How to Make Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream with a step-by-step video with tips and tricks along the way in case you mess up. Plus a list of flavor customization ideas! (Can be made ahead of time.)
Yield:
5 cups buttercream
Prep Time:15minutes
Cook:5minutes
Recently I was happily surprised at how popular my post on How to Make the Best Buttercream has remained. That video post is all about creating amazing American buttercream, but something quite a few of you have requested is a post on how to make Swiss buttercream. I am happy to oblige!
Swiss buttercream is like the classier and more refined older sister to American buttercream. It can be a bit intimidating to make, and may seem like it only belongs in a professional bake shop, but I’m here to show you it is TOTALLY doable.
I’ve created a video so you can actually see what each stage is supposed to look like, with tips and tricks along the way in case you mess up. Swiss Meringue Buttercream is actually very forgiving. My favorite part, though, is the fact that it is a perfect blank canvas for ANY flavor additions. I’ve listed off a bunch below to get you started. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
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Different Buttercreams
There are a few more types of buttercreams than what is listed below, but this is a good list to read to understand and compare the differences!
American Buttercream
This is basically a combination of beaten butter, powdered sugar, and flavoring(s). It is by the far the simplest and easiest buttercream, but can often have a very sweet one-note flavor profile. If you’d like to learn how to make The Best American Buttercream, check out this tutorial!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
This is made by whipping a mixture of egg whites and sugar that has been gently heated in a double boiler until the sugar dissolves and the eggs are cooked. The egg white mixture is then whipped up into a beautiful glossy meringue. Cubes of butter are then gradually added to the meringue, then flavor ingredients. It’s more complicated than American buttercream, but is far better in both taste and texture in my opinion!
Italian Meringue Buttercream
Similar to Swiss, but is made by cooking a sugar syrup and carefully drizzling it into an egg white mixture. I love Italian buttercream! However, it contains raw eggs, which doesn’t bother me but may be unsafe for some people to consume.
French Buttercream
Again, requires a similar method to Swiss and Italian but contains egg yolks instead of egg whites. It can be the most difficult to make, as it requires cooking a hot syrup then drizzling it into egg yolks, which can scramble easily. It’s ultra rich and smooth but may result in the consumption of raw eggs.
Flavor customizations
This is just a list of ideas – feel free to go wild and get creative here! Add more or less depending on your preferences, even combine two flavor ideas for something more unique. Be sure to taste as you go along.
Vanilla Bean
Add 2 tablespoons pure vanilla bean paste or the scraped seeds from 1 bean.
Chocolate
Add 2/3 cup cooled melted chocolate
Mocha
Add 3/4 cup sifted cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
Raspberry or Strawberry
Add 2/3 cup seedless raspberry or strawberry preserves + red food coloring if desired
Almond
Add 1 teaspoon almond extract
Nutella, Peanut Butter, or Cookie Butter
Add 3/4 cup to buttercream
Mint
Add 1 teaspoon peppermint extract + green food coloring if desired
Lemon or other citrus
Add 2 tablespoons fresh zest and 3 tablespoons fresh juice
Hazelnut
Add 1 teaspoon hazelnut extract
Coffee
Dissolve 1 tablespoon espresso powder in 2 tablespoons hot water and add in at the very end
Caramel or Dulce de Leche
Add 3/4 cup to buttercream
Brown Sugar
Substitute the white sugar for brown sugar in the recipe.
Spiked
Add 2 tablespoons flavored liqueur such as Chambord, Kahlua, or Bailey’s.
4.66 from 38 votes
How to make
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe
Yield:5cups buttercream
Prep Time:15minutes
Cook Time:5minutes
Total Time:20minutes
How to Make Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream with a step-by-step video with tips and tricks along the way in case you mess up. Plus a list of flavor customization ideas! (Can be made ahead of time.)
