November 6, 2012

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Name: Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 5 large egg whites at room temperature; 1 cup plus 2 tablespoon granulated sugar; 2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

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This easy Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe only needs 4 ingredients and makes a silky, elegant frosting perfect for cakes and cupcakes! Made with whipped egg whites, sugar and butter, this frosting can be flavored with any extract and is ideal for piping. Keep reading for piping tips and to learn how to make the best Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

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My Favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe

I first created this post in the VERY early days of my blog after I had first tried it from Martha Stewart’s cupcake cookbook. It quickly because one of my favorite frostings, but the cookbook lacked a lot of information for those who were making it for the first time.

Over the years I’ve made a lot of variations of this buttercream and I want you to be successful when you make this for the first time to! I know It can be intimidating to make at first, or even seem time consuming. But I promise you, once you have the process down, it’s can be quite easy to make and might even become your favorite frosting.

What is Swiss Meringue Buttercream?

Swiss meringue buttercream (SMB) is a light, silky and buttery alternative to traditional buttercream. It is much less sweet, and therefore allows for the true flavors in the cupcake to shine.

Although it seems like this takes more preparation than other types of frosting, the end results are very rewarding. It is easy to pipe and holds its shape very well.

What does this taste like?

This buttercream is much less sweet than American buttercream. It’s silky texture comes from the high ratio of butter, but as a result some people think it too buttery, especially if they are used to American buttercream . The best way to flavor this is by using high quality extracts, and use as much as you need to suite your own tastes.

My Tips for the Best Swiss Meringue Buttercream

The utensils have to be grease-free otherwise the meringue will flop. Where possible, I use only metal utensils. If you only have rubber, then wipe it down with lemon juice or vinegar to wipe off all utensils and bowls to remove any lingering oil and grease.
Use a candy thermometer: I bought mine at target for $10 and it has been well worth the investment.
Use colorless imitation vanilla extract, to keep your SMB a crisp bright white, which can be purchased at a craft store or specialty cake store.
Make sure your butter is at room temperature: If your butter is too cold, it will not mix well and you will end up with chunks of butter in your frosting.
Always use unsalted butter! This allows you to control how much salted is in your frosting.

What’s in this frosting?

Egg whites: these also need to be at room temperature prior to starting.
Granulated sugar
Unsalted butter should also be at room temperature. I recommend unsalted butter so that you can add salt to the frosting as needed. I’ve found that salted butter makes this frosting way to salty for my taste.
Pure vanilla extract or another flavor of your choice
Salt to taste, but is not required. If using salted butter, do not add any additional salt.

How to Make Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Heating the egg whites

The egg white and butter need to be at room temperature before you begin
Use lemon juice or vinegar to wipe off all utensils and bowls to remove any lingering oil and grease.
Make sure you use just enough water to cover the bottom of your pot, your mixing bowl should not be touching the water. I suggest about 1 ¼ cups for a medium-sized pot.
Place the pot over medium heat and do not pre-boil the water, or it will heat the egg whites too fast, they will cook, and you have to start over. Then add the sugar and the egg whites and immediately start whisking to prevent the eggs from cooking.
Heat the eggs and sugar to 160°F. Make sure you constantly stirring or whisking the egg whites and sugar. To see if your sugar is fully dissolved, you can drizzle some of the egg whites in your fingers and rub them together, it should be completely smooth.

Making the Meringue Frosting

Transfer your bowl to a mixer, using the wire whisk attachment, beat the eggs white on low for 2 minutes than increase to medium high
Beat for another 5 minutes. At this point, your frosting should have turned white and the body of the meringue starts to form.
Increase the mixing speed to high. It will start to look glossy as the peaks begin to form.
Beat for another 3-5 minutes until the bottom of your bowl is cool to the touch and your meringue has stiff peaks like marshmallow.
Turn your mixer down to medium-low. Slowly add your butter, 1 tbsp at a time. As you add more butter, the frosting might appear to have curdled and lost its body, that’s ok. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Switch to the paddle attachment, add the vanilla extract and continue beating on medium-high speed until your frosting start to have stiff peaks. Beat for about 3-5 minutes.

Flavor Variations

For vanilla, I prefer to use vanilla bean extract, but a high-quality vanilla extract works wonders. You can easily use almond, lemon, peppermint or any other extract. It even works for maple buttercream.
Pureed fruit: I’ve made a strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream several times, but most recently for my Strawberry Margarita Cake. I’ve also made a blackberry buttercream as well.
Zested Fruit: You can add lemon zest to make a lemon Swiss Meringue buttercream or orange zest for a Mimosa cake.

Looking for a chocolate variety? See my tutorial for Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Frosting FAQs

Do I need to put my cake/cupcakes in the fridge after they’ve been frosted?

I do not refrigerate my cupcakes or cakes after frosting them. Due to the high ratio of butter, this frosting will harden. If you do refrigerate the cake or cupcakes, then it will need time to come back to room temperature before serving.

Can I make this frosting in advance?

I make and frost my cakes and cupcakes right away, and I store leftover frosting in an airtight container on the counter top overnight.

However, I’ve read that Swiss Meringue Buttercream can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for up to 7 days and beyond that it should be frozen. I have not froze this buttercream myself.

Regardless if you put this frosting in the refrigerator or freezer, it will need to come back to room temperature prior to using, and you may need to rewhip it with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer.

My frosting looks curdled or runny, how to I fix it?

During the process of adding the butter, the egg whites lose all the air, and the gorgeous white meringue turns to a soupy curdled more liquid-like consistency. Don’t worry! We aren’t finished yet.

Once all the butter has been added and mostly incorporated, change to the paddle attachment and start to whip the buttercream. After a couple minutes you’ll notice the curdled frosting start to stiffen and just like magic, your Swiss Meringue Buttercream comes together.

It has never happened to me, but I have read that if your frosting is still soupy, then you can put it in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes and then rewhip.

Will this frosting melt in hot or humid environments?

This frosting has a high butter content, if you live in a hot or humid environment, I do not suggest using this frosting. I’d rather recommend American buttercream such as my perfect vanilla frosting.

Is this frosting good for piping?

Yes! Due to the very light and airy texture of this frosting, it is great for piping! However it is a softer frosting, so I would expect it to “settle” a bit.

Can I use this to make a layer cake?

Yes! It works great for layer cake, but you’ll need to increase the amount of frosting you’re making. For a 3 layer 8-inch cake, I use 10 large egg white, 3 cups of unsalted butter and 2 1/2 cups of granulated sugar plus your extract.

I sure hope that you’ll give this frosting recipe a try! It’s quite different and far less sweet than traditional American buttercream and it pairs really well with cakes that have fruit!

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