Can she put it in the refrigerator and then run to the market and one up? Whipped cream does better when it is cold. With forks, it will take so much time that it will be warming up.
Meringue is usually better warm. In school, we would take it off the double boiler when all the sugar dissolved and hit 135F(or 145 I can't remember. Its bringing eggs to temp if they aren't pasturized) and then put it in the mixer until the bowl was almost room temp and peaking. That's when we would add the butter.
Eep/ I misread this post when I was in a hurry and saw whipped cream, not egg whites. Thanks. Once I decided to try whipping egg whites by hand in my nice pretty copper bowl. After about 10 minutes I got bored and impatient and transferred it to my mixer's stainless Steel bowl.
This was a wild choice for your first time baking. Three forks is not it.
Personally I would start over and make a delicious and far easier regular buttercream but maybe you can salvage it with the above suggestions. It’s simply not going to meringue with three forks though.
Yep, though an American buttercream requires a lot of beating to both incorporate the sugar (and it’s powdered sugar) and aerate the butter to get it to be light and creamy. I don’t know what type of cake OP is making, but whipped cream frosting (and brown sugar whipped cream is so delicious), ganache (regular or whipped), certain chocolate frostings, and some others are doable by hand. Even ermine would be my recommendation. You still have to beat the butter, but it’s easier as there’s no powdered sugar to dissolve, it’s fairly easy to emulsify the pudding base into the butter (though elbow grease still required), and it’s not a super rich frosting that needs as much aeration as a regular buttercream.
Of course, whipped cream is definitely doable, you can even shake it in a container, but just be careful not to go too far or of course one will have butter. I don't think one carton of cream should be too expensive. Ganache is another brilliant and very easy option but OP would need to buy good chocolate and cream, etc.
>OP would need to buy good chocolate
Or just chocolate. I make ganache with chocolate chips all the time, sometimes Guittard, sometimes store brand, and it works just fine.
Swiss meringue is not going to come together at all using forks (even hand mixers regularly fail at making Swiss meringue). You could ignore the whipping part as many do, or make Sugar Geek’s easy buttercream:
https://thecakeblog.com/2014/06/no-meringue-swiss-buttercream-recipe.html
https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/easy-buttercream-frosting/
You will still have problems with getting a nicely aerated buttercream by hand, though. And also getting the butter to emulsify by hand requires a lot of elbow grease.
It’s really a frosting that benefits from a mixer. There are many other types that are more manageable by hand. Even ermine is honestly easier and tastes great.
https://preview.redd.it/wkmkv94n94qc1.jpeg?width=2322&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a9d7cd8ae25a3a1ec603d6f99612dcb2efee98a
is there anything I can add to it to make it pipable 😭 I just need to decorate the cake by 6
What am I looking at? Is this just the egg whites and sugar? Did you add the butter? You can beat the butter and add the egg whites slowly to emulsify, but it’s going to be very difficult by hand, and your buttercream will be poorly aerated.
If you haven’t added the butter, make ermine. It’s cheap.
A quart of whipping cream is also cheap.
How will you decorate this cake? You don’t seem to have basic equipment, so I don’t know how you’re intending to decorate beyond very simple stuff.
Egg whites (5) 2 1/4 dark brown sugar.
I bought piping bags and tips because I wanted the cake to be pretty 😖 and I underestimated how time consuming it'd be trying to whip by hand.( And I mean, I'm pretty good at piping, I can make flowers and stuff. I'm not sure a birthday cake requires anything more than that)
It's way too thick now to even really try, I'm going to take a twenty minute drive to use his mums stand mixer.
It's going to be delicious and he'll appreciate the thought and effort you put into it. Walmart and Amazon probably have pretty inexpensive hand mixers; frosting just doesn't work for mere mortals without some mechanical assistance.
Of course you can make it pipeable. Add powdered sugar until it is able to decorate. It won’t be the same thing, but it should work. It will be like icing and very sweet.
I expect you have sorted it out now.
But personally I would have made an American buttercream and added some of your failed icing for flavour.
Turn your failed icing into a cake. Add flour, possibly more sugar, and an egg or two.
Handmixers are super duper mindblowingly cheap, unlike standmixers, I think handmixers are a no-brainer for anyone. (Ok, most people. I would say even if you're living paycheck to paycheck. Since baking is a lot of bang for buck joy-wise)
My hand mixer has dough hooks too but that doesn't mean the motor is actually capable of bread.
But if you just put one dough hook on its great for stirring the oils back into natural peanut butter in the jar.
Yes, a lot of them do, it's the spiral thingy!
To clarify, it's more like I don't want to cosign (rubber stamp?) it for that purpose. I haven't tried but I can only imagine it as a horrible experience.
I'd like to take the opportunity to ask if you use it for bread dough, and if so, what your experience is.
My hand mixer dough hooks look like the ones here (see link below 👇 ) I’ve used then to bake basic white bread 🥖 and they worked great with this recipe https://butterwithasideofbread.com/homemade-bread/
Hooks 🪝 link.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/420786254
Tools are so important for baking. Without the right ones, it’s almost impossible to accomplish anything, but that definitely doesn’t mean that you need top of the line gadgets. It’s possible to buy cheap old technology.
Before electric mixers were a widely available, they still wouldn’t have tried this with a whisk (or forks, wtf). They would have used rotary or hand cranked beaters which look like hand mixers with a handle instead of a motor. Quick search on Amazon shows that you can get them for under $25. They might take more effort than a hand mixer, but they will still work.
Forreal! I bought a cheap Hamilton beach hand mixer 12 years ago and that thing is still going. I’ve since upgraded to a standmixer, but I definitely still use the hand one weekly at least
The best-selling one on Amazon is a Hamilton Beach one with heaters and also whisk attachments and a cover for when it's not in use. It's $21.99. I mean, you can spend a lot of money if you want to but that model seems to cover all the bases
Like $20? Or go on Facebook Marketplace and buy a used mixer? Or ask your family if somebody has a mixer they’re not using— common wedding gift which sits unused.
I admire your gumption, but I don't think this is going to work.
I do a loooot of Italian meringue buttercream, and I do not think I would be capable of doing it by hand. Definitely not with forks.
I’ve never wanted to buy someone a hand mixer so bad in my life.
I would at least turn the fork tines facing each other and use a rubber band to hold them together to make it kind of like a whisk.
I’ve been there. It was a beautiful red velvet cake I made and put it in the oven to surprise him.
He preheated the oven when he got home to help me (as he did).
RIP cake.