Ingredients
5large (150 grams) egg whites
1 1/4cups(250 grams) granulated sugar
3sticks (340 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2teaspoonspure vanilla extract
1/4teaspoonfine salt
Directions
Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with paper towel and lemon juice or vinegar to remove any trace of grease. Make a double boiler by placing the mixer bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl, whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 160°F, or until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.
Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and begin to whip until the meringue is thick, glossy, and the bottom of the bowl no longer feels warm, 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 to smooth. If the buttercream is too thin and runny, refrigerate for about 15 minutes before continuing mixing with paddle attachment until it comes together. Add the vanilla and salt, continuing to beat on low speed until well combined.
Add additional flavors, purees, or mix-ins as desired.
To make ahead:
Keep in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let come to room temperature and rewhip in the mixer with the paddle attachment before using.
To use under fondant:
Frost the cake as smooth as possible. Place in refrigerator until the buttercream has hardened before covering in fondant. Cover with fondant straight from the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
This makes enough frosting to generously frost a 9-inch two layer cake or about 2 dozen cupcakes. This recipe can easily be doubled.
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
About Tessa...
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve made this many many times and it’s never failed me. This is my go-to recipe for the perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream!
I loved working with your Swiss meringue buttercream. It was easy to make and it piped beautifully. It was also delicious . Thank you for another great recipe.
I’ve made this recipe for almost 4.5 years now. I use it almost every time I make a cake (which is pretty often) and I always always get compliments on how delicious the buttercream is! It is just perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe!
I have made Swiss meringue before and love it. I’m planning to put the brown sugar version on pumpkin spice cupcakes. I am always unsure how to store cupcakes with Swiss meringue after they are iced- any suggestions?
Hi Laura! As SMBC contains eggs, you don’t want to leave it out longer than 6 hours at room temperature. We suggest refrigerating your frosted cupcakes, then letting them come to room temperature before serving as the buttercream hardens quite a bit (about half an hour, though it depends on the temperature of your kitchen). I hope that helps!
I have tried making Swiss Meringue Buttercream in the past but without success. The directions were never simple to follow and I would wind up with a soupy mess! The instructions for this recipe are excellent! Very specific and detailed which you need for this type of frosting. I was so happy when I finished it. Very light texture and delicious. I also added the extra cocoa powder and espresso to make it mocha flavored. It’s great.
Sorry forgot to ask if I wanted to make chocolate orange buttercream, is it better to melt a chocolate orange bar or do the amount you indicate of melted chocolate and then the amount you suggest for the orange addition? Thank youuu so much!!
I haven’t tried melting a chocolate orange bar, but you’re welcome to experiment with it. I would imagine it’d taste delicious 🙂 You can also combine two flavor ideas as stated in the flavor customizations as well 🙂
Hello dear Tessa, may I ask if I can use any chocolate to melt and then add to the buttercream? And how much would it be in grams?
Many thanks, much appreciated
Thank you very much for your kind reply and for providing this really wonderful recipe for free, I just hate to think that I may ruin it by adding the wrong amount of flavours! I will never understand cups, everything weighs the same in grams, I just would have loved that as the recipe itself has conversions in grams it would have been the same for the add ins…Thank you kindly anyway for giving me the conversion for nutella and jam! I wish I could have them for everything hehe! X
Dear Tessa, sorry to bother you I just wanted to ask you, for your Swiss meringue buttercream recipe flavour adaptations when you say cup is meant as the same cup measurement you use for the sugar?
For example 2/3 cup jam = 135g? 3/4 cup of nutella = 150g? So sorry, there are so many cup conversions according to the country and ingredient itself etc that I thought I’d double check with you. Hope you don’t mind.
Thank you so very much for your time and please know that your recipe is the best one I have used (I have tried many) and I absolutely trust it and love it. If you have developed any more flavours I can’t wait to hear, I feel like the possibilities are endless and want to try them all!!
Thank you, thank you for your amazing hard work and passion!
