Cake-A-Month - January - Post 5

So today I made the Swiss Meringue Butter Cream for the January cake. For some reason I was incredibly nervous about making the SMBC. I'd read so much about how difficult it is to make, about people that had attempted it only to end up with a curdled mess that needed to be thrown out. I'd also read a lot about how it's a bit of an acquired taste since it's so incredibly different from the typical icing sugar-butter frosting that you'll find on most cakes.
I also knew it involved making a meringue, which I've never attempted before, and I'd also read a lot about meringues flopping due to a tiny bit of grease getting into the mixture or eggs being old etc. Long story short, I was incredibly nervous about this step of making the January cake.

I didn't need to be so nervous! I followed the instructions and guide from Sweetapolita and ended up with a beautiful glossy frosting! I had to continue whipping the frosting for about 10 minutes longer than she stated before it cooled down enough to add the butter, and I followed her instructions to make a lemon flavoured buttercream. I also halved her recipe since her recipe makes 10 cups and I definitely didn't need that much! I only needed the frosting to make the dams in each layer and dirty ice the cake, and the halved recipe was more than enough.

Once I had finished the SMBC I stacked and filled the layers for the cake. I had made four layers, and piped a stiff dam of SMBC around each before filling with a thin layer of the lemon curd I'd already made.

Once stacked and filled, I dirty iced the cake and put it in the fridge to settle.

I didn't get a photo of the cake once it had been dirty iced, sorry, I must have been distracted! I'll take a photo before I cover it in fondant in a couple of days :)