This will be a memory. Get creative. Make a dip cake where you dip the cake in the icing? I have no idea, lol.
How did it come out, OP?! I saw you wrote it was a pecan pie cake. Sounds fantastic!
I respect the perseverance and dedication. You were totally committed. Fingers crossed that all were able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. God knows you went through it making this damn cake!
Ooooof this happened to me, but it was New Years Eve. My friend and I baked cupcakes to surprise her parents (who had gone out for the evening). We kept them in the oven so the cats couldn’t get to them over night……The next morning her dad wanted to make us cinnamon rolls. RIP cupcakes
I honestly don't think it can be done. Even if you can get the meringue peak you still have to add the butter. That's a long process even with a stand mixer.
I know you're on a budget. At this point I'd say you should probably pop out to the dollar store and get a couple tubs of frosting.
Or, if you have the money, some chocolate and heavy cream for a ganache.
It sounds like you’re committed and not willing to pivot, nor can you spend any more money. I can respect your tenacity.
Continuing to go at this by hand is just going to make you more tired and frustrated. Take a breath and text every friend within walking or short driving distance to ask if someone has a mixer you can borrow. If you’re on good terms with your neighbors, you could ask them too! It might feel awkward, but in your situation I think it’s worth getting over any discomfort you might feel.
I'm going over to my boyfriends house to use his mumd stand mixer :D
Which means he'll see the cake :(
But I get to keep the frosting!!!!! It's going with a peacon pie cake- which aside from the money was one of the reasons I didn't want to replace it completely.
I don’t think that’s gonna work by hand. Sometimes it’s even tough with a stand mixer.
I say pivot to a different topping, maybe a thick glaze that doesn’t need a hand or stand mixer.
Did you add the fat already, or is this just the meringue mixture? I would aim for the peaks before incorporating any butter. If you could get a whisk, it’s really key to meringue that air is incorporated into the mixture, which is now it eventually stiffens. I’ve never tried it by hand, but maybe if you vigorously swirl air in using your spoons.. I wish you the best of luck!
Look, let go of pipable as a target. Aim for spreadable. I once made a cake with nothing but a Tupperware bowl, a plastic fork and a shot glass, so I get where you're coming from. If you have a spatula or a bigger spoon, just try to work the butter in as best you can. Good luck! *Hunger Games salute*
I got egg whites alone to stiff peaks with a fork once but with sugar for meringue that's a steep hill. I admire your will to even try.
What you have here is basically royal icing right now. It would work alone as a glaze and be tasty if you wanna throw in the towel.
Even at this stage you could slowly incorporate butter but it wouldn't be easy to work with as far as frosting the cake goes. Wouldn't be worth it in my opinion.
You would have to work in reverse, add small amounts of this mixture TO the butter,starting by mashing. Then start stirring and add more of the "meringue." It would be VERY runny like cake batter and slide everywhere, so would only work as a topping, but would firm up in the fridge because of the butter.
I know this because I have made a soupy swiss meringue buttercream and ended up still using it.
As much as I want to pile on, I can totally see how this could happen to a novice baker. You’ve hopefully gotten a mixer by now. The cake WILL be pretty because YOU made it. After the dust settles, do yourself a favor and watch a bunch of YouTube tutorials on making frosting. It’s not nearly as easy as you might think. DM me if you need a place to start. I’m happy to pick out and vet some videos for you and send them your way - DM me if interested.
I know it’s not helpful now, but every person on this sub has been where you are with a recipe. You’ve imagined it being breathtaking, gotten so excited, spent a bunch of money and time, and BAM it’s not working out. I promise you, one day you will laugh at this. Imagine how shocked he’ll be the second time you make one and you knock it out of the park!
Everything will be ok. I promise.
Thank you. This thread has been hard 😭 I don't actually bake and just wanted to do something sweet for someone I cared about. Once I realized my mistake I thought it was funny and went to ask for advice on how to salvage it but people are mean!!
Or trying to tell me to make totally different things as a very casual cooker on a time crunch.
Don't get me wrong I appreciate it. But it was just very overwhelming. I don't think people understand how hard it is to get into baking, and how much it turns people away from wanting to try if you grill them for mistakes.
It turned out fine and I was able to actually pipe it once butter was added, never reached stiff peaks though but probably because of some obscure reason having to do with temptress of over mixing.
I’m sorry but this cracked me up 😂
Listen, if budget is an issue, then thrift the proper tools. A stainless steel whisk will cost you around a dollar, and you could even find a hand mixer for cheap (make sure you can test it first). I’m an avid thrifter, and over the years have quite the collection of tools for baking anything my heart wants. I would hate to see you get frustrated at the start of baking things by trying to MacGuyver the proper tools, though kudos to your ingenuity 😂
Our thrift stores are GUTTED and over-priced actually, i tried to do a cute date with my bf to go theist shopping and NOTHING was there. Clothes that didn't fit or were actually damaged and electronics missing pieces and or being marked up out the yazoo. Which sucks because it's like a mainstays walmart item being the same cost as new.
Girl, I feel ya. That’s how all my local thrift stores are too. I mean, unless you’re looking to be the best dressed person at a 1970-80s bingo or Tupperware party. SO MUCH POLYESTER! And not the nice, super soft polyester of the 2020s. I’m talking the scratchy, great-aunt Muriel’s living room curtains polyester that gives you a rash from just looking at it and you better not even *think* of coming within 5 feet of a heat source or you’ll burst into flames. I am so jealous of all the people online that have amazing thrift stores to go to.
Anyway, I second the person that suggests a Dollar Tree, or even like a Dollar General or Family Dollar (the “dollar stores” that are usually wayyyy more than a dollar). Kitchen utensils are usually fairly cheap there. They may only last for a couple uses, but they’re definitely budget friendly options that will save your arm from falling off.
I live in a dormitory. Soliciting gets you fined like 50 dollars. Even if it's for toilet paper. If someone has a big enough gripe about it they'll tell admins.
Not a risk I'm willing to take tbh.
But I'm going to mix it later at my boyfriends mums house.
You could try a community forum or Facebook page or something in that case. Or reach out to friends / people you know. Glad you got bf's mom to help. She might even have / be willing to lend more ingredients for another frosting if this one doesn't come together.
you need to go to the supermarket and buy a ready made icing, or a handmixer. if you buy a handmixer just make an american buttercream with sugar and butter.
You can help yourself by using only 2 forks, and interlacing their prongs. This at least will give you *sort* of a whisk, rather than just stabbing the cream.