Many greetings from afar,
Best wishes Veronica
Hi Veronia, I understand your confusion! A cup measurement is the same as how I measured the sugar; however, as things weigh differently, a cup of sugar will weigh differently than a cup of jam! 3/4 cup of Nutella is about 217g (1 cup of Nutella is around 290g total). 2/3 cup jam is around 215g. Hope this helps! If you’re ever unsure about the add-ins, you can also slowly add them into the buttercream to your taste 🙂
Hi tessa,
How much espresso powder could i use as additional flavor? Above you only said : Dissolve espresso powder in 2 tablespoons hot water.
Should i shift the espresso powder?
Even though you say, this is the video you’ve “made-on-demand”, but I see how you do it very professionally, the Swiss Buttercup is great. luckily I signed up for the e-mail notification, otherwise, I would be sorry to discover this video later!
I tried this and the meringue didn’t come to the same texture as yours after about 30 minutes in the stand mixer? It was quite white and i though oh it’s nearly getting there but didn’t so when I though it was quite thick i added the butter, but it became quite yellow and chunky! I’ve obviously done something wrong here but not sure what, I used four egg whites instead of 5 because it came to 150, could that possibly be it? Thank you!
Quick question. If I wanted to do the caramel SMBC, would adding 3/4 c make the frosting too sweet? Is it possible to lower the sugar in the meringue and add the sweetness using the caramel?
I’m sorry. This recipe just doesn’t work. The steam of the double boiler cooks the egg on the side of the bowl. It’s a total waste of time. Please pull the recipe.
I’ve been using this for a couple years now and had that issue one time because I didn’t stir right away otherwise it works just fine and I also omit the salt. You have to constantly stir as soon as you put the egg whites on the double boiler. I use pasteurized egg now to reduce the cooking time since all you need is to melt the sugar.
Whilst this recipe is the quintessential Swiss buttercream, it does not need the salt! I added it just to see and it was so salty that I may as well have used regular salted butter. What’s worse is that the longer i sits the stronger the salt taste becomes.
Honestly, don’t add the salt. It’s light and smooth and silky without it
Hi Tessa,
This recipe sounds absolutely wonderful! I just have a few questions: first, is the candy thermometer required? And second, will this frosting crust over if it’s refrigerated overnight already on the cake?
Thank you very much!
Michelle Gremillion
— September 4, 2019 at 4:40 am
Tessa.. Thanks for these recipes..I haven’t found a buttercream recipe that holds up to Louisiana’s hot temps to date.. This Swiss buttercream worked well…
I made this recipe using the dark brown sugar in place of the white sugar. I had 3 sticks of butter softened. I used 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of Frangelico liquor. 1.) took 10 minutes to dissolve the dark brown sugar and didn’t reach 140 deg. I thought that would be ok, not reaching 140. The bowl was very hot so i continued to move the bowl to the mixer and beat the eggs whites and the sugar to a meringue texture. It worked, looked perfect. The bowl cooled really fast, i found that odd as I have made a similar recipe before and had to ice the bowl to get it to cool. The temp in my house was the same as before. Problem was that the butter was chunky like and never got creamy.
I had soup with chunks, put in fridge for a minute and thought, this isn’t going to get rid of the chunky soft butter I put in so I added about a cup and a half or 2 cups of confection sugar to fix it. The taste was great and the texture was too.
I don’t think it was the mixer attachment, I used the whisk, the paddle and the paddle/scrapper. Maybe it was the dark brown sugar?
Hi Tessa! Love all of your recipes. I was wondering if I could half this recipe because I need it for two 6 Inch layer cakes. I guess it’s totally doable as you also gave the weight of the egg whites. Thanks a lot! I’m also considering in buying the secrets of baking couese.
