Learn to create the smoothest and fluffiest vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream frosting recipe. This silky-smooth frosting is the key to mastering the art of outstanding cakes and cupcakes.
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What is a Swiss buttercream aka smbc recipe?
The Swiss meringue buttercream recipe is one of those popular meringue-based buttercream recipes loved for its smooth, voluptuous texture like the Italian meringue buttercream recipe.
Mainly made of butter and Swiss meringue, the kind we usually use to make baked meringues or to fill lemon tarts and lemon pies. this meringue buttercream type is more technical than a simple buttercream and requires more time and materials.
But the result is incredible, this Swiss meringue frosting is fluffy and sweet in the mouth, with a silky-smooth texture perfect for both smoothing cakes and decorating with piping.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Lighter and smoother! Unlike American buttercream, it's a less sweet frosting with an airy and fluffy consistency.
- Perfect consistency for cakes! A perfectly smooth texture for smoothing the outside of a layer cake and for perfect assembly. But also to decorate with a piping bag, make borders, writings, flowers, piping cupcakes …
- Easily flavored! With almost anything, fruit purée, melted chocolate, jam, caramel, spices etc... You can easily flavor it while keeping its firm and smooth texture.
- Stable at room temperature! The best choice for cakes that stay at room temperature for a long time such as wedding cake and birthday cake.
Ingredients Notes
- Egg whites: Choose carton egg whites that are a few days old rather than aged eggs and medium-sized whites.
- Butter: Unsalted butter preferably rather than salted butter with a high percentage of fat at least 80%.
- Sugar: Use fairly fine sugar, such as granulated but no powdered sugar like icing sugar or confectioners sugar.
- Vanilla extract: Pure liquid vanilla extract is perfect to flavor this frosting or use the seeds of a vanilla bean.
>> 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 Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a mixing heatproof bowl over a saucepan containing simmering water.
- Cook in a double boiler over medium heat while stirring occasionally.
- Check cooked egg whites and sugar with a candy thermometer which should reach at least 131°F / 55°C.
- Pour the egg mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and pulse on high speed for at least 15 - 30 minutes (depending on the quantities you make).
- Whip the meringue until it is firm and forms stiff peaks, glossy and completely cooled.
- Reduce speed to medium, then gradually add all the butter cut into pieces, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt.
- Continue on high speed for about 5 minutes until you have a thick frosting (the consistency will be liquid at first, then more grainy before it thickens)
- Replace the whisk with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed for 2 more minutes to smooth out the Swiss meringue buttercream and remove air bubbles.
- Use the buttercream immediately, or leave it at room temperature if you use it during the day, otherwise, place it in the refrigerator.
Tips for this recipe
- Use a powerful stand mixer: It takes a lot of time and a lot of power to make a meringue.
- Whip the meringue for at least 25 minutes: Until stiff glossy peaks form peaks.
- Use softened butter: neither too hard nor too soft the texture of the butter will define the consistency of the buttercream.
- Whip for 5 min. after adding the fat: Let the mixer run for at least 5 minutes so that the butter is completely incorporated into the other ingredients.
- Smooth with the paddle attachment at a slow speed for at least 2 minutes: This is the crucial step to extract the air bubbles and have a smooth frosting.
- What to do with leftover egg yolks? You can use egg yolk to make a pastry cream or a diplomat cream to fill your cakes.
Storage and freezing instructions
In the fridge: You can keep Swiss meringue buttercream it in the fridge for up to a week, covered with plastic wrap.
Room temperature: As the whites are pasteurized, it is stable and can be kept for up to 2 days outside the refrigerator in a cool place.
In the freezer: You can freeze Swiss meringue buttercream for up to 3 months in the freezer, in an airtight container. To defrost, you can put it in the microwave for a while. Or leave it out of the fridge.
Recipe Variations
Food flavors, like almond extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, orange juice etc.
Fruit flavored: Use fruit purees like strawberry purée like this strawberry Swiss buttercream, raspberry compote, strawberry compote, blueberry compote, lemon curd filling, jam fruits, freeze-dried strawberry powder, freeze-dried raspberry, and more…
Chocolate version: Add melted chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, chocolate milk, or white chocolate like in my White chocolate Swiss buttercream. It also works with unsweetened cocoa powder to make a chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.
Spreads: Nut butter like peanut butter, almond butter, Nutella spread like this Nutella Swiss buttercream, Lotus biscoff butter, peanut butter, salted butter caramel like my salted caramel Swiss buttercream, almond and hazelnut praline paste.
Brown butter/brown sugar: Use light or dark brown sugar for flavor, or follow my recipe for how to make brown butter for a nutty taste.
Cookie crumbs: Biscoff cookies, with Oreo crumbs like my Oreo buttercream frosting in this Oreo chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies…
Colored buttercream: Add gel food coloring at the end of the preparation to make a colored frosting, or add a tiny touch of purple food coloring to neutralize the yellow and give it a whiter color.
FAQ & Troubleshooting
- How to fix a curdled buttercream?
Why: The butter is too cold, it doesn't want to homogenize with the meringue!
- Heat the cream in the microwave or in a bain-marie to warm it up and bring all the ingredients to the same temperature.
- Then whisk the mixture again to recover a smooth and creamy cream.
- Why is my buttercream yellow?
Why: It is completely normal, it is its natural color (the color of butter).
- Add a few drops of white food coloring to lighten it.
- Or a few drops of lemon juice.
- Why my buttercream is full of air bubbles?
Why: By whipping it, the air is added to the Swiss buttercream.
- Just before using it to smooth my cake, work the cream with a soft spatula by spreading it on the sides of the bowl to evacuate the air and obtain an even smoother cream.
