#Swiss Meringue

[fullcravings]

Moist Strawberry Vanilla Layer Cake

[lisamaliga]

Apple Spice Macarons Recipe & Video (Copy)

Originally published 2018 by Lisa Maliga reposted 2024

Apples and autumn go perfectly together. Think of apple cider, candy or caramel apples, apple crisp, and Apple Spice Macarons.

INGREDIENTS:

160 grams powdered sugar, sift with almond flour 160 grams almond flour, sift with powdered sugar 150 grams egg whites 185 grams confectioners’ sugar, sieved 1 Tablespoon [8 grams] arrowroot powder 1/2 teaspoon [3 grams] cream of tartar 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste several drops Burgundy gel food colorant

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Sift the almond flour and confectioners’ sugar together into a bowl. Stir in the arrowroot powder and set aside. Put a template on a baking sheet and place a silicone mat or parchment paper over it. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add egg whites and confectioners’ sugar. Whisk until well combined.

Place bowl over pot with just enough water, as you don’t want the water touching the bowl. Heat on medium until meringue is hot. Test to make sure it’s hot enough by sticking your clean finger in the meringue near the center of the bowl. If using a candy thermometer the temperature should be about 130 F [54 C].

Remove from heat and place bowl onto stand mixer. Add the cream of tartar and vanilla bean paste.

Whisk on medium to high speed until firm peaks form. Egg whites should be glossy and if you flip the bowl upside down, nothing will come out.

Add food coloring and whisk until the color is incorporated.

Remove the whisk and add the paddle attachment [if using one].

Add the presifted almond flour and confectioners’ sugar mixture.

Turn mixer on low or medium speed and mix for up to 10 seconds. If that doesn’t mix the batter thoroughly, mix for another 10 seconds. Turn off mixer and with your spatula, run it around the sides and bottom of bowl to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Test for the ribbon stage. When you lift your spatula above the bowl, the batter should fall back to the bowl as one continuous stream and create a ribbon pattern.

Pour batter into a pastry bag [14″ or 16″] fitted with a large round tip.

Pipe onto the silicone or parchment covered baking sheets.

When finished with each sheet, bang baking sheet on counter to remove air bubbles. If you see any air bubbles, pop them with a toothpick.

Let shells rest on a flat surface in a cool, dry area for about 30 minutes. The surface will change from glossy to matte. To make sure they’re done, gently touch the edge of one with your finger. There should be no trace of batter on your finger.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. This will vary depending on your oven. Carefully monitor the baking process and check your oven thermometer. After 8 or so minutes, rotate the tray to ensure even baking.

Macarons are done when you peel back the mat or the parchment paper and the shells don’t stick.

Remove from oven and gently slide the parchment or silicone mat onto a cooling rack. The shells should be cool enough to remove after 10 minutes.

Place macaron shells on a wax paper covered baking sheet or tray for filling. Match similar sized shells together. Pipe the filling on the flat side of one shell and gently place the second shell on top.

INGREDIENTS:

115 grams [1/4 cup] apple butter 115 grams [1/4 cup] unsalted butter 150 grams [3/4 cup] dark brown sugar OR organic pure cane sugar 30 ml [2 Tablespoons] heavy [double] cream 2 teaspoons Apple Pie Spice* 125 grams [1 cup] confectioners’ sugar, sifted

INSTRUCTIONS:

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the apple butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Continue to boil for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Add the cream, apple pie spice and cinnamon, whisking constantly, and return to a boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Whisk powdered sugar until smooth and it reaches a frosting consistency.

* Make your own Apple Pie Spice by combining: 1 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) allspice and two dashes of cloves. Add ingredients to a small container and shake until blended.

Video Tutorial

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[colleenclarkmusic]

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe The egg whites and sugar are heated in a double boiler to create this Swiss meringue buttercream. The egg whites are pasteurized in this step, enabling them to hold air when whipped into a lovely, fluffy meringue. To add fruit puree, melted, cooled chocolate, or other flavor variations, see the footnotes.

[ganzschoenkalk]

Recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream This Swiss meringue buttercream is made by heating egg whites and sugar in a double boiler. That step pasteurizes the egg whites and allows them to hold air when whipped into a beautiful fluffy meringue. See footnotes to add fruit puree, melted cooled chocolate, or other flavor variations. 1 teaspoon lemon juice or as needed, 2 cups egg whites, 5 cups unsalted butter cut into cubes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 4 cups white sugar, 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

[maburp]

My Swiss meringue has been whipping for over twenty minutes and is still at soft peak stage… does this happen to anyone else or did I mess up my meringue

[densewentz]

Sneak peek of 2 of my 4 dozen Halloween Cupcakes 🍓🌿

[morethansalad]

Vegan Swiss Meringue Buttercream

[dreamertrilogys]

they need to make a me that likes normal buttercream. or alternatively i need to get into making pasta from scratch bc genuinely i can only eat so many yolk-only omelettes

[punkbakerchristine]

Buttercreams, 7 different kinds!

buttercreams are frostings with butter as the primary fat in the recipe. butter gives them a prominent flavor, a creamy texture, and relatively good stability.

i tried pulling the main seven from a site i had bookmarked but it + tumblr continually crashed (tumblr likes to crash a lot lately, it’s really weird), so i had to consult google for them besides the main point here:

there are Simple Buttercreams and True Buttercreams.