Halving this recipe is a little tricky unless you use a hand held mixer, otherwise there’s just not enough to beat! You can always freeze the leftover buttercream 🙂
It appears that this blog is dead. No replies to posts and questions??? Maybe one of the readers can answer my Question. I want to add cookie butter. First, I am afraid to make this traditional style SMBC. I am newish to baking, but I make mine flip flopped but it always turns out perfect. MUCH easier. I microwave sugar and carton pasteurized egg whites slowly til sugar dissolved. Then I put in freezer til cool room
temperature. It will not freeze. Too high of a sugar level. When The sugar and egg syrup is cool, I beat BUTTER til light and fluffy. The butter is the item better able to take the additional ingredients and create a stabile emulsion. After, I add half the syrup and beat til incorporated, then add remaining plus vanilla. It is firm at this point!
Being newish, I don’t know what adding cookie butter will do to it. My son loves loves cookie butter. Does anyone else make SMBC like me? Have you added semi fluid type ingredients to final SMBC? Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
I’ve made Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting 30 or more times, always successfully, until today. Meringue was perfect, glossy very voluminous. I switched to paddle , beat on Med low until bowl was cool, then added room temperature butter(still firm), 1 tablespoon at the time. Before I finished adding 2nd stick, frosting began to curdle. It quickly went downhill from there. I tried refrigeration for about an hour, mixing for 10 minute increments, adding 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. Nothing brought it back. I hate to throw it out. Can I use it to make pound cake? It is now refrigerated.
As a trained chef and cookbook author, I share trusted baking recipes your friends & family will love alongside insights into the science of sweets. I help take the luck out of baking so you *always* have delicious results! Learn more here.
Over 200 pages with 50+ cookie recipes that'll make you a COOKIE PRO. Discover how to turn your biggest cookie flops into WINS by mastering the sweet science of baking. Even learn how to customize your own recipes! Beautiful, hardcopy, full color, photos of every recipe so you know EXACTLY how your cookies should look. Order now to have the book delivered to your doorstep!
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Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve made this many many times and it’s never failed me. This is my go-to recipe for the perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream!
I loved working with your Swiss meringue buttercream. It was easy to make and it piped beautifully. It was also delicious . Thank you for another great recipe.
I’ve made this recipe for almost 4.5 years now. I use it almost every time I make a cake (which is pretty often) and I always always get compliments on how delicious the buttercream is! It is just perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe!
That’s amazing to hear! So happy you love this recipe so much, thanks for taking the time to let us know, we appreciate it! 🙂
I have made Swiss meringue before and love it. I’m planning to put the brown sugar version on pumpkin spice cupcakes. I am always unsure how to store cupcakes with Swiss meringue after they are iced- any suggestions?
Hi Laura! As SMBC contains eggs, you don’t want to leave it out longer than 6 hours at room temperature. We suggest refrigerating your frosted cupcakes, then letting them come to room temperature before serving as the buttercream hardens quite a bit (about half an hour, though it depends on the temperature of your kitchen). I hope that helps!
Hi Tessa,
I have a basic old stand mixer that just has beaters. Can I make this without using all the special attachments you used?
Thanks,
Susan
Hi Susan! We’ve actually never used one of those, so we can’t say for sure! If you give it a try, please let us know how it goes.
I have tried making Swiss Meringue Buttercream in the past but without success. The directions were never simple to follow and I would wind up with a soupy mess! The instructions for this recipe are excellent! Very specific and detailed which you need for this type of frosting. I was so happy when I finished it. Very light texture and delicious. I also added the extra cocoa powder and espresso to make it mocha flavored. It’s great.
So glad to hear that, Cindy! Glad the instructions were easy to read and that you enjoyed the end result 🙂 Mocha buttercream is so delicious!
Sorry forgot to ask if I wanted to make chocolate orange buttercream, is it better to melt a chocolate orange bar or do the amount you indicate of melted chocolate and then the amount you suggest for the orange addition? Thank youuu so much!!
I haven’t tried melting a chocolate orange bar, but you’re welcome to experiment with it. I would imagine it’d taste delicious 🙂 You can also combine two flavor ideas as stated in the flavor customizations as well 🙂
Ah thank you so much Tessa! What a great suggestion to combine two flavour ideas! Sorry didn’t read that.