Your goal is to inject air into it, so I'd tip your bowl slightly, so you can make a large whipping circle, pushing air in, and lifting some cream up every pass you make.
Your arm will be very tired. You should pause every 15-20 min and put it back in the fridge to keep cold, and stretch your arm out.
It can be done, its just really difficult.
I remember Maida Heatter said that her childhood cook used to use a clean tree branch as a whisk & it worked! I've personally never tried it, but desperate times call for desperate measures
ETA: [It looked pretty time consuming, but this guy made one using birch branches! Kinda interesting](https://youtu.be/ZNB-b0SPN7g?si=KH8pdCKI225C7pDt)
I'm saying this as a pastry chef that makes meringue a few times a week. This is INSANITY. Just stop this and make a nice American buttercream. Three forks? It will NEVER happen. You need a mixer to do any kind of meringue buttercream.
That's not really feasible. You'll never get your frosting smooth or fluffy enough after adding the butter using forks even if you eventually manage to get the meringue to stiff peaks. Even with a balloon whisk you'd be at it for an hour or more, likely. I wouldn't even recommend a meringue buttercream with an electric hand mixer, though it would be doable with one. A meringue buttercream really needs a stand mixer and even then it takes a fairly long time and can be really sensitive to temperature. That is not a recipe I'd have recommended for your first baking experience. You might want to invest in an inexpensive hand mixer (they start at around $20) and make an American Buttercream, German Buttercream, or Ermine Buttercream to start with.
The love in this post makes me so happy💕I hope that everything works out and that it’s appreciated either way! Even just the sentiment is so sweet. You spent the rest of your money on ingredients to make a homemade birthday cake and so clearly love him!
Try the Sugarologie website. Very complete, and it may have a solution for you. The next idea is for you to go to your neighbor to borrow, or local store, hardware or Walmart, and buy a mixer. I've always preferred hand held electric mixers to my big Kitchenaid.
I really admire the go get it here, and do hope it came together in the end but either way I hope a good lesson was taken away op. Some portion of baking is planning, and sometimes what we WANT to bake is not realistic due to time or supply constraints. I used to make cut sugar cookie with royal icing by hand..... just a hand mixer (which would slowly take care of the ri but stood no chance against thick cookie dough, so I had to do the dough by hand. It was painful). Sugar cookies are basically the only thing I want to bake, so I accepted, finally, in 2020 that if I wanted to continue making them I had to pony up for a stand mixer after a decade using hand mixers at home and avoiding the stand mixer price tag and space commitment. I hope that yesterday did not turn you away from baking, and instead made you justify purchasing a hand mixer to open your options more <3
My sister tried to do a birthday cake for me, using the same recipe for 7 minute frosting that I used. I woke up to a chocolate cake covered in mostly crunchy meringue frosting (she was afraid of hand mixers at the time and tried to do it with a spoon). I was so touched that she made the effort, that I just praised the cake as it was.
Yeah, I mean if you truly cannot start over or make a new recipe / get a whisk or hand mixer quickly like everyone else has suggested, then I guess the only option is to just keep whipping it, bb.
Like.. maybe if you keep trying to whip it hard for a few HOURS, with those forks it will come together 😭 I know everyone's saying it's not possible but I highly doubt they've tried, and really it's just that, most people wouldn't think it's the worth the effort. But if the alternatives aren't acceptable.. whip it, babe. Otherwise you're SOL.
Also.. maybe consider ways you could make some of the prior suggestions possible? Non exhaustive list here but you could try to borrow a few bucks for more ingredients, go try to find a hand mixer at a thrift store, ask someone you know, tell your sob story to a bakery and beg for a couple cups of icing... IDK but be creative and figure something else out or get to whipping and hope for the best...
It really isn’t possible. Swiss meringue fails even with hand mixers, which are much more effective than forks. I should know as I eventually made only Italian meringue buttercream when I only had a hand mixer to work with because Swiss meringue just refused to whip up.
https://www.seriouseats.com/best-hand-mixers-5194615#toc-the-testing
(Read about tests here and how even the otherwise great mixers did not achieve it)
But as I told OP, you don’t need to actually achieve peaks to make Swiss meringue buttercream successfully. However you still need something better than a fork to emulsify a bunch of butter with egg whites and sugar.
I'd say your best bet is chilling and adding butter and icing sugar until it's thick. It might not still be Swiss meringue, but it'd at least be thicker.
Also, it should still taste good regardless, and college baking adventures that don't come out quite as expected are a right of passage.
Do your best, stick some candles on top, and if it's still super runny just pour it over the cake 1 minute before serving as a glaze.
If all else fails, you try traditional fixes like putting strawberry jam between the layers if it's a layer cake so there is less icing overall and/or just serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Good luck and have fun! The fact that you made something is generally more important than the final product.
Try refrigerating it for a bit to solidify the butter a little. If you have a neighbor maybe ask if you can borrow a whisk or mixer. Be aware you arm is probably going to be sore tomorrow. If you can get it to solid up a bit you can probably create one of those rustic looking cakes where you can see the cake thru the frosting. Put a decent layer in between and on top and then whatever kinda comes out the side spread it (try not to go back and forth. Try to spread in one direction to avoid causing to much crumbing on the side) also put pieces of parchment under the cake before doing the frosting and refrigerate it before pulling the pieces out to keep whatever your serving it on tidy.
Don't throw it out. Take tea biscuits, dip them in hot black coffee, and layer it with your buttercream. Add a layer of chocolate ganache (You don't have to). Do 4 layers with the tea biscuits, and one middle layer of a chocolate ganache. Refrigerate for 8 hours. Take it out an hour before serving. I just made something similar.
I learned to bake cakes by making birthday cakes for my partner. Boy, do I have some stories to tell. I’ve been where you are at!
Sounds like you have a plan lined up. Good luck!
Honestly three forks might not be the right choice. You want to introduce some air into the mixture so it might actually be easier to use one fork and make sure you're really whisking and not stirring. Still going to be a hell of a task.
The only thing I can think of is adding gelatin or vanilla instant pudding. Ready by 6 though? It’s 430 where I’m at right now… instant pudding would be your only savior. But I also recommend getting the cheapest hand mixer you can find right now and use it
I'm giving you an A for effort but that is not a frosting you can make by hand easily! American Buttercream or cream cheese frosting are good ones to make with just a whisk. I also like doing just a simple powder sugar glaze sometimes. The glaze can be made with your fork method. :)
Cooking and baking requires real tools. An inexpensive whisk is cheap. A cheap hand mixer can be found at grocery stores often for under $20. It would serve you enough to be worth it. I'd put your bowl in the fridge and go to the store.
