Milkmoon Meringue Buttercream Recipes

Steps:

• Place the egg whites and sugar into a metal bowl and set over a pan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the temperature of the egg whites reaches 140 degrees. They will feel very hot to the touch.
• Transfer the heated egg whites and sugar to a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Mix at high speed (or as high as you can go without egg flying out of the bowl) until they have reached their maximum volume, 5 to 10 minutes. Mix on medium or medium-high speed while pinching off small pieces of butter and throwing them in. Mix in vanilla if using. The buttercream may look like it is breaking down, but keep on mixing and it will come back together.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the egg whites and the sugar and whisk until well blended; (yes, your arm will get tired).
• Set the bowl on top of a double boiler, or transfer mixture to the top pan of a double boiler and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot to the touch.
• Transfer to your mixer's bowl and beat on High with the whisk attachment until the bowl has cooled to the touch and the meringue forms stiff peaks.
• While beating on medium speed,slowly add the room temperature butter about 1/4 cup at a time.
• When all the butter has been added, it should be thick and creamy.
• Add the vanilla and blend until combined.
• This can be stored at room temperature for up to a day, refrigerated up to a week, and frozen up to a month.

Steps:

• Start whipping egg whites slowly in the mixer until foamy. Increase the speed of the mixer and slowly start adding the sugar until all the sugar is incorporated. Once all the sugar is in, increase the speed of the mixer even more and whip until the mixture is shiny and stiff. You now have a meringue. You know when your meringue is done when you pull out the whip, hold it horizontally, and if you have what looks a "sparrow's beak" on the end of the whip.
• Replace the whip, turn the mixer on medium and start adding the butter a bit at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer on high and let mix; depending on the weather, the buttercream could take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to form. You will know when it has formed when you hear the motor of the mixer start to slow down and whine a little bit; also, when you first add the butter, your meringue will break down and look weird and this is what you want. When the buttercream is done, the mixture will be homogeneous, consistent, and tasty.
• Remove the buttercream from the bowl and transfer to an airtight container. Buttercream can be kept at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for a 1 to 2 weeks, but always use warm buttercream when icing a cake. To warm up the buttercream, put it back in the mixer using the whip or the paddle, and apply direct heat with a propane torch you can find at any hardware store.

Steps:

• Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to melt the sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan. When the syrup begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and insert a candy thermometer into the syrup. Allow it to continue to boil while moving on to the next step.
• Place the egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip the whites until frothy. Then, if using, sprinkle in the pinch of cream of tartar (this improves the strength of the meringue).
• Keeping an eye on the temperature of the sugar syrup, increase the speed of the mixer to high to achieve stiff peaks. Ideally, you will time this to coincide with the sugar syrup reaching 248°-250° F, the Firm Ball Stage. If your whites reach stiff peaks before the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature, reduce the mixer speed to the lowest setting and leave running until the syrup is ready.
• When the syrup reaches 248°-250° F, increase the mixer speed to the highest setting. Remove the saucepan from the heat and slowly pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites, being very careful to avoid allowing the stream to hit the whisk and spatter. Pour slowly and steadily until all the syrup has been added, and continue beating the meringue until it becomes light and fluffy and holds its shape exactly when the beater is removed, roughly 3-5 minutes.
• After this time, the meringue may still be hot-if so, place the bowl in the refrigerator (or freezer) for 10-15 minutes until it has cooled all the way through.
• When the meringue has cooled, place the bowl back on the mixer, replacing the whisk with the paddle attachment. Begin mixing on low, and add the butter 1/4 cup (half a stick) at a time, beating well after each addition. Once the butter is added, increase the speed to medium and beat the buttercream until it becomes light and fluffy. It may look soupy or curdled shortly after all the butter is added-this is okay! Just keep on beating it and it will whip up into a light, fluffy cloud.
• Add the pinch of salt and vanilla, if including, and beat on low speed until incorporated. You may now add any other flavorings, gel or liquid food colorings, shaved chocolate, chopped nuts, fruit purées, or any other goodies you like to add to your buttercream. This is a very versatile recipe, so play around and create your own delicious flavors!
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Make lemon curd:
• In a small heavy saucepan whisk together yolks and sugar and whisk in lemon juice, butter, and a pinch of salt. Cook mixture over moderately low heat, whisking, until it reaches boiling point, 5 to 7 minutes (do not let it boil). Strain curd through a fine sieve into a bowl and cool, its surface covered with a plastic wrap. Chill curd, covered at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Make buttercream:
• In a heavy saucepan combine sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil syrup, undisturbed, until it reaches 248°F on candy thermometer. While syrup is boiling, in a standing electric mixer beat whites with a pinch salt until foamy and beat in cream of tarter. Beat whites until they just hold stiff peaks and add hot syrup in a stream, beating. Beat mixture at medium speed until completely cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Beat in butter, 1 piece at a time, and beat until it is thick and smooth. (Buttercream will at first appear very thin but as more butter is beaten in, it will thicken.) Beat in lemon curd and salt, beating until smooth, and drizzle in framboise, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating. Buttercream may be made 4 days ahead and chilled in an airtight container or 2 weeks ahead and frozen in anairtight container. Let buttercream come completely to room temperature (this may take several hours if frozen) and beat before using.