Simple buttercreams are made by mixing of ingredients. they’re just that, simple. They are thicker and exceptionally stable frostings so they’re perfect for easy, reliable frosting. The science side of this says that they contain a high rate of undissolved sugar, and as a result, they can form a crust, ideal for intricate, long-lasting piped decorations. The primary member of this category and the one everyone learns in cake making 101 is the American buttercream.

True Buttercreams meanwhile require creating an emulsion, which takes more steps and time. These bad boys are smooth and creamy texture with no graininess as the sugar’s been dissolved. Even with more time, effort, and ingredients, they’re the ones the pros use, the kinds you find in restaurants, nice bakeries, and on tv.

now! we have that down. please save this for future reference. the internet is fracturing fast and tumblr has been… weirdly buggy lately? so take this and write it down 🤍

***also may I recommend that you use unsalted butter for these, too, especially if one of them calls for a pinch of salt

Classic American Buttercream is the most recognizable and popular frosting. As I said, it’s what you learn the very first time you make a frosting of any kind. If the recipe calls for butter and powdered sugar/confectioners sugar, it’s probably American Buttercream. It’s sweet and dense, and it’s nostalgic.

Can be used for piping flowers—you might’ve seen it on birthday cakes when you were a kid or you’ll see it on the cakes in the bakery at the grocery store.

it’s also really easy to make, such that you don’t need a mixer (just make sure that butter is s o f t).

Not recommended if you don’t like too sweet of a frosting—in any which case, look ahead to the True Buttercreams.

Russian Buttercream is a step up from American, but still rather simple: it’s butter, salt, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and (ready?) condensed milk. It’s also referred to as Condensed Milk Buttercream for this reason. Very sweet and vanilla-y, and kind of looks like whipped cream.

Highly recommended for piping and frosting all your cakes and cupcakes.

it’s a lot silkier and more airy than American buttercream as the condensed milk and vanilla help dissolve more of the sugar.

However, because it contains condensed milk, it doesn’t last as long as the American so… eat up.

Ermine Buttercream is another slightly more complicated frosting, but still pretty easy. Also known as milk frosting, flour frosting, flour buttercream, and $300 frosting, it’s made by gently heating milk and flour just to cook the latter, and then added into your butter and sugar.

What you get is something that is somewhat of an acquired taste because it’s not as sweet as you would expect, but it lives up to its name, it’s like velvet.

speaking of velvet, it was actually traditionally used on red velvet cake until one day, someone decided that cream cheese frosting was better and more sympathetic I could not be.

because of the incorporated flour, it’s very stable when used in piping.

It’s a little antiquated, like you’ll see it used in cake recipes from the 50s, 60s, and 70s (and the nickname “$300 frosting” should tip you off a bit), but it’d be something worth bragging about if you’re a millennial like me, like “hey, i made this cake with ermine frosting!” and expect everyone over the age of 46 in the room to look at you à la the shocked pikachu 😂

French Buttercream. Oh, boy. Here’s where it starts getting a little more sophisticated. French buttercream is made by heating a sugar syrup (sugar dissolved in water) until it reaches “soft ball stage” (which is confectioner speak for 235-240° on your candy thermometer) and then you whip it into beaten egg yolks and soft butter. The result is something that literally shines and is very rich, even pillowy.

It’s definitely a “gateway” thing, like if you can make French buttercream, you’re on your way to having it made.

I’ve only tried it once in my life and it is so marshmallow-y and soft.

it is very rich, though, like you only need a little bit of it or you will feel sick to your stomach 😂

because it’s so soft, it’s not recommended for piping details or anything like that.

you also want to be careful making it as you’re using egg yolks but the hot sugar syrup will help cook them.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream is somewhat of a goal of mine given the complexity and it’s also a frosting the pros use. First, you make the Swiss meringue which—if you remember my mnemonic device for meringues—is made by whipping egg whites and granulated sugar over a bain-marie until fluffy. You then whip your butter, vanilla extract, and confectioners sugar together, then switch off the mixer, and gently fold in the meringue.

It is heavenly. It is exactly what I imagine the Swiss Alps to be like after a snowfall.

there’s a strange elegance to it, like if you make your cake and frost it with Swiss meringue buttercream, expect everyone to either take you way more seriously or downright envy you.

it’s the easier of the meringue-based buttercreams.

it’s also very versatile in terms of flavor (for this reason, I call it the Alex Skolnick of the buttercreams): bakers put things like chocolate, fruits, and cinnamon in it all the time—I once saw matcha-flavored Swiss meringue buttercream.

it is however, one of those things that seems easy but it’s easy to mess up (like the sugar won’t dissolve all the way or you can accidentally cook the egg whites). You have to focus and even then you’ll probably have to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it.