May I ask, when you suggest juice (for both orange and lemon) is the juice from a carton? Or freshly squeezed juice?
Thank youuuuuu!!
I suggest 2T fresh zest and 3T fresh juice (from the fruit) for best flavor 🙂
Hello dear Tessa, may I ask if I can use any chocolate to melt and then add to the buttercream? And how much would it be in grams?
Many thanks, much appreciated
Check out my Flavor customizations listed on this post, yes, you can add chocolate 🙂 Here’s a link to my free conversion guide: https://handletheheat.com/measuring-cheatsheet
Simple and elegant
Thanks
Thank you very much for your kind reply and for providing this really wonderful recipe for free, I just hate to think that I may ruin it by adding the wrong amount of flavours! I will never understand cups, everything weighs the same in grams, I just would have loved that as the recipe itself has conversions in grams it would have been the same for the add ins…Thank you kindly anyway for giving me the conversion for nutella and jam! I wish I could have them for everything hehe! X
Dear Tessa, sorry to bother you I just wanted to ask you, for your Swiss meringue buttercream recipe flavour adaptations when you say cup is meant as the same cup measurement you use for the sugar?
For example 2/3 cup jam = 135g? 3/4 cup of nutella = 150g? So sorry, there are so many cup conversions according to the country and ingredient itself etc that I thought I’d double check with you. Hope you don’t mind.
Thank you so very much for your time and please know that your recipe is the best one I have used (I have tried many) and I absolutely trust it and love it. If you have developed any more flavours I can’t wait to hear, I feel like the possibilities are endless and want to try them all!!
Thank you, thank you for your amazing hard work and passion!
Many greetings from afar,
Best wishes Veronica
Hi Veronia, I understand your confusion! A cup measurement is the same as how I measured the sugar; however, as things weigh differently, a cup of sugar will weigh differently than a cup of jam! 3/4 cup of Nutella is about 217g (1 cup of Nutella is around 290g total). 2/3 cup jam is around 215g. Hope this helps! If you’re ever unsure about the add-ins, you can also slowly add them into the buttercream to your taste 🙂
hi tessa,
I read if we can add espresso powder into the buttercream
How much espresso powder should i use?
Thanks
Hi tessa,
How much espresso powder could i use as additional flavor? Above you only said : Dissolve espresso powder in 2 tablespoons hot water.
Should i shift the espresso powder?
Thanks
Even though you say, this is the video you’ve “made-on-demand”, but I see how you do it very professionally, the Swiss Buttercup is great. luckily I signed up for the e-mail notification, otherwise, I would be sorry to discover this video later!
They are so good, thank you very much!
I absolutely love swiss meringue butercream! I made your chocolate one and a brown sugar version and they were absolutely delightful!
I just have a question, would half a batch be enough to frost a 3 layered 7 inch cake?
Thank you very much. Please can I use a combination of margarine and shortening for the fat; butter is not readily available in my country
Hi Tessa!
I have an older stand mixer with regular beaters which means I don’t have the special attachments. Will that work?
Thanks,
Susan
This is a fabulous recipe and you can’t go wrong with it.
Works every time I make it.
I tried this and the meringue didn’t come to the same texture as yours after about 30 minutes in the stand mixer? It was quite white and i though oh it’s nearly getting there but didn’t so when I though it was quite thick i added the butter, but it became quite yellow and chunky! I’ve obviously done something wrong here but not sure what, I used four egg whites instead of 5 because it came to 150, could that possibly be it? Thank you!
Quick question. If I wanted to do the caramel SMBC, would adding 3/4 c make the frosting too sweet? Is it possible to lower the sugar in the meringue and add the sweetness using the caramel?
I have made this recipe countless times. My cakes are better for it. Thank you!!!!
I’m sorry. This recipe just doesn’t work. The steam of the double boiler cooks the egg on the side of the bowl. It’s a total waste of time. Please pull the recipe.
