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If you’re looking for a delicious, not overly-sweet, slightly leveled-up buttercream, look no further than the Swiss Meringue Buttercream!
Swiss buttercream is like the classier and more refined older sister to American buttercream.
It’s less sweet than American buttercream, so it’s a terrific option for frosting cakes, cupcakes, fill French macarons, and more!
While it can seem a little intimidating to make, I’m here to show you it is TOTALLY doable.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream is definitely easier than you might think, and it’s actually very forgiving.
My favorite part is that it is a perfect blank canvas for ANY flavor additions. I’ve listed a bunch below to get you started.
I’ve created a video inside the recipe card below so you can actually see what each stage is supposed to look like, with tips and tricks along the way in case you are worried you messed up somewhere along the way!
How to Make Swiss Meringue Buttercream
What is Swiss Meringue Buttercream?
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream (aka SMBC) 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 so delicious and the texture is so silky smooth that it’s well worth the extra steps, especially for special occasions!
What’s the Difference Between Swiss and American Buttercream?
- American Buttercream is basically a combination of beaten butter, powdered sugar, and flavoring(s).
- It is by far the simplest and easiest buttercream, but can often have a very sweet one-note flavor profile.
- Check out my recipe for American Buttercream here, for a quicker, slightly sweeter but equally delicious buttercream.
Are There Other Types of Buttercream?
- Italian Meringue: Similar to Swiss, but a little more complex. Italian Meringue Buttercream is made by cooking a sugar syrup and carefully drizzling this into an egg white mixture.
- French Buttercream: Similar again, but French Buttercream contains egg yolks instead of egg whites. It can be the most difficult to make, as it requires cooking a hot syrup, then drizzling this into egg yolks, which can scramble easily. It’s ultra-rich and smooth but may result in the consumption of raw eggs.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Tools
- Candy Thermometer: For ensuring your egg white/sugar mixture has reached the correct temperature. An instant-read thermometer will also work.
- Whisk: For whisking the egg white/sugar mixture constantly throughout heating.
- Stand Mixer: The best tool for SMBC! While this can be done with a handheld electric mixer, I don’t recommend it as it will take much longer.
- Piping Bags: For piping your perfect Swiss meringue buttercream onto your cake or cupcakes.
- Piping Tip: This Ateco #825 star tip is my favorite piping tip.
Flavor Customization Ideas
Feel free to get creative here! Add more or less depending on your preferences, and even combine two flavor ideas for something more unique. Be sure to taste as you go, and add a little more flavoring as needed. If you’re adding a liquid, be sure to add it slowly, in tablespoon-sized increments. If you get a little heavy-handed, see the note above about curdling.
- 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.
Recipes Perfect for This Buttercream:
- Best Ever Chocolate Cupcakes
- Ultra Moist Yellow Cupcakes
- Best Yellow Cake Recipe
- Best Birthday Cake
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe
How to Make Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream with a step-by-step video, with tips and tricks along the way. Can be made ahead of time. Includes a list of flavor customization ideas!
Ingredients
- 5 large (150 grams) egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
- 3 sticks (340 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with a 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 the temperature reaches 160°F, or until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot and foamy. 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 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 an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week 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.
To use under fondant:
- Frost the cake as smoothly as possible. Place in the refrigerator until the buttercream has hardened before covering in fondant. Cover with fondant straight from the refrigerator.
Show us!If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!
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.
Please don’t panic if the frosting looks curdled as you mix in the cubed butter and/or flavorings. Just keep mixing and it will eventually come back together and look creamy and smooth again.
This recipe was originally created in 2015 and was recently updated with more recipe tips and FAQs.
Tips for the Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Cooking the egg whites/sugar: Don’t be tempted to crank the heat up too high. Allow the water in your double boiler to just simmer, to slowly raise the temperature of the egg whites and sugar without cooking your egg whites.
- Whisk constantly: If you stop whisking, the egg whites can cook on the sides and bottom of the bowl. Keep the mixture moving, to prevent chunks of scrambled eggs from ending up in your buttercream.
- Whipping speed: Once you move your bowl to the mixer, start whipping slowly and increase the speed as the mixture thickens. I stop increasing the speed once it’s on medium-high. This allows the air to slowly be incorporated into the meringue, to create a stable base, and also allows the bowl time to cool before proceeding with adding the butter.
- You want stiff peaks: Ensure your meringue has reached stiff peaks before adding the butter. Medium peaks won’t result in a thick, luscious buttercream. Stiff peaks are sharp points in meringue that don’t bend or droop.
- Ensure your bowl is completely cool before adding the butter: If your meringue or the bowl are at all warm, the butter will melt and you’ll end up with a soupy buttercream. Don’t add the butter until the bowl is completely cool and back to room temperature.
- Curdling isn’t a big deal: It’s normal and totally okay if your buttercream looks separated, curdled, or chunky while the butter incorporates. It might happen again when you add your flavorings, especially if they’re liquidy. Don’t worry! Keep mixing with the paddle attachment and it will come back together eventually, becoming a super creamy, smooth buttercream.
- If your SMBC contains air bubbles: Mix on your mixer’s lowest speed for a few minutes, or even mix by hand with a rubber spatula for a few minutes, to smooth out the buttercream and pop those pesky air bubbles.
