Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of rich chocolate flavor with the perfect amount of sweetness! If you find regular buttercream too sweet, you’ll adore this recipe.
Texture: So beautifully smooth, creamy, and fudgy yet light.
Ease: This is definitely more advanced than regular American buttercream, but I’ve loaded tons of tips, pictures, and a how-to video into this post so you have everything you need to make this recipe successfully.
Pros: Possibly the best buttercream ever!
Cons: A little more time-consuming than American buttercream.
Would I make this again? YES.
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This Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is the BEST frosting you’ve ever tasted!
If you’ve ever found frosting too sweet (especially American-style buttercream frostings), this is the recipe for you.
While it does require a little more work than traditional American buttercream frostings, I’ve laid out all my best tips and tricks below so you can nail this Swiss meringue buttercream in no time.
Not only does this buttercream taste absolutely incredible, it’s also super easy to work with. It’s an absolute delight to use to frost a cake, and it also pipes onto cupcakes beautifully. It’s a little too smooth for really intricate designs, but a simple swirl is a classic for a reason 😉
There’s seriously no frosting out there that’s as smooth and creamy with just the perfect amount of sweetness. Even people who don’t usually like frosting LOVE this stuff. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Temperature is Key in Making Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- The first step in making Swiss Meringue Buttercream is to cook egg whites + sugar over a double boiler.
- You can cook the egg whites either in the metal bowl of your stand mixer over a saucepan of simmering water, or if your bowl doesn’t fit without touching the water you can use a standard double boiler.
- We want to make sure we cook the mixture to the correct temperature, so the frosting comes together properly and to cook the eggs enough so they’re safe to consume.
- You can use either a candy thermometer that clips onto the side of the bowl, or an instant read thermometer.
- You’re looking for the sugar to dissolve completely and for the mixture to become slightly thickened and foamy.
- You want to whisk the entire time to avoid the egg whites cooking. I find a flat whisk works best for this.
- Don’t step away from the mixture while it’s on the stove!
- Then, once your egg white/sugar mixture has reached 160°F, you can move it to your stand mixer and begin whisking.
- Continue to whisk until the meringue is thick, glossy, and stiff peaks are achieved and the bowl no longer feels warm to the touch.
Adding the Butter
Cubes of butter are gradually added to the meringue, forming a beautiful silky-smooth buttercream before adding the chocolate. Make sure your bowl is completely cool to the touch before adding the butter, to prevent your butter from melting.
Don’t Panic if it Looks Curdled!
99% of the time, if your buttercream looks runny or curdled as you’re whipping it, it CAN be saved. Just keep beating away until it becomes smooth! This forces the fat to emulsify completely. If it still doesn’t come together, your butter may be too warm. Try refrigerating the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes, then continue beating until smooth.
Use High-Quality Ingredients
- This Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe relies heavily on the quality of both the chocolate and the butter. There’s a LOT of butter here.
- Use high-quality chocolate and fresh, high-quality unsalted butter for the best chocolate flavor and texture.
- Learn why I prefer unsalted butter here.
- I definitely prefer semisweet chocolate in this recipe, but feel free to use milk chocolate or bittersweet chocolate – just note that this will change the overall sweetness of the buttercream.
- I haven’t tried this recipe with white chocolate or dark chocolate.
- Note: I don’t recommend using chocolate chips here, as they contain ingredients that prevent them from melting down. Save those for inside cookie recipes!
Just Keep Beating!
Again, if your mixture becomes curdled, soupy, or too runny, don’t worry! Just keep beating until it becomes smooth. This may take several minutes. If you can’t get to this point, try refrigerating the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes, then continue to beat until smooth. If you still can’t get it to smooth out, then the egg whites may have been overcooked.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- The Best American Buttercream
- Best Cream Cheese Frosting
- Peanut Butter Frosting
- Best Chocolate Cake
- The Best Chocolate Cupcakes
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Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (133 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites*
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 sticks (340 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and at room temperature
- 12 ounces (340 grams) semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with 1-inch of gently simmering water. Whisking gently and constantly, heat mixture until sugar is dissolved and mixture is slightly thickened and foamy and registers 160°F on a candy thermometer or a digital thermometer, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully wipe the bottom of the bowl dry.
- Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and begin to whip, until the meringue is thick, glossy, and stiff peaks are achieved. The bottom of the bowl must no longer feel warm to the touch. This should take about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Switch over to paddle attachment and, with mixer on low speed, add the butter cubes, one at a time, until incorporated. Continue beating until it has reached a silky smooth texture. This may take several minutes.
- If the buttercream curdles, simply keep mixing and it will come back together and be smooth. If the buttercream is too thin and runny, refrigerate for about 15 minutes before continuing mixing with the paddle attachment until it comes together.
- Add cooled chocolate and vanilla and mix until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light, fluffy, and well combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
Make Ahead:
- Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months**. Let come to room temperature and beat on low with the paddle attachment, until creamy, before using. If frosting appears runny or curdled, microwave about 1/4 cup for 5-10 seconds, then mix back into bowl and beat on medium-high until smooth.
Recipe Notes
This post was originally published in 2018 and has been updated with additional tips and information. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Can you half this recipe?
I recently made half the recipe to frost 12 cupcakes and it worked perfectly!
Would this buttercream hold in warm weather?
This is by far the best chocolate frosting I have ever made. Time and time again I’ve tried recipes and they always taste off. This one is the most perfect balance of sweetness and chocolate. I did have a hard time getting the egg whites to whip up, but I added in the butter and just let it whip for 15-20 minutes and it came out perfect. I do recommend to MAKE SURE your chocolate is 100% cooled off. If there’s any warmth it will melt the butter and you’ll have soupy frosting.
love the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream love love it
Hi! I tried this recipe recently and followed the recipe exactly. The texture was perfect, very silky and smooth. But it tasted very buttery. I used room temperature butter so it whisked into the meringue very nicely but the end result just tasted like butter. What can I do next time to make sure it doesnt just taste like sweetened butter? Thanks!
Since buttercream is essentially sweetened butter, I’m not sure that can be changed 😉 Perhaps try a different brand of butter?
Hi there! So glad to have come across your page! Reading and learning a lot but I tried making Swiss meringue Chocolate Buttercream and it was certainly a fail. I made soup! I was sure to have the bowl clean, and the butter wasn’t…melty. It was pliable and didn’t squish when pressed. I made sure the egg whites and sugar was cool (touched the side) and the chocolate wasn’t hot. Where did I go wrong?!
It’s was probably too warm. If you didn’t try putting in fridge to harden a little before continuing try that next time. Also, at that stage you can try switching to a paddle beater and give it time to mix back together. High water content (low quality) butter can separate but it should come back together with beating or cooling. I’ve been there and was able to have it come to life doing the above 🙂
I accidentally put too much chocolate and it is pretty funny. What can I do to fix it?
My new favorite! So silky and not too sweet. This was my first time making Swiss Meringue and it turned out great. It did curdle, but I followed your instructions and it came out perfect. Thank you for sharing your talents. I enjoy trying your recipes and watching your videos. They are very helpful.
I have just made you Swiss choc meringue cream it’s fabuous would I make vanillawith rhe same Ingredients but without the choc please
This recipe sounds awesome, and I’ll definitely be using it next month, but I’ve tried SMBC several times, and my egg/sugar mixture has always taken at least eight to ten minutes of beating to cool before adding the butter. Looking forward to trying this!
Hi, your Swiss chocolate buttercream looks divine! I’ll be trying it today. Thanks for the recipe x
Some temps would be helpful – like for melted semisweet chocolate – what is temp of “cooled slightly” ?