Two questions re: this frosting

Question

I've attempted this frosting a few times, as I love how much lighter it is than American buttercream, but I've had a couple issues:

1) The bowl stays hot for a long time. (I'm using a metal Kitchenaid bowl.) If I were to whip the eggs and sugar until no longer warm to touch, that might take 25+ minutes, which seems way too long to be whipping....unless that really is how long this takes? Can anyone chime in from personal experience how long you whip before adding the butter?

2) I haven't had luck with keeping the finished frosting in fridge then bringing it back to a good consistency to frost the cake. I tried a couple suggestions I saw online to "just keep whipping and it will come together" or "add a splash of milk and keep whipping", but that failed miserably (consistency was almost scrambled eggs!). The best luck I had was letting it come more to room temp gradually, but even then, it lost its smoothness. Any tips for bringing frosting back to a spreadable consistency after it's been in the fridge?

Thanks : )

nerderbirder · Answer

Thanks so much! Good to know that a long whipping/cooling period is normal here. I like the bags of peas idea - I'll give that a try. Probably leads to more even cooling than just sticking bowl in fridge.

nerderbirder · Answer

Thanks so much! Good to know that it just needs a much longer time to cool. I bet if I give it longer next time, it will cooperate better. And thanks for the tip about no milk - when I saw how bad the consistency got with a little milk, I wondered why another website had even suggested it : )

Nicole D. · Answer

Nerderbirder, I have one more bit of advice on cooling the bowl quickly from a member of the Food52 Baking Club that I'm sharing below.

I’ve seen Italian meringue buttercream recipes that say to keep beating for half an hour or more, so that doesn’t seem unreasonable. After one disaster when it wasn’t cool enough, I always wait for it to cool to room temp and my mixer has survived! A couple of times in really hot weather I’ve put a ziplock of ice or frozen peas wrapped in a kitchen towel against the bowl to encourage it to cool faster. (I started doing this when I was making big batches for my wedding cake since the more there is in the bowl the longer it takes to cool!)

Nicole D. · Answer

Thank you for weighing in, Leil!

Nicole D. · Answer

Thank you Gigi for offering your expertise!

Gigi P. · Answer

1. Yes, it can take 25 minutes to cool, esp in summer or if your kitchen is generally hot. The size of the bowl may be making a difference, too. The larger bowls have more air flow, cooling down more quickly. It is imperative to add the softened butter to a cool meringue or you risk breaking it. It can be fixed, but it’s a cat & mouse game. Set up a fan to blow on the base of the metal bowl to circulate the hot air away. You can not over beat a hot meringue.

2. To reconstitute your buttercream, remove from the fridge the amount you want to use. Let it come to room temp, ~70°, then whisk it smooth. Don’t add milk or any other liquid, you’ll break it- the scrambled eggs texture you’re talking about. In bakeries and restaurants buttercream is always made in huge quantities and kept in fridge until required for flavoring and finishing a cake. I hope this is helpful!

Leil · Answer

I don’t know about the fridge thing although I suspect it might be an item better used immediately.

I don’t always go until the bowl is cool because it feels like it would be over whipped. I usually test the item itself and whip till that is barely warm. I haven’t had problems with that.

Two questions re: this frosting

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