I’ve been using this for a couple years now and had that issue one time because I didn’t stir right away otherwise it works just fine and I also omit the salt. You have to constantly stir as soon as you put the egg whites on the double boiler. I use pasteurized egg now to reduce the cooking time since all you need is to melt the sugar.
Whilst this recipe is the quintessential Swiss buttercream, it does not need the salt! I added it just to see and it was so salty that I may as well have used regular salted butter. What’s worse is that the longer i sits the stronger the salt taste becomes.
Honestly, don’t add the salt. It’s light and smooth and silky without it
Hi Tessa,
This recipe sounds absolutely wonderful! I just have a few questions: first, is the candy thermometer required? And second, will this frosting crust over if it’s refrigerated overnight already on the cake?
Thank you very much!
-Ariadne
Hi, will a decorated cake hold well in room temperature? I’m talking piped flowers and tutu frills 🙂 Thank you!
This is my go to buttercream for all my cakes!
Thank you for this recipe
I want this in sugar free version what sugar can si use?
Tessa.. Thanks for these recipes..I haven’t found a buttercream recipe that holds up to Louisiana’s hot temps to date.. This Swiss buttercream worked well…
Could you make this recipe using trex to get a whiter meringue?
I made this recipe using the dark brown sugar in place of the white sugar. I had 3 sticks of butter softened. I used 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of Frangelico liquor. 1.) took 10 minutes to dissolve the dark brown sugar and didn’t reach 140 deg. I thought that would be ok, not reaching 140. The bowl was very hot so i continued to move the bowl to the mixer and beat the eggs whites and the sugar to a meringue texture. It worked, looked perfect. The bowl cooled really fast, i found that odd as I have made a similar recipe before and had to ice the bowl to get it to cool. The temp in my house was the same as before. Problem was that the butter was chunky like and never got creamy.
I had soup with chunks, put in fridge for a minute and thought, this isn’t going to get rid of the chunky soft butter I put in so I added about a cup and a half or 2 cups of confection sugar to fix it. The taste was great and the texture was too.
I don’t think it was the mixer attachment, I used the whisk, the paddle and the paddle/scrapper. Maybe it was the dark brown sugar?
Hi Tessa! Love all of your recipes. I was wondering if I could half this recipe because I need it for two 6 Inch layer cakes. I guess it’s totally doable as you also gave the weight of the egg whites. Thanks a lot! I’m also considering in buying the secrets of baking couese.
Halving this recipe is a little tricky unless you use a hand held mixer, otherwise there’s just not enough to beat! You can always freeze the leftover buttercream 🙂
It appears that this blog is dead. No replies to posts and questions??? Maybe one of the readers can answer my Question. I want to add cookie butter. First, I am afraid to make this traditional style SMBC. I am newish to baking, but I make mine flip flopped but it always turns out perfect. MUCH easier. I microwave sugar and carton pasteurized egg whites slowly til sugar dissolved. Then I put in freezer til cool room
temperature. It will not freeze. Too high of a sugar level. When The sugar and egg syrup is cool, I beat BUTTER til light and fluffy. The butter is the item better able to take the additional ingredients and create a stabile emulsion. After, I add half the syrup and beat til incorporated, then add remaining plus vanilla. It is firm at this point!
Being newish, I don’t know what adding cookie butter will do to it. My son loves loves cookie butter. Does anyone else make SMBC like me? Have you added semi fluid type ingredients to final SMBC? Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
Miss tessa thank you for sharing this recipe can you please teach me meaurement for creamcheese flavoring
thanks in advance
I’ve made Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting 30 or more times, always successfully, until today. Meringue was perfect, glossy very voluminous. I switched to paddle , beat on Med low until bowl was cool, then added room temperature butter(still firm), 1 tablespoon at the time. Before I finished adding 2nd stick, frosting began to curdle. It quickly went downhill from there. I tried refrigeration for about an hour, mixing for 10 minute increments, adding 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. Nothing brought it back. I hate to throw it out. Can I use it to make pound cake? It is now refrigerated.