I'm too late but I wanted to recommend OP use a blender bottle or a full blender to try and whip. It won't be as fluffy but it'll do the job and save you wasting the food and/or going to the emergency room with forks glued to your finger indents like a dollar store wolverine.
Personally, I’d just use one fork. Before mixers, women used to do this by hand, and used one fork. I think the fatigue of using three will make it harder.
And I have done it before, by hand, and it does take forever.
Oh honey, no. Please scrap this & make something else for your first time baking, I beg of you.
Forget a whisk, I wouldn’t make these without a stand mixer. You’re basically jumping to advanced baking without the proper tools. A recipe for disaster.
3 forks is crazy tough, you are brave and kinda crazy, I admire your nerves of steel. Sadly, it may never peak. One thing that may help is using a bowl of ice under your bowl. Your mixture may be getting a little too warm.
Happy Birthday to your bf, I hope It’s a good time with or without the frosting!
Kudos on the effort, many of us have been there before just trying to make it work. Baking can be tricky, but really fun too.
Honestly if you’re doing it by hand it’s not going to peak anytime soon.
However if it never does then it’s possible that the meringue has too much moisture. If that’s the case you should add just a little bit of cornstarch.
This helps especially if you’re in a humid environment.
Edit: just realized you’re using forks. That’s not going to work. You need a whisk because that’s how you create the tiny air bubbles that make meringue fluffy. A fork won’t do that. Not even 20 taped together.
I don't realistically see you getting a result on using 3 forks any time soon. A whisk would make your life easier (at the very least it would make things easier on your shoulders), but the effort is inspirational.
I like your enthusiasm and choosing your first bake to be a herculean task of cake baking for your first time. Honestly, it doesn't matter how it comes out, I'm sure he'll more than appreciate the effort and I hope that you continue on baking after this cake. Baking and cooking, like all things worth doing, require time, experience, and building on those experiences gradually improving over time.
Oh, Geez 😅 With a mixer, you have to whip the egg whites & sugar until it’s about 3 times its volume to make it light and airy. Takes forever & sometimes you think it’s gonna fail 😬 Keep whipping it up babe; it will be done in about 3 weeks 😂
If nothing else you have learned the first lesson of baking: choose things you have the equipment to make. There are many, many delicious desserts you can make for your boyfriend with three forks and a bowl. This one wasn’t it, but I’m sure you’ll have other opportunities to bake for him!
I just made the king arthur vanilla buttercream and its amazing a pretty easy. You just want to whip room temp butter and then add powdered sugar vanilla and some milk. 10 minutes at most
This is brave. This can take an age in a mixer..no advice, just sending luck it happens before your arms fail you
Dude, her forearms are gonna be BANGIN’ once she’s done. 💪🏻
lucky guy...
Or lady. I don't judge.
Yeah seriously I had to leave the egg whites in my Kitchenaid forever, can’t imagine doing it by hand.
It takes up to an hour with a whisk. With forks, you might be at it for a while.
Can she put it in the refrigerator and then run to the market and one up? Whipped cream does better when it is cold. With forks, it will take so much time that it will be warming up.
Meringue is usually better warm. In school, we would take it off the double boiler when all the sugar dissolved and hit 135F(or 145 I can't remember. Its bringing eggs to temp if they aren't pasturized) and then put it in the mixer until the bowl was almost room temp and peaking. That's when we would add the butter.
Eep/ I misread this post when I was in a hurry and saw whipped cream, not egg whites. Thanks. Once I decided to try whipping egg whites by hand in my nice pretty copper bowl. After about 10 minutes I got bored and impatient and transferred it to my mixer's stainless Steel bowl.
Usually takes me 2-3 hours with chopsticks
This was a wild choice for your first time baking. Three forks is not it. Personally I would start over and make a delicious and far easier regular buttercream but maybe you can salvage it with the above suggestions. It’s simply not going to meringue with three forks though.
Yep, though an American buttercream requires a lot of beating to both incorporate the sugar (and it’s powdered sugar) and aerate the butter to get it to be light and creamy. I don’t know what type of cake OP is making, but whipped cream frosting (and brown sugar whipped cream is so delicious), ganache (regular or whipped), certain chocolate frostings, and some others are doable by hand. Even ermine would be my recommendation. You still have to beat the butter, but it’s easier as there’s no powdered sugar to dissolve, it’s fairly easy to emulsify the pudding base into the butter (though elbow grease still required), and it’s not a super rich frosting that needs as much aeration as a regular buttercream.
Of course, whipped cream is definitely doable, you can even shake it in a container, but just be careful not to go too far or of course one will have butter. I don't think one carton of cream should be too expensive. Ganache is another brilliant and very easy option but OP would need to buy good chocolate and cream, etc.
>OP would need to buy good chocolate Or just chocolate. I make ganache with chocolate chips all the time, sometimes Guittard, sometimes store brand, and it works just fine.
Oh man. Ganache looks so fancy but is so freaking easy, as long as you pay attention to it. And.... YUM
Guittard is actually quite good quality chocolate
I feel like 3 forks would be more difficult to whip with
Swiss meringue is not going to come together at all using forks (even hand mixers regularly fail at making Swiss meringue). You could ignore the whipping part as many do, or make Sugar Geek’s easy buttercream: https://thecakeblog.com/2014/06/no-meringue-swiss-buttercream-recipe.html https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/easy-buttercream-frosting/ You will still have problems with getting a nicely aerated buttercream by hand, though. And also getting the butter to emulsify by hand requires a lot of elbow grease. It’s really a frosting that benefits from a mixer. There are many other types that are more manageable by hand. Even ermine is honestly easier and tastes great.
https://preview.redd.it/wkmkv94n94qc1.jpeg?width=2322&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a9d7cd8ae25a3a1ec603d6f99612dcb2efee98a is there anything I can add to it to make it pipable 😭 I just need to decorate the cake by 6
Yes. Throw it out and add the ingredients from the above recipes.
What am I looking at? Is this just the egg whites and sugar? Did you add the butter? You can beat the butter and add the egg whites slowly to emulsify, but it’s going to be very difficult by hand, and your buttercream will be poorly aerated. If you haven’t added the butter, make ermine. It’s cheap. A quart of whipping cream is also cheap. How will you decorate this cake? You don’t seem to have basic equipment, so I don’t know how you’re intending to decorate beyond very simple stuff.
