Around the blog world I've noticed swiss meringue buttercream (SMB) cropping up quite alot! I've read good things and always been intrigued about trying to make some but it all sounds very grand and so perhaps that has put me off in the past. Recently I read it basically just tastes like butter (which was being described as a good thing) but that put me off a little more! I wanted my frosting to be sugary and yummy...not buttery! but I decided it was time I made up my own mind. I'm also baking some cupcakes for a wedding next week and know that SMB is very smooth and glossy in appearance so thought it may work well for the wedding cupcakes.
I decided to use the recipe from my Martha Stewart cupcake book. I was a little worried when it looked like it was curdling at one point but after a few more minutes of whipping it all came together. I started off with some uncoloured SMB that was flavoured with vanilla and frosted some of my Hummingbird vanilla cupcakes with that. I think it maybe needed whipped for a few minutes longer because if you compare it to the yellow frosting it's not quite as smooth and glossy. So then I added some yellow colour paste and frosted some in yellow too and like I said these were much glossier. I also used one of my new frosting tips on the yellow ones but I didn't like the way they turned out as much as the nozzle I used for the white ones.
When it came time to taste, I was a little disappointed. Yes it was very light and glossy but it wasn't sweet enough for my liking and it hadn't quite lived up to expectations...but then...
I decided to save a 1/3 of the frosting back and melt some chocolate and add that to the mix and WOW it was amazing!! It was seriously so delicious that I can safely say I am now a swiss meringue buttercream convert (but only of the chocolate variety!) I also tested out another new nozzle but I wasn't really loving it compared to my star nozzle. Quite alot of professional bakers seem to use the straight edged nozzle and Byron said maybe it would look better if I could do it properly! but I still think I'm going to stick to my star nozzle for now!
Yum - the chocolate frosting looks gorgeous - like chocolate mousse! trust you to add chocolate! I've never heard of swiss meringue frosting before. I think you're right about sticking to the star nozzle! I like the little mini eggs on top. You're getting very artistic with your pictures and co-ordinated backgrounds. xxx p.s yes i did go a bit overboard at the scrap show but chances like that don't come around very often - there's no decent scrapbooking shops in london!
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well what a little domestic scientist you are becoming. I love the look of the vanilla ones and the sky high frosting, though I think it would be sickly to eat it all! I love the effect of the star nozzle best too. The straight one just looks gross! But the choc frosting does look tasty! xxx
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