tube cake or 2 dozen cupcakes.
>
> Jill

Yup, I agree with Jill. Depending on what kind of cake, I might substitute
lime, orange, lemon juice for the milk.

Your recipe sounds way too busy!!

Elaine

JArthur wrote on 01 May 2005 in rec.food.cooking

> Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and
> each time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like
> this.
>
> bring 4 whole eggs to room temperature. Bring 2 1/2 sticks of
> unsalted
>


the recipe below doesn't have eggs. be carefull adding the milk.


perhaps you're after a different type of frosting? Remember Google is
your friend. A Royal icing recipe involving egg whites and no butter
or margering or shorting follows the first recipe.

Recipes > Delightful Dessert > Frosting

Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Ready in: < 30 minutes
Difficulty: 2
(1=easiest :: hardest=5)

Categories:
Frosting Recipes

* 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 tablespoon milk -- more if needed

This a a wonderful not too sweet buttercream recipe.

Beat ingredients adding one after another, beating till smooth, from
the top of the list to the bottom. Add enough milk to make the correct
consistency for your frosting. Basic recipe will frost a 9-10" round 2
layer or a 9x13 inch cake.
Recipe URL:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/rec...ing66784.shtml



Royal Icing Recipe


* 3 egg whites -- at room temperature
* 1 pound powdered sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Combine ingredients. Beat 7 minutes at high speed. Keep bowl covered
with damp terry cloth while you work (gets hard when dry). Frosting
dries very hard.
Recipe URL:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/rec...Icing359.shtml


--
No Bread Crumbs were hurt in the making of this Meal.
Type 2 Diabetic Since Aug 2004
1AC- 7.2, 7.3, 5.5, 5.6 mmol
Weight from 265 down to 219 lbs. and dropping.
Continuing to be Manitoban

In article .com>,
"JArthur" > wrote:

> Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and each
> time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like this.

First is ignore this recipe and use the neo-classic buttercream from
the Cake Bible. If you don't have this book, get it from the library,
after you clean it up as well as you can from using it, go buy a copy.

6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrum
2 cups unsalted butter
(optional)2-4 T flavoring or liqueur of your choice, or 6 oz melted or
cooled chocolate

In a mixer, beat egg yolks until light in color. In the meantime,
dissolve sugar in corn syrup on stove, and heat to a rolling boil,
stirring constantly. As *soon* as it breaks into a rolling boil,
immediately pour it into a greased one-cup measuring cup (I actually
use a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup). If using a stand mixer, stop mixer,
pour a small amount of the sugar syrup in, and immediately beat on high
for 5 seconds. Then stop, add a bit more syrup, and beat again on high
for 5 seconds. Continue until all syrup is used up, adding more and
more syrup. Use scraper to get all syrup out. Then continue beating
on high until the mixture is completely cooled.

If using an electric hand-held mixer, beat the syrup into the yolks
in a steady stream [yes hot, gotta cook those yolks]. Don't allow the
syrup to fall on the beaters or they will spin it onto the sides of the
bowl.

Then start beating in the butter, a bit at at time. When the butter
is all incorporated, add any flavourings you are going to use, if any,
and then voila! All done!

Enjoy!

Regards,
Ranee

--
Remove Do Not and Spam to email

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

See my Blog at: http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/

On Sun, 1 May 2005 15:51:45 -0500, "jmcquown" >
wrote:

>JArthur wrote:
>> Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and
>> each time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like this.
>>
>Seems to be a bit of overkill going on. My mom always made it simply this
>way:
>
>16 oz. confectioner's sugar
>6 Tbs. butter, softened
>3-4 tsp. whole milk or half & half
>1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
>1/8 tsp. salt
>
>In a large bowl with hand mixer at medium speed beat all ingredients
>together until very smooth. Add more milk as necessary to spread smoothly
>but not be too thin. This yields enough frosting for a 2-layer cake or a
>13X9 sheet style cake, tube cake or 2 dozen cupcakes.