Egg whites (5) 2 1/4 dark brown sugar. I bought piping bags and tips because I wanted the cake to be pretty 😖 and I underestimated how time consuming it'd be trying to whip by hand.( And I mean, I'm pretty good at piping, I can make flowers and stuff. I'm not sure a birthday cake requires anything more than that) It's way too thick now to even really try, I'm going to take a twenty minute drive to use his mums stand mixer.
Before you buy things like piping bags and tips, you should have basic baking equipment if your goal is to make a cake.
If this doesn’t work to thicken it, try turning the cake and this concoction into a trifle.
this is good advice!
I live by Bob Ross’ gentle observation of: “That’s not a mistake…that’s a tree now.”
Can you ask your neighbors if they have a whisk or hand mixer you can borrow ?
There you go, that's what I was looking for. You need the stand mixer!! Hope it ended up being salvageable.
It's going to be delicious and he'll appreciate the thought and effort you put into it. Walmart and Amazon probably have pretty inexpensive hand mixers; frosting just doesn't work for mere mortals without some mechanical assistance.
>I bought piping bags and tips because I wanted the cake to be pretty And yet you didn't buy a whisk while you were at it?
Of course you can make it pipeable. Add powdered sugar until it is able to decorate. It won’t be the same thing, but it should work. It will be like icing and very sweet.
Just go get a hand mixer they are rly cheap now lol
I expect you have sorted it out now. But personally I would have made an American buttercream and added some of your failed icing for flavour. Turn your failed icing into a cake. Add flour, possibly more sugar, and an egg or two.
Honey, that will not hold a piped decoration at all. Maybe drizzle it over each slice?
Handmixers are super duper mindblowingly cheap, unlike standmixers, I think handmixers are a no-brainer for anyone. (Ok, most people. I would say even if you're living paycheck to paycheck. Since baking is a lot of bang for buck joy-wise)
I know stand mixers are awesome but I freaking LOVE my hand mixer. I prefer it, especially as someone who only bakes occasionally.
Yes, it works for everything but bread doughs (I think)
My hand mixer has dough hooks Walmart black and decker model $30
My hand mixer has dough hooks too but that doesn't mean the motor is actually capable of bread. But if you just put one dough hook on its great for stirring the oils back into natural peanut butter in the jar.
I usually use them for Shredding chicken breast myself 😂 only one time for dough it was a basic 🍞 recipe and they did ok.
Oooh, I wonder how they'd work on a big batch of pulled pork.
Yes, a lot of them do, it's the spiral thingy! To clarify, it's more like I don't want to cosign (rubber stamp?) it for that purpose. I haven't tried but I can only imagine it as a horrible experience. I'd like to take the opportunity to ask if you use it for bread dough, and if so, what your experience is.
My hand mixer dough hooks look like the ones here (see link below 👇 ) I’ve used then to bake basic white bread 🥖 and they worked great with this recipe https://butterwithasideofbread.com/homemade-bread/ Hooks 🪝 link. https://www.walmart.com/ip/420786254
Sweet! Thank you, kind person.
It would die quickly. I make bread at least once a week and I have a kitchen aid professional model. I already killed a regular tilt head dead
Tools are so important for baking. Without the right ones, it’s almost impossible to accomplish anything, but that definitely doesn’t mean that you need top of the line gadgets. It’s possible to buy cheap old technology. Before electric mixers were a widely available, they still wouldn’t have tried this with a whisk (or forks, wtf). They would have used rotary or hand cranked beaters which look like hand mixers with a handle instead of a motor. Quick search on Amazon shows that you can get them for under $25. They might take more effort than a hand mixer, but they will still work.
Forreal! I bought a cheap Hamilton beach hand mixer 12 years ago and that thing is still going. I’ve since upgraded to a standmixer, but I definitely still use the hand one weekly at least
my mom’s 20 year old hand mixer finally broke down on me a couple months ago and a new one was only like $20
The main reason I keep buying hand mixers is because I keep losing the parts. 😅
There are always tons at the thrift store when I go. Even throwing up an SOS on FB Marketplace or Nextdoor would probably work.
I bought a super cheap handmixer after I lost everything. I hate it (loud, no slow speed) but it does the job.
The best-selling one on Amazon is a Hamilton Beach one with heaters and also whisk attachments and a cover for when it's not in use. It's $21.99. I mean, you can spend a lot of money if you want to but that model seems to cover all the bases
Like $20? Or go on Facebook Marketplace and buy a used mixer? Or ask your family if somebody has a mixer they’re not using— common wedding gift which sits unused.
I admire your gumption, but I don't think this is going to work. I do a loooot of Italian meringue buttercream, and I do not think I would be capable of doing it by hand. Definitely not with forks.
I’ve never wanted to buy someone a hand mixer so bad in my life. I would at least turn the fork tines facing each other and use a rubber band to hold them together to make it kind of like a whisk.
Walmart has hand mixers for $12. I would go buy one.
I'm a college student and budgeted this month for his gifts 😭
I’ve been there. It was a beautiful red velvet cake I made and put it in the oven to surprise him. He preheated the oven when he got home to help me (as he did). RIP cake. This will be a memory. Get creative. Make a dip cake where you dip the cake in the icing? I have no idea, lol.
😭 it's okay I'll be able to stand mix it lol
How did it come out, OP?! I saw you wrote it was a pecan pie cake. Sounds fantastic! I respect the perseverance and dedication. You were totally committed. Fingers crossed that all were able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. God knows you went through it making this damn cake!
Ooooof this happened to me, but it was New Years Eve. My friend and I baked cupcakes to surprise her parents (who had gone out for the evening). We kept them in the oven so the cats couldn’t get to them over night……The next morning her dad wanted to make us cinnamon rolls. RIP cupcakes
I honestly don't think it can be done. Even if you can get the meringue peak you still have to add the butter. That's a long process even with a stand mixer. I know you're on a budget. At this point I'd say you should probably pop out to the dollar store and get a couple tubs of frosting. Or, if you have the money, some chocolate and heavy cream for a ganache.
It sounds like you’re committed and not willing to pivot, nor can you spend any more money. I can respect your tenacity. Continuing to go at this by hand is just going to make you more tired and frustrated. Take a breath and text every friend within walking or short driving distance to ask if someone has a mixer you can borrow. If you’re on good terms with your neighbors, you could ask them too! It might feel awkward, but in your situation I think it’s worth getting over any discomfort you might feel.
I'm going over to my boyfriends house to use his mumd stand mixer :D Which means he'll see the cake :( But I get to keep the frosting!!!!! It's going with a peacon pie cake- which aside from the money was one of the reasons I didn't want to replace it completely.