Fantastic. Thanks, it’s really sturdy and works well with naked cakes. Love that it’s not too sweet. I coloured it pink with raspberry juice and it started to separate but I followed your advice and kept beating and it was fine. Thanks a lot – well explained and very helpful! (Sydney NSW)
Wonderful! Thanks for your comment 🙂
I followed the tutorial on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream;everything was perfect until the 4th cube of butter was added…then all went south.The whole batch looked like wet cottage cheese.I tried to cool it in the fridge and continue to beat again but the batch never recovered.What went wrong???
Did you watch my video? It just takes patience to beat it back into shape 🙂
Hi Tessa!
Have you made a version with cream cheese? If so, what were your measurements?
Thanks!
No, I haven’t tried that out yet so I’m not much help. Let me know if you give it a go!
Hi x its got to the curdled point and been mixing for 10mins n doesnt seem to change? Any tips? Thanks
Hi Tessa,
I followed your Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe and it turned out great. Thank you.
Hi.
I don’t have a counter top mixer. I have a hand mixer -would I just use it the same as you did with yours? Wondering if it will work ? Amy suggestions. My hand mixer didn’t have paddle blades. ??? Any tips will help!! Thanks.
To be honest, this recipe would be quite a bit more difficult without a stand mixer. I’ve never attempted it, though I’m sure it would work out in the end. Do you just have the whisk attachments?
excelente muy muy bueno exitos
This was my fist attempt at Swiss meringue buttercream and I must say WOW!! It turned out perfectly. The little bit of extra time it takes is well worth it. The texture is amazingly smooth with out the gritty texture my standard buttercream sometimes gets. I winged it when cooking the sugar and egg whites as I didn’t have a candy thermometer but I made sure the whites where hot and the sugar was melted. I can’t believe I haven’t attempted this frosting until now! Will be a new favourite. Thanks for the great blog post and video.
So happy to hear it, Kristy! Thanks so much for your comment 🙂
Tessa, as I said, I couldn’t determine if it had broken or not. It was liquid with tons of tiny butter flecks in it — tiny! — and didn’t have the clumpy curdled look of broken mayonnaise or hollandaise. So I tried chilling it, and when that went nowhere I resorted to heat. It finally whipped up silky and was delicious, but it had absolutely no body so ideas of piping it went out the window. You video doesn’t come close to depicting the soup I was dealing with. I warmed the eggs and sugar over hot water to 140F as measured with my most reliable digital thermometer, and whipped it on the stand mixer for absolutely ever waiting for it to cool down to “no longer feels warm” (a highly subjective determination that might be part of the problem). I’m in the desert too (Utah) but that’s not an issue this time of year. Thanks for responding. I’ll try it again because I’m a diehard, but my goodness but this one was a bear!
Hmmm. I’m still a bit surprised! It’s so hard to help without having been there to see it all. Perhaps this time stop whipping at the 10 minute mark since the warmth may indeed be too subjective. Let me know how it goes!!
What went wrong? All I got from this is a slack mess. It’s 40F outside here today, and 68F inside, so ambient temp isn’t the problem. It took 45 minutes to get the temp of the egg white mixture down to where the bowl didn’t feel “warm” anymore, so long I didn’t know whether to get beating the meringue or stop for fear of overworking it. (I’m not sure where you got your time estimate for that step; do you make this inside a walk-in?) By then the butter was probably too soft but time was running out and I had to use it regardless. The mix started to slop up immediately as soon as I started adding the butter. It became the consistency of thin cake batter with millions of specks of butter in it. I couldn’t determine if it had broken or what. I tried refrigerating and rebeating it, but all I got from that was well-beaten cold butter specks soup. So I changed course and applied a hot towel to the bowl. After a few minutes of whipping the mess vigorously over heat, it actually began to thicken. Twenty minutes of whipping later — by the way, lose the bit about changing to the paddle attachment cuz when this stuff goes south, and it will, the paddle is as useful as one boot — it became a cohesive mass with a bit of loft but absolutely no strength or ability to hold its shape. Even after refrigeration, it is unable to maintain form and if applied to the sides of a cake will slump right off. Honestly, this isn’t worth going through. Plain buttercream is blehhh but it’s more predictable and easier than this, and will work every time.
45 minutes?! That’s insane!!
I definitely don’t make this inside a walk-in, in fact I live in the desert. Did you use a thermometer to gauge the temperature of the egg whites as they cooked? I’m thinking something went wrong at the very start that ruined the recipe. It should certainly not take 45 minutes for eggs whites to cool. Did you watch the video? I cover what to do if your buttercream breaks. I hope you’ll give it another go because I’ve made this recipe a dozen times and many others have too with success.
Hi there, I have been wondering whether it’s possible to freeze a cake that’s been filled with swiss meringue buttercream. I have frozen it in a container so know how the consistency changes when it thaws. Have you any experience/thoughts on this? I have searched all over the net and no one talks about this aspect of smb.
Thanks for any help!
Hi Dana! I wouldn’t freeze a frosted cake. You could freeze the buttercream and cake layers separately, defrost overnight, rewhip the buttercream, and assemble when ready. That preserves the texture the best.
I absolutely love the detailed step by step video on how to make Swiss buttercream. I have personally always found American buttercream extremely sweet and have been looking for an alternative since a long time. I am so glad i came across you post. I am going to try your chocolate cupcake recipe with chocolate swiss buttercream tomorrow for my nephew’s birthday. Hope it turns out good and everyone likes it. 🙂