Italian buttercream

So I've been making quite a bit of vanilla italian buttercream for a year or so and lately I've been running into the same problem over and over again. It seems the mixture comes together beautifully but the second I put the buttercream in my piping bag and begin to pipe, it separates into a runny mess. It still tastes amazing but I need to avoid this!

Ingredients I'm using: whole eggs beaten, sugar syrup (soft ball stage), room temperature butter, and vanilla beans

Peter
  • Posted by: Peter
  • February 3, 2015
  • 2239 views
  • 3 Comments

3 Comments

HalfPint
HalfPint February 3, 2015
Like Mei Chin wrote, Italian buttercream uses egg whites, not whole eggs. French buttercream uses whole eggs.
The buttercream separating in the piping bag makes me think that your hands and/or the buttercream was too warm and that the meringue mixture was too warm when you added the butter.
 
Mei C.
Mei C. February 3, 2015
Hi Peter! I've never heard of making buttercream with whole eggs--have you tried with just whites? Also, are you making any changes in temperature? Are you making sure that all of your ingredients are fully incorporated and aren't merely come together? Separation occurs when the ingredients are at different temperatures or if they're barely hanging together...
 
Peter
Peter February 5, 2015
Hey Mei,

Thank you so much for responding! I'm going to try just egg whites when making this the next time and beat it all for a bit longer. I've tried manipulating the temperature (cooler and warmer) and I think that possibly my use of the whole eggs and impatience over beating time is the reason.
 
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