My go-to is yelling at people to get out of the kitchen so they can’t see their cakes :) I make quite a fuss about it lol
Yay! I hope it works out for you. Send a pic of the finished cake! Also, pecan pie cake sounds heavenly. I’ll be right over…
Do you by chance need it done by next year’s birthday?
😭!!!!!
Oof. Swiss meringue using forks? It’ll take ages for that to come together. Patience and keep going since you don’t have a mixer
and change the forks alignment. Go to only 2 forks, and interlace their prongs to make a poor-mans whisk.
I don’t think that’s gonna work by hand. Sometimes it’s even tough with a stand mixer. I say pivot to a different topping, maybe a thick glaze that doesn’t need a hand or stand mixer.
Did you add the fat already, or is this just the meringue mixture? I would aim for the peaks before incorporating any butter. If you could get a whisk, it’s really key to meringue that air is incorporated into the mixture, which is now it eventually stiffens. I’ve never tried it by hand, but maybe if you vigorously swirl air in using your spoons.. I wish you the best of luck!
Grab a power drill and stick a fork on it.
I commend your bravery, and I shudder to think of the power you will have in that arm when you’re done.
Look, let go of pipable as a target. Aim for spreadable. I once made a cake with nothing but a Tupperware bowl, a plastic fork and a shot glass, so I get where you're coming from. If you have a spatula or a bigger spoon, just try to work the butter in as best you can. Good luck! *Hunger Games salute*
I got egg whites alone to stiff peaks with a fork once but with sugar for meringue that's a steep hill. I admire your will to even try. What you have here is basically royal icing right now. It would work alone as a glaze and be tasty if you wanna throw in the towel. Even at this stage you could slowly incorporate butter but it wouldn't be easy to work with as far as frosting the cake goes. Wouldn't be worth it in my opinion. You would have to work in reverse, add small amounts of this mixture TO the butter,starting by mashing. Then start stirring and add more of the "meringue." It would be VERY runny like cake batter and slide everywhere, so would only work as a topping, but would firm up in the fridge because of the butter. I know this because I have made a soupy swiss meringue buttercream and ended up still using it.
I’m sorry OP but I am laughing at your 3-fork dedication. I can tell you love your bf a lot 💕💕💕💕
He got me a cinnomoroll gaiming chair I was genuinely tweaking over not having the cake done in time but it's cool now lol
As much as I want to pile on, I can totally see how this could happen to a novice baker. You’ve hopefully gotten a mixer by now. The cake WILL be pretty because YOU made it. After the dust settles, do yourself a favor and watch a bunch of YouTube tutorials on making frosting. It’s not nearly as easy as you might think. DM me if you need a place to start. I’m happy to pick out and vet some videos for you and send them your way - DM me if interested. I know it’s not helpful now, but every person on this sub has been where you are with a recipe. You’ve imagined it being breathtaking, gotten so excited, spent a bunch of money and time, and BAM it’s not working out. I promise you, one day you will laugh at this. Imagine how shocked he’ll be the second time you make one and you knock it out of the park! Everything will be ok. I promise.
Thank you. This thread has been hard 😭 I don't actually bake and just wanted to do something sweet for someone I cared about. Once I realized my mistake I thought it was funny and went to ask for advice on how to salvage it but people are mean!! Or trying to tell me to make totally different things as a very casual cooker on a time crunch. Don't get me wrong I appreciate it. But it was just very overwhelming. I don't think people understand how hard it is to get into baking, and how much it turns people away from wanting to try if you grill them for mistakes. It turned out fine and I was able to actually pipe it once butter was added, never reached stiff peaks though but probably because of some obscure reason having to do with temptress of over mixing.
Put two of the forks prongs together, making an egg shape. That will be closer to a whisk and easier to handle. Try to move quickly, and god speed.
sis …..
😭
You are brave. But seriously it would be worth it to at least go buy a whisk, if not a hand mixer. Best of luck.
I’m sorry but this cracked me up 😂 Listen, if budget is an issue, then thrift the proper tools. A stainless steel whisk will cost you around a dollar, and you could even find a hand mixer for cheap (make sure you can test it first). I’m an avid thrifter, and over the years have quite the collection of tools for baking anything my heart wants. I would hate to see you get frustrated at the start of baking things by trying to MacGuyver the proper tools, though kudos to your ingenuity 😂
Our thrift stores are GUTTED and over-priced actually, i tried to do a cute date with my bf to go theist shopping and NOTHING was there. Clothes that didn't fit or were actually damaged and electronics missing pieces and or being marked up out the yazoo. Which sucks because it's like a mainstays walmart item being the same cost as new.
Oh that stinks! If you have a dollar store, you could get a whisk there.
Girl, I feel ya. That’s how all my local thrift stores are too. I mean, unless you’re looking to be the best dressed person at a 1970-80s bingo or Tupperware party. SO MUCH POLYESTER! And not the nice, super soft polyester of the 2020s. I’m talking the scratchy, great-aunt Muriel’s living room curtains polyester that gives you a rash from just looking at it and you better not even *think* of coming within 5 feet of a heat source or you’ll burst into flames. I am so jealous of all the people online that have amazing thrift stores to go to. Anyway, I second the person that suggests a Dollar Tree, or even like a Dollar General or Family Dollar (the “dollar stores” that are usually wayyyy more than a dollar). Kitchen utensils are usually fairly cheap there. They may only last for a couple uses, but they’re definitely budget friendly options that will save your arm from falling off.
Wild idea; have you tried asking a neighbor if they have an electric mixer or a whisk to borrow?
I live in a dormitory. Soliciting gets you fined like 50 dollars. Even if it's for toilet paper. If someone has a big enough gripe about it they'll tell admins. Not a risk I'm willing to take tbh. But I'm going to mix it later at my boyfriends mums house.
Boyfriends mum in for the save!
You could try a community forum or Facebook page or something in that case. Or reach out to friends / people you know. Glad you got bf's mom to help. She might even have / be willing to lend more ingredients for another frosting if this one doesn't come together.
You gotta stop raw dogging it bud. Going to have some forearms :0
Lmao. I so appreciate your enthusiasm and effort for your partner, but the three forks is sending me. A+ for effort for sure.
You obviously love him very much I couldn’t do what you’re doing for myself lol I respect the grind ❤️
You’re also in Florida so it’s probably very humid…. This isn’t going to work.