IIRC, what JArthur is trying to make is indeed the classic buttercream
frosting. It is smoother and not as sweet as the confectionary sugar
one.

I've never made it, so unfortunately I can't give her/him any advice.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

at Sun, 01 May 2005 20:47:14 GMT in <1114980434.187101.327270
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, (JArthur) wrote :

>Hi folks. I have tried 5 times to make a buttercream frosting and each
>time it came out wrong. The recipie goes something like this.
>
>bring 4 whole eggs to room temperature. Bring 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted
>butter to cool room temperature (65-70 degrees). Heat 1/2 cup of sugar
>and 1/2 cup dark corn syrup in a small saucepan over high heat for
>about 2 minutes or until the mixture just comes to a boil then take it
>off the heat and set aside....
>Now this sounds pretty straight forward. But everytime I get down to
>about 8 tablespoons of butter left the entire batch in the mixing bowl
>turns into something resembling cottage cheese floating in a brown
>soup.

The recipe you have seems to have a pretty high amount of sugar. That could
cause problems but I don't think so. More serious is the extremely high
amount of corn syrup. More typically you only need a very small amount of
corn syrup to keep your confection stable - it might be 1-2 tbsp to 1 cup
of sugar. That much liquid sugar could certainly be causing issues.

After the mix reaches the appearance you state, have you continued mixing
in the butter or immediately abandoned the project? IME buttercream *does*
go through a stage where it looks exactly as you describe, but then after
you've added *all* the butter it once again suddenly turns into a proper-
looking buttercream. Keep in mind that the sugar mix has to cool down a
long way before the frosting is ready. After you've added all the butter
you typically have to beat for a while longer before its consistency is
ideal. Consider also putting a candy thermometer in the sugar syrup.
Typical buttercream calls for soft-ball to firm-ball temperatures - 235-245
F (113-118 C).

Buttercream is one of those things where you really have to trust the
process in spite of intermediate conditions that don't look promising. Many
times the situation will look like a ruined disaster only to turn out fine
in the end if you follow through.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

JArthur wrote:

> Now this sounds pretty straight forward. But everytime I get down to
> about 8 tablespoons of butter left the entire batch in the mixing bowl
> turns into something resembling cottage cheese floating in a brown
> soup. I've tried using colder butter and warmer butter and same thing
> happened each time. Can somebody please tell me what I'm doing wrong?
>
> Oh there are a couple things I have noticed but I don't know if they
> mean anything.
>
> 1. I notice that no matter how light and fluffy I get the eggs, the
> foam always deflates when I start adding the butter.(I dunno if this is
> normal or not)
>
> 2. When the batch goes bad it happens suddenly rather than gradually.

It _sounds_ like you are using Alton Browns recipe, and based on that
assumption it sounds like you are adding the butter too soon at the end.
You have to really be patient with it & make sure you are adding the
small chunks of butter slowly and completely mixed in without any
leftover lumps.

You can read the transcripts here
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Seaso...IcingTrans.htm to help
remind you of the important tips that are very important to buttercream
frosting success. here is an excerpt from that section of the
transcript that discusses this very problem that you seem to be having.

"Up to this point we've used our caramel-making skills, our
mayonnaise-making skills, and our cream-whipping skills. Time to give
our curd making skills a little bit of a flex. That means adding this
fat [butter] to this mixture very slowly, allowing each addition to
fully integrate before adding more. Basically, we're just gonna drop in
the butter, and we're gonna wait until there's no more physical evidence
of it being there before we add another one. Now this is going to go
pretty quickly at first, because there us a lot of residual heat there.
But as time goes by, it's going to take longer and longer before we can
add our next piece of butter. Oh, you think you can rush? Well do not be
tempted, or you'll end up frosting your cake with something that looks
[like a bowl full of icing with butter liquid at the bottom]. Yum."

I also believe the butter has to be room temperature, but you might want
to read the full transcript to make sure.