Steps:

• Wipe the bowl of an electric stand mixer and the whisk attachment with lemon juice to remove any trace of grease. Add sugar and egg whites to the bowl.
• Whisk sugar and egg whites together in the bowl of the stand mixer over simmering water, whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F (60 degrees C), about 10 minutes. Return bowl to the stand mixer.
• Whisk sugar-egg white mixture in the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until mixture is thick, glossy, and temperature of outside of bowl is room temperature. Change attachment to the paddle attachment and continue mixing on low speed. Add butter, 1 cube at a time; mix until silky-smooth. If mixture curdles, continue mixing and it will return to smooth.
• Pour vanilla extract and sprinkle salt into butter-sugar mixture; beat until fully incorporated.

Steps:

• -Bake Your Cakes-.
• Preheat your oven to 350. Prep two 5" round 3" deep, two 6" round 3" deep, and two 7" round 3" deep pans by greasing the bottoms and laying down a baking paper circle at the bottom of each.
• Combine your dry ingredients (excluding the cocoa powder) in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. You can replace the spices listed with an equal amount of commercial pumpkin spice, or your own signature mix if you're fancy like that.
• In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin, vanilla, and cold brew, whisking to combine. Set aside.
• Place your room temp butter, eggs, and both kinds of sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, cream on medium until lightened in color, fluffy, and totally smooth, about 3-5 minutes. If it looks like the mixture has broken (the fat and liquid ingredients are separated), keep creaming until it all comes together. Scrape your bowl with a spatula to make sure nothing's sticking to the sides.
• Add your pumpkin mixture and continue to beat until combined.
• Shifting the mixer to low speed, incorporate your dry mixture in two additions making sure to beat just until combined after each. Scrape your bowl and mix for just another few seconds to make sure the batter is homogeneous.
• -Create Your Marble Batter-.
• Take 4 cups of batter and set in a medium bowl. Mix in the 3 teaspoons orange gel coloring (I used CK Orange) until the batter is a solid color. Pour enough of this batter into each of your two 3" deep, 5" round pans that it reaches halfway up the side.
• Next take 3 more cups of batter and combine with the 1/4 cup cocoa powder, mixing until totally incorporated.
• Place alternating scoops of brown, tan, and remaining orange batter into your remaining four larger cake pans, doing your best to make sure the batter comes up to about halfway up the side of the pan in all four. It's okay if they aren't all exactly even.
• Bake your cakes for 35-45 minutes, and remove from the oven when a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to come to room temperature on a cooling rack, then cover with foil and put the cakes in the fridge for about an hour, until cold. To de-pan, remove from the fridge and slide a paring or butter knife around the outside to free the cake. Invert and gently shake out your cake.
• -Make Your Buttercream-.
• Follow the recipes for two batches of Cold Brew Coffee Buttercream and one batch of Milkmoon Meringue Buttercream.
• -Prep Your Base-.
• Level the tops of your 6" and 7" cakes, and torte (split) each cake into two for a total of eight layers. Keep the smaller 5" cakes aside.
• Stack your cake layers on an 8" or 9" round cardboard cake circle or board (it's best if the board or circle is completely flat, so a plate may not work great) starting with the 7"s then adding the 6"s, filling the layers with Cold Brew Coffee Buttercream. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until the cake firms up completely.
• Trim the caramelization from the sides of your cake, doing your best to emphasize the slight angle from the 6" round top to the 7" round base. You're basically making an upside down cup shape.
• -Frost the Cake-.
• Add a very thin crumb coat of coffee buttercream to the top of the cake, then press a 6" round acrylic circle or waxed cardboard round onto the top. Cutting the tip off of a disposable piping bag to leave a 1/2 inch circle at the end, pipe your remaining coffee buttercream onto the sides of the cake, leaving space at the top and the bottom for the "whipped cream" you'll be adding shortly. Keep the edges of your coffee buttercream wavy and organic, which will look more realistic!
• Use a straight edge to smooth the coffee buttercream-I use a tall plastic quilting ruler! Use that acrylic or cardboard round at the top to guide your straight edge, creating a perfectly smooth finish. Refrigerate until firm.
• Pipe plain white buttercream at the top and bottom of the cake's sides, leaving little gaps here and there between the white buttercream and coffee buttercream in the top area of the cake. Make another pass with your straight edge, getting your "whip" nice and smooth, and flush with the coffee buttercream. Refrigerate until firm.
• Mix a few squirts or orange gel into about 1/2 cup white buttercream to create a bright pumpkin-y color. Remove your firmed cake from the fridge and push this orange buttercream into the spaces you left up at the top between the white and the coffee buttercream using a small icing spatula. Refrigerate until firm, then use the icing spatula to scrape down any messy buttercream to reveal clean lines underneath.
• -Flip the Cake-.
