Foolproof Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are common mistakes for Swiss meringue buttercream? ›

If you add your butter to too hot meringue it will become soupy. You can toss the whole bowl in the fridge and try again. If the butter is too cold the buttercream will be too stiff. You can either heat the sides of the bowl with a torch or place it back over the pot of simmering water to warm up.

To remedy a soupy buttercream, all you have to do is chill it. I place the entire mixing bowl containing the buttercream including the attachment in the fridge. The timing will depend on the amount of buttercream you're trying to make but start with 5 minutes.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Success Secrets: Separate your egg whites from the yolks and make sure there are no yolks in the whites. Since SMBC is meringue based, yolks (a fat) can quickly stop a meringue from not forming its stiff glossy peaks as required.

Yes. Swiss meringue buttercream can be whipped for too long. This usually happens when the mixture becomes too cool, and it will start to look curdled and greasy. To fix this, simply place the bowl of buttercream over a pot of simmering water for a few seconds at a time, mixing constantly.

In a KitchenAid mixer, it usually takes about 20-25 minutes to make a good, stiff meringue from start to finish. If you're at the 20-minute mark and the meringue still isn't at stiff peaks, check your temperature. Is it hot and humid in your kitchen? Then a 15-20 minute meringue timeout in the fridge will help!

Swiss meringue buttercream is a favorite among many cake decorators because of its smooth finish on the outside cakes and its ability to hold piping detail.

But the buttercream should be light and fluffy, not thick and greasy. If yours tastes like you're eating a stick of butter, perhaps your meringue wasn't whipped to stiff peaks before adding butter, or the butter was too cold, in which case it just needs some more whipping. Or you added too much butter.

Fondant icing is a sugar paste and a classic choice for decorating cakes because it provides a smooth and professional look. There are three types of fondant: rolled fondant, marshmallow fondant, and poured fondant. They are all used for coating sponges and pastries but will provide slightly different results.

Yes, Swiss meringue buttercream is stable at room temperature. Though if eating on a particularly humid day, keep your frosted confections in the refrigerator as close to serving as you can. You can use SMBC under fondant-topped cakes and confections, too.

Can I add powdered sugar to my Swiss Meringue Buttercream? ›

Powdered sugar: Classic Swiss Meringue Buttercream calls for granulated sugar. Since we are eliminating the cooking in this recipe, we need to use sugar the will easily dissolve. Powdered sugar is perfect for this! Salt: Salt enhances the flavor of the buttercream.

If you begin to over-whip the whites, the mixture will deflate and you'll end up with a grainy, loose, and soupy mixture – even before you add the butter! Not what we're going for. Trust me on this one – I've over-whipped a Swiss meringue too many times to count just because I wasn't paying close enough attention.

A few notes about the recipe…

I've always found Swiss meringue buttercream to be pretty forgiving. So if you can adjust the ratio of ingredients to your liking. For example, if you like it sweeter, increase the sugar and try a ratio of 1:2:2.

If the buttercream is thin enough to run off a spoon, refrigerate the whole bowl for 20 minutes, just until the frosting begins to harden around the edges. The middle will still be soupy, but that's okay: The two will balance out in about four minutes as you whip them together on high speed.

If the buttercream splits and looks curdled, like cottage cheese, it means the mixture didn't emulsify because the temperature of the butter was either too cold or the meringue was still too warm. There's a few different ways to fix this: Remove a few spoonfuls of the buttercream and place it in a heat safe bowl.