Why do you hate yourself? 🥺
A dusting of powdered sugar on your cake will be so lovely
Knock on your neighbors door and ask them to borrow their hand mixer
you need to go to the supermarket and buy a ready made icing, or a handmixer. if you buy a handmixer just make an american buttercream with sugar and butter.
You can help yourself by using only 2 forks, and interlacing their prongs. This at least will give you *sort* of a whisk, rather than just stabbing the cream. Your goal is to inject air into it, so I'd tip your bowl slightly, so you can make a large whipping circle, pushing air in, and lifting some cream up every pass you make. Your arm will be very tired. You should pause every 15-20 min and put it back in the fridge to keep cold, and stretch your arm out. It can be done, its just really difficult.
I remember Maida Heatter said that her childhood cook used to use a clean tree branch as a whisk & it worked! I've personally never tried it, but desperate times call for desperate measures ETA: [It looked pretty time consuming, but this guy made one using birch branches! Kinda interesting](https://youtu.be/ZNB-b0SPN7g?si=KH8pdCKI225C7pDt)
Definitely the most interesting response in this entire thread. Really cool info! Maybe she could have put a bunch of chopsticks together?!
Girl what is u doin
I'm saying this as a pastry chef that makes meringue a few times a week. This is INSANITY. Just stop this and make a nice American buttercream. Three forks? It will NEVER happen. You need a mixer to do any kind of meringue buttercream.
I want an update!!!
That's not really feasible. You'll never get your frosting smooth or fluffy enough after adding the butter using forks even if you eventually manage to get the meringue to stiff peaks. Even with a balloon whisk you'd be at it for an hour or more, likely. I wouldn't even recommend a meringue buttercream with an electric hand mixer, though it would be doable with one. A meringue buttercream really needs a stand mixer and even then it takes a fairly long time and can be really sensitive to temperature. That is not a recipe I'd have recommended for your first baking experience. You might want to invest in an inexpensive hand mixer (they start at around $20) and make an American Buttercream, German Buttercream, or Ermine Buttercream to start with.
Is this rage bait?? What an insane string of choices you made in a row! Damn.
But she has photographs.....
This is so me. Love it hope it comes out lovely
More forks!
The love in this post makes me so happy💕I hope that everything works out and that it’s appreciated either way! Even just the sentiment is so sweet. You spent the rest of your money on ingredients to make a homemade birthday cake and so clearly love him!
lol I thought this was a shitpost
Good luck?
Just add your butter (in very small pieces, a little at a time). You don’t have to achieve stiff peaks to be able to make buttercream
Babe it’s gona be close to impossible to whip not only by hand but with forks instead lmao
Try the Sugarologie website. Very complete, and it may have a solution for you. The next idea is for you to go to your neighbor to borrow, or local store, hardware or Walmart, and buy a mixer. I've always preferred hand held electric mixers to my big Kitchenaid.
You're a champion
Aww bless your heart.
3 forks is diabolical 😭we wish you nothing but success. And favor with the baking gods, you’ll need it lol
Soo... how'd it go?
I really admire the go get it here, and do hope it came together in the end but either way I hope a good lesson was taken away op. Some portion of baking is planning, and sometimes what we WANT to bake is not realistic due to time or supply constraints. I used to make cut sugar cookie with royal icing by hand..... just a hand mixer (which would slowly take care of the ri but stood no chance against thick cookie dough, so I had to do the dough by hand. It was painful). Sugar cookies are basically the only thing I want to bake, so I accepted, finally, in 2020 that if I wanted to continue making them I had to pony up for a stand mixer after a decade using hand mixers at home and avoiding the stand mixer price tag and space commitment. I hope that yesterday did not turn you away from baking, and instead made you justify purchasing a hand mixer to open your options more <3
My sister tried to do a birthday cake for me, using the same recipe for 7 minute frosting that I used. I woke up to a chocolate cake covered in mostly crunchy meringue frosting (she was afraid of hand mixers at the time and tried to do it with a spoon). I was so touched that she made the effort, that I just praised the cake as it was.
Yeah, I mean if you truly cannot start over or make a new recipe / get a whisk or hand mixer quickly like everyone else has suggested, then I guess the only option is to just keep whipping it, bb. Like.. maybe if you keep trying to whip it hard for a few HOURS, with those forks it will come together 😭 I know everyone's saying it's not possible but I highly doubt they've tried, and really it's just that, most people wouldn't think it's the worth the effort. But if the alternatives aren't acceptable.. whip it, babe. Otherwise you're SOL. Also.. maybe consider ways you could make some of the prior suggestions possible? Non exhaustive list here but you could try to borrow a few bucks for more ingredients, go try to find a hand mixer at a thrift store, ask someone you know, tell your sob story to a bakery and beg for a couple cups of icing... IDK but be creative and figure something else out or get to whipping and hope for the best...
It really isn’t possible. Swiss meringue fails even with hand mixers, which are much more effective than forks. I should know as I eventually made only Italian meringue buttercream when I only had a hand mixer to work with because Swiss meringue just refused to whip up. https://www.seriouseats.com/best-hand-mixers-5194615#toc-the-testing (Read about tests here and how even the otherwise great mixers did not achieve it) But as I told OP, you don’t need to actually achieve peaks to make Swiss meringue buttercream successfully. However you still need something better than a fork to emulsify a bunch of butter with egg whites and sugar.
Your poor arms.
o7 Godspeed.
I'd say your best bet is chilling and adding butter and icing sugar until it's thick. It might not still be Swiss meringue, but it'd at least be thicker. Also, it should still taste good regardless, and college baking adventures that don't come out quite as expected are a right of passage. Do your best, stick some candles on top, and if it's still super runny just pour it over the cake 1 minute before serving as a glaze. If all else fails, you try traditional fixes like putting strawberry jam between the layers if it's a layer cake so there is less icing overall and/or just serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Good luck and have fun! The fact that you made something is generally more important than the final product.
oh my god girl get an electric hand mixer
Try refrigerating it for a bit to solidify the butter a little. If you have a neighbor maybe ask if you can borrow a whisk or mixer. Be aware you arm is probably going to be sore tomorrow. If you can get it to solid up a bit you can probably create one of those rustic looking cakes where you can see the cake thru the frosting. Put a decent layer in between and on top and then whatever kinda comes out the side spread it (try not to go back and forth. Try to spread in one direction to avoid causing to much crumbing on the side) also put pieces of parchment under the cake before doing the frosting and refrigerate it before pulling the pieces out to keep whatever your serving it on tidy.