• You heard me. You're going to place your nice cake board or cake plate so it's ready on the counter, pick up your cake, place a hand on either side, and flip it so that the 7" end is at the top and the 6" end is at the bottom. Your cake needs to be super thoroughly chilled before you do this step, so definitely make sure it has spent a cumulative 2-3 hours in the fridge! Center the cup-shaped cake on your board (When you're cutting the cake just remember that you have a second board at the very bottom of the cake. You can also remove that board on the 6" side if you want the cake to go straight onto the final fancy board, but it's a somewhat riskier move when you're flipping the cake).
• Carefully pinch the 8 or 9" round you were using as the base of the cake before you flipped it and gently pull it up, moving around the cake as you pop it up off of the buttercream on the sides. Remove it entirely to reveal your bare cake top.
• -Create the Pumpkin Surprise Topping-.
• Using a sharp paring knife, carve down the two 5" orange cakes into domes, one with a knob on the top for the pumpkin's "stem." Using a dab or two of the orange buttercream from earlier, join your cake domes on the flat sides to create a delicious mini-pumpkin!
• Smooth a small amount of white buttercream to the top of the flipped cake, and center your mini-pumpkin on the top. Using another disposable piping bag with a 1/2" hole at the tip, pipe white buttercream over the pumpkin and then smooth with a small icing spatula to create a nice mound that entirely obscures the pumpkin within.
• Use the largest closed-star or regular star piping tip you can find to pipe a swirl of white buttercream over the pumpkin surprise to create the "whipped cream" topping. You can use a Wilton 2D, although I found a set of even bigger jumbo piping tips online (Jusbe brand) and used their closed star tip to create my cake. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes to firm up the outside of the buttercream.
• In the meantime make a small amount of drizzle by placing your white chocolate or candy wafers and heavy cream in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for 15 seconds at a time, stirring frequently, until the chocolate has dissolved. Mix in a squirt of orange gel coloring to achieve a bright pumpkin color, or you can stir in a little leftover orange buttercream if you have any.
• Place the ganache in a squeeze bottle if you have one, or just use a spoon to drizzle it all over the "whipped cream" buttercream swirl.
• -Finishing Touches-.
• This is a bonus step that is optional, but really does tie everything together! Cut out a three-inch circle of green fondant and apply it to the side of the cake. Using a paintbrush dipped in white edible paint (I use Edible Art paint by Sweet Sticks), you can either freehand a pumpkin shape (or your initials, or anything else you want to add!) or you can create a stencil like I did. I used an x-acto knife to cut out my pumpkin design from plain paper, and then stuck it onto the fondant round, painted over it, and peeled it away to leave a fun pumpkin design.
• I finished my latte look by cutting a super cute paper straw in half and inserting both pieces into the swirl.
• -Cutting the Cake-.
• While the outside of this cake is awesome, the best part is what's going on inside! When you cut your slices of cake, you will slowly reveal the pumpkin shape hidden under the swirl on top! Make sure you take a pause once you're halfway through cutting up the cake so everyone can admire the detail you put into the super fun design!
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.
• The first step is to start cooking the sugar.
• Pour water- just enough to wet the sugar, corn syrup and sugar into a 1-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over medium-high heat.
• When the bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan, insert a candy thermometer in the mixture.
• As mixture boils, do not stir and using a pastry brush and a bowl of water, brush down the sides of the pan to prevent crystalization
• Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until foamy and slightly holding soft peaks.
• The sugar is ready when it reaches 240 degrees F, what is known as the soft ball stage.
• Make an Italian meringue by pouring the cooked sugar down the side of the bowl while you continue to whip the egg whites.
• Do not pour the hot sugar onto the beaters, or it will splatter.
• Continue whipping the meringue on medium-high speed until the outside of the bowl is warm but not hot, about 5 minutes.
• Add the butter 2 oz at a time and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
• Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and whip until the buttercream is thick, smooth, and shiny, about 10 minutes.
• At his stage, you can add flavoring, if desired.
• The buttercream can be used immediately or can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for several weeks if held in an airtight container.
• If it has been chilled or frozen, allow the buttercream to come to room temperature before using, then whip it with an electric mixer on medium speed until it returns to its initial volume and is once again thick, smooth, and shiny.

Steps:

• Boil 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water over medium heat until it reaches 245. As it cooks begin meringue so it's ready when syrup is done.
• Whip egg whites with a wire whisk in a stand up mixer on high until soft peaks form. About 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup sugar. Beat.
• Slowly pour the hot syrup into the meringue steadily with the mixer still on high.
• Beat the frosting for 7-10 minutes until the outside of the bowl is room temperature.
• Beat in butter by the tablespoon. The butter will deflate the frosting a bit.
• Add in desired flavorings.
• Flavorings.
• Chocolate: 1/2 cup melted and cooled chocolate and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• Coconut: 1 teaspoon coconut extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• Coffee: 1 teaspoon espresso powder or 3-5 tablespoons strong coffee.