# Italian meringue buttercream is getting hard after storing



## John Aaron (Sep 12, 2018)

Hello everyone, 

I haven't worked much with Italian meringue buttercream, but when I did on the past it worked fine. 
I have relocated, so this incident with imbc, happened to the country that I m currently live in.
Before I never had any issues. 

So, after finishing the whole procedure I m ready to icing the cake and store in the fridge the rest. 
Both ways ,bututtercream stayed in the fridge. I mean the cake and the container with the leftover. 
The result after some hours is that buttercream have become almost as hard as butter. It's like it transforms back to a buttery texture. Not so hard though, but very unpleasant to taste it. 

Does anyone have experienced the same?


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## chefpeon (Jun 14, 2006)

So.....wait, are you saying you used to store Italian Meringue buttercream in the fridge and it never hardened up and now it does?

Um......er......ALL buttercreams harden up in the fridge. All of them. Unless you forget to add the butter, then it wouldn't. So either something is lost in translation here, or I'm confused, or your former country had really weird "butter"........


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

“Unpleasant to taste” in what way? Like burnt eggs? Or did the container it was stored in have an unpleasant smell before the imbc was stored in it?


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

Ok. So, don't store it. Problem solved. 

Buttercream meringue should always be freshly made.


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## John Aaron (Sep 12, 2018)

chefpeon said:


> So.....wait, are you saying you used to store Italian Meringue buttercream in the fridge and it never hardened up and now it does?
> 
> Um......er......ALL buttercreams harden up in the fridge. All of them. Unless you forget to add the butter, then it wouldn't. So either something is lost in translation here, or I'm confused, or your former country had really weird "butter"........


ok, let's focus to the cake then. i understand that is hard to understand from a text message and it's difficult to resolve the problem in that way. so what i m trying to say is , the texture of the buttercream is very weird. when i had a bite, i felt that the cake had a layer of butter and not buttercream. I m not expecting the smooth texture of the buttercream in room temperature.


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## John Aaron (Sep 12, 2018)

foodpump said:


> "Unpleasant to taste" in what way? Like burnt eggs? Or did the container it was stored in have an unpleasant smell before the imbc was stored in it?


No, i m talking about the texture. It was hard almost like butter. not the texture of buttercream


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Let’s see your recipie and method and figure out what went wrong.


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## dueh (Mar 4, 2015)

just based on your brief description, I have a question.

Did this relocation come with a drastic altitude change? 

If so you may need to adjust your sugar temp for the meringue.


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## bakerstcakes (Nov 2, 2015)

I use Italian buttercream to crumbcoat and cover my cakes and love it. 

If stored in the fridge it will harden. 
If you've covered a cake and stored it in the fridge then you need to take it, let it come to room temp and then it will become soft not so soft that it'll melt off the cake but the correct consistency to eat. 

If you've stored italian meringue buttercream in a container in the fridge and is hard, to use again you can put in a kitchen aid or equivalent and whisk. I use a blow torch under the bowl slightly to quicken the process.

Hope this helps


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## John Aaron (Sep 12, 2018)

foodpump said:


> Let's see your recipie and method and figure out what went wrong.


I do apologize for the late reply and thanks for being helpful.
My issue is sorted.
Thanks


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## John Aaron (Sep 12, 2018)

bakerstcakes said:


> I use Italian buttercream to crumbcoat and cover my cakes and love it.
> 
> If stored in the fridge it will harden.
> If you've covered a cake and stored it in the fridge then you need to take it, let it come to room temp and then it will become soft not so soft that it'll melt off the cake but the correct consistency to eat.
> ...


Thank you very much for your reply, it's already sorted.


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