The main difference in traditional buttercream en meringue buttercream is the addition of the meringue to the buttercream.
Like all buttercreams, Swiss buttercream becomes very hard when chilled.
As the egg whites are cooked (pasteurized) this buttercream is considered stable at room temperature for up to 48 hours.
More Buttercream Recipes
I hope you love this Swiss buttercream recipe. If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Happy Baking!
Print
Easy Swiss buttercream Frosting
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 15 portions
Description
Swiss meringue buttercream frosting recipe to fill and smooth a 2-tier 6 inches / 15 cm cake or piping 12 cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 300 g Egg whites (8 whites)
- 220 g (1 cup) Sugar - granulated
- 400 g (3,5 sticks) Butter - unsalted at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
- Pour the egg whites and granulated sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer and place it on a saucepan filled with a little water to heat the mixture in a double boiler.
- On medium heat, while stirring consistently with a whisk and controlling the temperature with a cooking thermometer the white + sugar mixture must reach 131°F/55°C (you should no longer feel the sugar granules in the egg whites).
- Once the temperature is reached, put the mixing bowl back on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whip at full speed for about 25-30 minutes.
- The meringue will go up and whiten, It is ready when it is shiny, firm with stiff peaks, and cooled.
- Then incorporate the butter cubes one at a time, vanilla extract, and salt while letting your stand mixer run at medium speed.
- Switch to high speed for a few minutes until a smooth, homogeneous buttercream is obtained.
- Replace the whisk with a paddle attachment and beat for a further 2-3 minutes at slow speed to remove any air bubbles.
- Use immediately or store in the fridge under plastic wrap and allow to come to room temperature before whipping again.
Notes
Storage: in the refrigerator up to one week or in the freezer up to 3 months.
Fruit flavor: Add about 50 g (¼ cup) of fruit purées like a strawberry purée, raspberry purée or blueberry purée.
Cookie crumbs: Oreo cookie crumbs, chocolate chips cookies crumbs, biscoff cookies and more.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: cakes, Dessert
- Cuisine: swiss
Nutrition
- Calories: 66
- Sugar: 14
- Sodium: 31
- Fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 14
- Protein: 1
- Cholesterol: 2
Good evening Fadela, thank you very much for your recipe! I have to make a cake with sugar paste in banoffee flavor but I don't know what cream to use for the filling. I would like to make a banana compote with a caramel ganache. Normally I'd make a mascarpone whipped cream without the sugar paste, but now I don't know whether the Swiss meringue buttercream won't be too sweet, or a vanilla buttercream? I'd like something a little refreshing... Thanks a lot!
Hello, it's difficult to put a light frosting in a sugarpaste covered cake (unless it can be kept in a cool place with a special sugarpaste). For a sugar-paste cake that can be kept at room temperature, you can choose between these smbc/buttercream/ganache frostings. You can always reduce the amount of sugar in the smbc
Hello, it's difficult to put a light frosting in a sugarpaste covered cake (unless it can be kept in a cool place with a special sugarpaste). For a sugar-paste cake that can be kept at room temperature, you can choose between these smbc/buttercream/ganache frostings. You can always reduce the amount of sugar in the smbc
Good evening,
Thank you for your two SMBC IMBC recipes.
Is it possible to fill my Christmas log with one or the other of these 2 creams? Could you please advise me?
Can I use the same cream for the inside as for the top?
Thank you for your precious advice and for sharing.
Hi Annie, yes you can use these 2 buttercream recipes to cover and decorate your Christmas buche, but for the filling I'd rather advise you to make a lighter recipe, a mascarpone whipped cream, a whipped ganache, your cake will be better and less heavy.
Fadela
Hi Annie, yes you can use these 2 buttercream recipes to cover and decorate your Christmas buche, but for the filling I'd rather advise you to make a lighter recipe, a mascarpone whipped cream, a whipped ganache, your cake will be better and less heavy.
Fadela
Hello
Thank you for your wonderful blog.
I would like to make the SMBC to fill and cover a praline flavored layer cake with the praline paste, is this a good idea? Does it work with praline? And I want to make the cake the day before the birthday.
Thanks for your reply.
Hello, yes it's quite possible to flavor the smbc with praline and it works very well, but it's a bit heavy to fill the cake, so try a lighter special Paris-Brest frosting for the inside.
It's also possible to make the cake 1 or 2 days ahead of time.
Best recipe ever! Thanks so much! Very easy!
I've made this recipe several times and got it right the first time. I now make it regularly, and it's perfect, thanks to your invaluable tips.
Thank you for your blog.
Thank you very much for your feedback on this recipe ❤️
Great recipe!
So, does a cake or cupcakes decorated with this buttercream keep in the fridge for up to a week?
Thank you!
Hello Justine and thank you! Yes, you can keep your buttercream in the fridge for 1 week. After that, it will depend on the other fillings you use inside your cakes.
Thanks for the details, it's very well explained.
Thank you very much ❤️
I just made it, mamaaaaa it's too good!!!! I added chocolate . Thanks again for all your great recipes
Oh thank you so much Maria for this lovely feedback ❤️, with extra chocolate, it must have been delicious for sure!!!
Hello, can I fill my layer cake with the Swiss meringue buttercream?
I'm looking for a filling that will keep for several days.
Hello, yes it's even recommended to use this frosting or a simple buttercream if your cake is going to stay out of the fridge for a long time.
Please tell me if I can color the SMBC with both gel and powder colors.
Hello, yes it's possible, preferably with gel colorants, but you can also use powdered food colorants.
Hello, yes it's even recommended to use this frosting or a simple buttercream if your cake is going to stay out of the fridge for a long time.
Hello, yes it's possible, preferably with gel colorants, but you can also use powdered food colorants.