German buttercream is also known as custard buttercream given it’s made with pastry cream (i’m thinking in the next week or so, I’ll make a post on the million different types of creams because I admittedly still can’t tell them apart). What you do is whisk together milk, cream, and egg yolks until they’re thoroughly combined.

In a saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt. While still whisking, drizzle cream mixture into sugar mixture until thoroughly combined and no lumps.

Gently cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and resembles to pudding. Remove from heat and pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl. Whisk in butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time (usually about 3-4 tablespoons or roughly half a stick), and then stir in vanilla extract. Let it cool off in the fridge so it can set, and then you simultaneously take it plus the butter for the actual buttercream out to reach room temperature.

and then you take your softened butter and whip it in the mixer so it’s nice and fluffy, and you carefully add in the pastry cream.

gosh, that’s a mouthful 😅

it’s like everything you wish American buttercream is because it pipes on beautifully, like it’s the kind used for intricate swirls and decorations on those “showstopper” cakes and what’re known as “lambeth” cakes (those really boldly colored cakes you might have seen on Instagram or in the baking tags on here, they’re like four feet high and bright pinks and greens and orange and blues). It’s not nearly as sweet, either!

as you can see, though, it’s quite complicated and requires a lot of butter, too. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Italian meringue buttercream is the one. This is the one. If you can master Italian meringue buttercream, you are not one to be trifled with.

Again referring back to my mnemonic device for remembering the different meringues: you make the sugar syrup with water and sugar in water until it reaches softball stage. Meanwhile, off to the side, you start whipping your egg whites and cream of tartar (which helps the egg whites maintain their stiff glossy shape). When the syrup is ready, you keep the mixer down low and very carefully pour it in. Once that’s in, you add your vanilla extract then you gradually add your butter. Oh, my god, do you add butter (Martha Stewart’s recipe calls for a whopping four sticks/an entire box).

This is the cream of the crop. I usually see it on wedding cakes and I also see it on baking shows sometimes… and it’s more of a double edged sword than Swiss meringue buttercream.

I mean, christ almighty, the amount that can go wrong here—for example, bakers make a point to tell you that the butter should be room temperature or soft but not melted (it can make the frosting oily or greasy). Because you’re handling 235° sugar syrup, you can also get burned—happens to confectioners, chocolatiers, and bakers get burned all the time. And Italian meringue buttercream is tricky and as daunting as it is because the timing involved is absolutely everything. In other words, when they do it right, it’s stunning and is guaranteed to win. But when it misses, it REALLY misses.

by the way—this is seriously a miracle of science and nature—each one of these can be made vegan. You use aquafaba (the water found in cans of chickpeas) in lieu of egg whites, coconut oil in lieu of butter, soy or oat milk in lieu of regular milk when making pastry cream, and apparently ground flaxseeds in some water is a good substitute for egg yolks.

[fullcravings]

Easy S’mores Sheet Cake

[hauntedaether]

FUCK im thinking about mystupid cookie run ocs again now GODDDD DAMN ITTTTT ALLLLLLL

[ellelovestoshoot]

Pastel colors buttercream frosting.

[glowinsoftly]

i was talking to my mom like 'we should do something special just because' nd found a bakery that does wedding tasting boxes. cannot wait to pick it up next monthhh

[confetti-critter]

New years meringues and unicorn bars. Btw

[clochanamarc]

okay but let's have some angst:

aisling grows up in a place where she knows that the only valuable thing about her (to the company) is that she has the soul stone. they only see her as a vessel for the soul stone. she's not a child or a teenager or a young woman, she's not a daughter or a sister, she isn't even a person to them. aside from ajay, any situations in which aisling is treated as a person and someone to love and care for are entirely designed to manipulate her loyalties.

then she meets eoin. and he loves her, but in rural irish culture, undying declarations of love are fairly rare, so he shows it through actions and gifts. but it's genuine. and she knows it's genuine. and so that begins to open her eyes to the idea of being important to someone. an idea that is briefly threatened when she moves to new york after fighting moira.

enter stanley and richard! the Dads!!! and they love her immediately, she's the daughter they never had (bc trent and nate are their sons u see) so they love her to bits, but she assumes it's out of politeness (u dumbass, ais). and even when she fosters all these kids, she loves them beyond measure, but she doesn't really comprehend how important she is to them?? and it's this idea that like, even if someone did tell her that she was important to them, she'd struggle to really grasp it. she doesn't see how she could be important to someone in that way. she can accept that the soul stone is important, but not herself, and so when someone tells her that she's important to them, it's like this stunning moment where she has to both accept that she's never been told that before, and also that somehow she's become a valued person in someone's life, and like--

basically, aisling's childhood experiences are ones that lead her to believe she's just a living transport for the soul stone, and once someone tells her that she's an important part of their life, she'll end up blue screening on the spot.