Italian Meringue Silk Buttercream is
Crème Anglaise (a light, pourable custard made by thickening egg yolks, sugar, and milk over heat-- it's the base of many ice creams)
Italian Meringue (egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar, and a sugar syrup heated to firm ball--170° F-- all whipped into gorgeous fluffiness)
and, of course, Butter (one of my favorite miracles).
Plus anything used to flavor the buttercream. This week, I added bittersweet chocolate. Last week's caramel icing is made by making caramel crème Anglaise.
Really, it's not so complicated. It does, however, require numerous steps. Last week's response was brought on, in part, by the fact that something weird happened to the caramel crème Anglaise on my first try, and I had to start over. I blame RLB's direction to add the caramel to the milk (rather than the milk to the caramel, as I did the second time around), but I may be wrong there. It's possible that with more patience the first batch would have smoothed out.
Is Italian Meringue Silk Buttercream worth it?
Baking in college (using a recipe from Edward Espe Brown), I remember being blown away that one could make icing simply by combining cream and chocolate. So simple and straightforward: "People buy pre-packaged icing when all they need to do is melt chocolate?!?" I still adore and celebrate a basic ganache. But I'm also into the subtle quality of IMSB: its texture, its appearance, and its flavor are all a m a z i n g. And, it's incredibly easy to work with once it's made-- very stable and forgiving. After a second time around, I'm sold. Plus, the caramel version truly involves burnt sugar, unlike many "caramel icing" recipes I've seen which use brown sugar to simulate the complexity of hot-sugar-breakdown.
In a kitchen accident, I iced the smallest toe on my left foot:
5 comments:
I've been looking on ebay for new mixing bowls, but am torn about what to get. Do you have a favorite type? I'm drawn to the colored pyrex sets from the 60s. though the nice ceramic ones you have in your photos are also alluring. thoughts?
I agree that the pyrex sets are gorgeous. I'm also a fan of marbled Texas Ware. My mother bought me those white ceramic bowls when I was in college. They're a little too heavy, I think. Willy Street Co-op has some hand-hammered stainless bowls that I've been eying because they come in really big sizes. In terms of practicality, I recommend using a bowl that's a little bigger than necessary, and I'm short on big bowls.
When cleaning out my grandmother's house recently, i set aside some marbled ware for myself. VERY exciting...i love the stuff.
And a loud "AMEN" to not enough large bowls! Ebay here I come.
Hey, I just made this frosting for the first time. A lot of work, but worth it. Sorry about your toe.
Thanks for the comment, Jeff! It's been a while since I've made Italian meringue silk buttercream. It's amazing and high time I whipped up a batch.
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