Learn how to make a delicious Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream with this easy recipe! Perfect for decorating and filling your cakes, layer cakes, cupcakes, and more. Enjoy the creamy, fruity flavor of fresh strawberries in every bite.
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If you're already familiar with Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC), you'll love this fruity twist: Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe.
Infused with homemade strawberry puree for a natural strawberry flavor, this creamy buttercream combined with a Swiss meringue is perfect for adding a fruity touch to all your desserts.
Use this delightful buttercream to cover your favorite strawberry cake recipes like this strawberry buttercream cake, like our upcoming strawberry lemon cake, or to decorate cupcakes with a piping bag.
Ingredient you need
You need these ingredients to make this strawberry meringue buttercream :
- Egg whites: Just the egg whites, make sure they're separated from the yolks.
- Sugar: Use finely ground granulated sugar without any added flavors.
- Butter: Unsalted butter at room temperature until it's easily spreadable.
- Strawberry: Make your own strawberry puree by blending and cooking down fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries with fresh lemon juice until smooth. This adds a fruity flavor and natural color to the buttercream.
- Salt and Vanilla extract: If you like, add a bit of liquid vanilla for extra flavor.
- Food coloring: To make the buttercream a vibrant pink, you can mix in some red gel or powdered food coloring. It adds a nice pop of color to your creation!
>> Don't throw away your egg yolks, use them to make a pastry cream or a lemon curd and Egg yolk Chocolate chip cookies.
How To Make Easy Strawberry Swiss Buttercream
Here are some quick visual instructions. Don't forget that full recipe instructions with exact ingredients can be found in the recipe card below!
- Place fresh or frozen strawberries in a saucepan with lemon juice and cook over medium heat for about 5 - 7 minutes until you get a thick strawberry compote.
- Mash the strawberries with a potato masher or a fork and continue cooking if it still seems too liquid.
- Blend the mixture in a blender or with an immersion blender, then strain it through a fine sieve to remove the seeds.
- Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a heatproof container.
- Cook the egg white mixture in a double boiler over a medium saucepan containing a little simmering water heated on medium heat.
- While continuously stirring with a hand whisk, monitor the temperature until it reaches 131°F/55°C and until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Transfer the mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed for about 10 minutes until you achieve a stiff meringue.
- Reduce the mixer speed and gradually add the softened butter pieces into the meringue mixture, then increase the speed to high until you obtain a smooth buttercream.
- Add the strawberry puree, vanilla extract, and a little red food coloring, then beat again for 2 minutes until you get a smooth and pink buttercream.
- Replace the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment and mix at slow speed to soften the cream and reduce air bubbles.
How to use this Frosting
- Cake Decoration: Use as a filling or covering for fondant cakes. Its stability at room temperature makes it perfect for wedding cakes.
- Cake: Ideal for covering the exterior of a layer cake. For the interior, consider using a strawberry mascarpone whipped cream or a strawberry whipped ganache.
- Cupcake Topping: Pipe onto cupcakes for a beautiful decoration.
- Biscuits & Cookies: Use as a filling for sandwich cookies or pipe onto shortbread cookies for decoration.
- Macarons: Sandwich between two macaron shells for a delicious and colorful filling.
Best Tips
Variations & Substitutions
Recipe questions
Can I use frozen strawberries instead of fresh ones for the puree?
Yes, you can use frozen strawberries. No need to thaw them before cook them to make the puree.
How do I fix grainy buttercream?
If the buttercream becomes grainy, it's likely because the butter was too cold when added. To fix it, let the buttercream come to room temperature and re-whip until smooth.
Why does my strawberry buttercream look curdled?
Your strawberry buttercream may appear curdled due to excessive amounts of strawberry puree, which can compromise the texture of Swiss meringue buttercream. Be mindful of the quantity used for a smoother consistency.
More Buttercream Recipes
I hope you love this easy strawberry buttercream recipe. If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Happy Baking!
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Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 portions
Description
Delicious Swiss meringue buttercream flavored with homemade strawberry puree (for smoothing and decorating a layer cake or topping 10-12 cupcakes).
Ingredients
- 6 Egg whites
- 150 g (¾ cup) Sugar - granulated
- 300 g (1 ⅓ cups) Butter - unsalted and softened
- 100 g (1 cup) Strawberry puree - made from 200 - 250 g of fresh strawberries
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- Red food coloring
Instructions
Strawberry Puree
- Follow my recipe for strawberry puree without adding powdered sugar, ensuring it is well blended and strained through a fine sieve to remove seeds and residues, then let it cool completely.
Swiss Strawberry Buttercream
- Place the egg whites with the powdered sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer and place it over a saucepan containing a little water heated on medium heat to cook the mixture in a double boiler.
- Whisk continuously using a hand whisk and monitor the mixture, which should reach about 55°C/ 131°F and until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Return the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium-high speed for about 10 minutes until you achieve a firm and cooled meringue.
- Reduce the mixer speed and incorporate the softened butter pieces, then resume mixing at high speed until you obtain a thick and homogeneous buttercream. (The mixture may become grainy after adding the butter; continue beating until the mixture is smooth.)
- Add the cooled strawberry puree, vanilla extract, and mix again for a minute to incorporate them, then add the food coloring if needed until you achieve the desired pink color.
- Finish mixing with a flat spatula at low speed for 2 minutes before using your buttercream.
Notes
Storage: Up to 1 week in the fridge in an airtight container and up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: filling, frosting
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 portion
- Calories: 289
- Sugar: 15.7 g
- Sodium: 36.6 mg
- Fat: 24.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 16.1 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 64.5 mg
Great recipe, thank you very much! It really has a strawberry flavor and is not overly sweet. Make sure to strain the puree well, otherwise you can see the strawberry seeds
This website was... how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I've found something that helped me. Many thanks!