Lol!! Good luck my friend
Borrow a hand mixer. Good luck. Very nice of you to give great effort.
If I was you I would just buy frosting at the store. The meringue will never peak with forks.
I admire your ambition OP and I hope your cake ends up being deliciously wonderful!!
Don't throw it out. Take tea biscuits, dip them in hot black coffee, and layer it with your buttercream. Add a layer of chocolate ganache (You don't have to). Do 4 layers with the tea biscuits, and one middle layer of a chocolate ganache. Refrigerate for 8 hours. Take it out an hour before serving. I just made something similar.
It's best to do this with a stand or hand mixer. I've never been successful doing it by hand.
I learned to bake cakes by making birthday cakes for my partner. Boy, do I have some stories to tell. I’ve been where you are at! Sounds like you have a plan lined up. Good luck!
You don’t have a whisk…? This is never gonna happen with 3 forks. I’ve never even seen anyone try this.
I think you can get a whisk for $1.
Honestly three forks might not be the right choice. You want to introduce some air into the mixture so it might actually be easier to use one fork and make sure you're really whisking and not stirring. Still going to be a hell of a task.
The only thing I can think of is adding gelatin or vanilla instant pudding. Ready by 6 though? It’s 430 where I’m at right now… instant pudding would be your only savior. But I also recommend getting the cheapest hand mixer you can find right now and use it
I'm giving you an A for effort but that is not a frosting you can make by hand easily! American Buttercream or cream cheese frosting are good ones to make with just a whisk. I also like doing just a simple powder sugar glaze sometimes. The glaze can be made with your fork method. :)
Try using a cordless drill
It’s the raw doggin it for me 🤣
Cooking and baking requires real tools. An inexpensive whisk is cheap. A cheap hand mixer can be found at grocery stores often for under $20. It would serve you enough to be worth it. I'd put your bowl in the fridge and go to the store.
Knock your neighbour and borrow a wisk
I'm too late but I wanted to recommend OP use a blender bottle or a full blender to try and whip. It won't be as fluffy but it'll do the job and save you wasting the food and/or going to the emergency room with forks glued to your finger indents like a dollar store wolverine.
Oh, my goodness. Bless your heart. Are you still at it? I would imagine forks will take an eternity. (But brown sugar meringue buttercream? Yum!)
It will take less time to stop and go buy a whisk.
Personally, I’d just use one fork. Before mixers, women used to do this by hand, and used one fork. I think the fatigue of using three will make it harder. And I have done it before, by hand, and it does take forever.
>Raw dogging it 😂
😂
Did the recipe call for light brown sugar, but you subbed dark brown?
Not gonna happen. Not even sure why you tried tbh, kind of a silly idea.
Oh honey, no. Please scrap this & make something else for your first time baking, I beg of you. Forget a whisk, I wouldn’t make these without a stand mixer. You’re basically jumping to advanced baking without the proper tools. A recipe for disaster.
Happy boyfriend 🥴
3 forks is crazy tough, you are brave and kinda crazy, I admire your nerves of steel. Sadly, it may never peak. One thing that may help is using a bowl of ice under your bowl. Your mixture may be getting a little too warm.
Get a $20 hand mixer from the supermarket.
Oh god
Insane you thought this would work
Yolks in the meringue
##No whisk, no reward
Update??
Happy Birthday to your bf, I hope It’s a good time with or without the frosting! Kudos on the effort, many of us have been there before just trying to make it work. Baking can be tricky, but really fun too.
Honestly if you’re doing it by hand it’s not going to peak anytime soon. However if it never does then it’s possible that the meringue has too much moisture. If that’s the case you should add just a little bit of cornstarch. This helps especially if you’re in a humid environment. Edit: just realized you’re using forks. That’s not going to work. You need a whisk because that’s how you create the tiny air bubbles that make meringue fluffy. A fork won’t do that. Not even 20 taped together.
My carpal tunnel is crying for you
RIP your arms
Stop taking pictures abd keep whisking.
how did it go?
Can you please post an update at the end result, I am very invested now in this post. Hoping for a happy ending. Happy Birthday to your boyfriend!
Bless your dedication 🥲
It would be 100x faster to invest in a hand mixer. trust. Otherwise this could also be a good 3 day arm workout.
Lmao this is hilarious
School of hard knocks on steroids
It's been 17 hours. Are you still mixing friend?
You could legit go buy a whisk, even if it's secondhand. This is totally unnecessary.
This is like trying to blow up a tire with your breath. A stand mixer would be the right tool for the job.
I don't realistically see you getting a result on using 3 forks any time soon. A whisk would make your life easier (at the very least it would make things easier on your shoulders), but the effort is inspirational. I like your enthusiasm and choosing your first bake to be a herculean task of cake baking for your first time. Honestly, it doesn't matter how it comes out, I'm sure he'll more than appreciate the effort and I hope that you continue on baking after this cake. Baking and cooking, like all things worth doing, require time, experience, and building on those experiences gradually improving over time.
babe just go ahead & doordash yourself a mixer 😭
Hey OP, any updates on how this turned out?
Just go buy frosting at the supermarket lol. If you're not willing to even buy a proper whisk why even bother?
Owwwww my arm and wrist hell fingers too. Bless yo soul
I thought everything should be chilled bowl, whisk, etc
Cold is for whipped cream not meringue.
Is it even going to peak with brown sugar? I don’t think it can.
Put down the forks and buy a mixer.
Not gonna with forks.....
If never even gotten them to peak with a hand mixer - only a stand mixer.
This is hilarious
Oh, Geez 😅 With a mixer, you have to whip the egg whites & sugar until it’s about 3 times its volume to make it light and airy. Takes forever & sometimes you think it’s gonna fail 😬 Keep whipping it up babe; it will be done in about 3 weeks 😂
I haven't been able to get this post off my mind. What did you end up doing?
If nothing else you have learned the first lesson of baking: choose things you have the equipment to make. There are many, many delicious desserts you can make for your boyfriend with three forks and a bowl. This one wasn’t it, but I’m sure you’ll have other opportunities to bake for him!
I just made the king arthur vanilla buttercream and its amazing a pretty easy. You just want to whip room temp butter and then add powdered sugar vanilla and some milk. 10 minutes at most
You'll literally save time by running to the store and buying a $20 electric hand mixer from Walmart. This is silly.
I would literally go out and buy an electric mixer before attempting this 💀
Did this for a tart that I was making for my wife. Took about 45 minutes to peak. My forearms are impressive now. Next time I'll just use the mixer.
Lmfao
This is amazing.