Swiss meringue buttercream is better in flavor and texture than American Buttercream. Once you try it, you will want to use it on all of your cakes, cupcakes, cookies, everything! It is silky, pipes beautifully, and is stable. Watch the easy video tutorial and you will be a pro in no time!
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Swiss Meringue Buttercream Video
Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC) is my favorite of the meringue frostings because it is not overly sweet or difficult to make, and this method pasteurizes the egg whites in the process – Hooray!! It is simple enough to use for everyday baking but the flavor is a special occasion worthy frosting (scroll down to see the fun design I made for my niece and nephew’s puppy-themed birthday party). This frosting makes me think of wedding cakes every time I make it!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream keeps really well overnight at room temperature without drying out or forming a crust as American buttercream will. You can completely assemble your cake ahead of time without taking up space in the refrigerator and it will look and taste just as good the next day. It’s also freezer-friendly (see instructions below).
Cook’s Tip for Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Butter should be softened at room temperature for about 1 hour (more or less depending on your room temperature). You want it to be still slightly cool to the touch and not overly soft or warm. If it gets too soft, refrigerate for 10 minutes at a time.
How to Make Swiss Meringue Buttercream
1. In a medium pot, add about 1-inch of water and bring to a simmer.
2. Thoroughly wash and dry the stainless steel mixing bowl from your stand mixer** (you don’t want any fat touching meringue). Add 7 egg whites and 2 cups sugar and whisk together. Place mixing bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, creating a seal over the pot (bowl should be over the steam, not touching water). Whisk constantly until sugar/egg white mixture reaches 160˚F (takes about 3 minutes). Sugar should be fully dissolved (you should not feel any sugar granules when rubbing the mixture between fingers), and the mixture will feel hot to the touch.
3. Wipe water from bottom of mixing bowl and transfer bowl to your stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff glossy peaks form (about 15-20 minutes) and the bottom of the bowl feels completely at room temperature and not warm (important: if meringue is warm, it will melt the butter).
3. Once bowl is at room temperature, switch to the paddle attachment, reduce to medium speed and add butter 1 Tbsp at a time, adding it just as fast as it can be absorbed by meringue. Once all butter is in, scrape down the bowl and continue beating until the buttercream has reached a thick whipped consistency (3 min on med-high speed). If it looks lumpy or liquid at all, keep beating until smooth, thick and whipped.
4. Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp salt then mix on med-high until incorporated (about 1 min).
P.S. The tiny amount of salt at the end gives this frosting incredible depth of flavor.
Common Questions
For egg whites to become glossy and reach stiff peaks, it’s critical to make sure your mixing bowl and attachments are free of any grease, egg yolks, or water. You need to start with thoroughly clean and dry tools.
This is usually due to the mixture being too warm or adding the butter before the meringue has fully cooled down. Thankfully, it is easy to fix. Refrigerate the bowl for 15-20 minutes then continue mixing until the frosting thickens.
It is ok to use a high-speed electric hand mixer, but it may take 5-10 minutes longer of total mixing time. Also, a glass bowl will work but meringue may take longer to whip/cool down because glass retains heat longer.
Avoid using coarse sugar. Granulated sugar works best here. Also, make sure to heat your mixture over the water bath until it registers 160˚F on a thermometer.
Absolutely! See how we frosted our 9-inch, 2-layer Chocolate Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Make-Ahead
- Room Temperature – Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a stable frosting, meaning it will keep well covered at room temperature for 1 to 2 days in a low humidity environment.
- Refrigerator – cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Bring back to room temperature to re-whip before piping.
- Freezing – SMBC can be frozen for up to 3 months. Transfer to a freezer-safe zip-top bag, squeeze out any excess air, and store flat for quicker thawing. Thaw at room temperature then re-whip for a few minutes to lighten it up.
More Frosting Recipes
We haven’t found a storebought frosting even comes close to homemade. If you love homemade frosting as much as we do, you’re sure to find some new favorite frosting recipes in this list:
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vanilla Buttercream
- Cupcake Frosting
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe
Ingredients
- 7 oz egg whites, from 7 large egg whites
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened, (3 sticks)*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium pot, add at least 1-inch of water and bring to simmer.
- Thoroughly wash and dry the stainless steel mixing bowl from your stand mixer (you don't want grease touching meringue). Add 7 egg whites and 2 cups sugar and whisk together. Place mixing bowl over a large saucepan of barely simmering water, creating a seal over the pot (bowl should be over the steam, not touching water). Whisk constantly until mixture reaches 160˚F (takes about 3 min). Sugar should be fully dissolved (you should not feel any sugar granules when rubbing mixture between finger tips). Mixture will feel hot to the touch.
- Wipe water from bottom of mixing bowl and transfer bowl to stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff glossy peaks form (about 15-20 min) and bottom of the bowl feels completely at room temp and not warm (important: warm meringue will melt the butter).
- Once bowl is at room temp, switch to paddle attachment, reduce to medium speed and add butter 1 Tbsp at a time, adding it just as fast as it is absorbed by meringue. Once all butter is in, scrape down the bowl and continue beating until it reaches a thick whipped consistency (3 min on med-high speed). If it looks lumpy or liquidy at all, keep beating until smooth, thick and whipped.
- Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp salt and mix on med-high until incorporated (about 1 min).
Notes
Filed Under
And here are the puppy cupcakes I made using this Swiss Buttercream for my niece and nephews birthday party! The kids LOVED them!! Here is the vanilla cupcakes base that I used for these. I used mini M&M’s on the eyes, a Hershey’s chocolate drop for the nose, then used a rolling pin and my hands to form the ears out of tootsie rolls and the tongue out of a similar shaped pink candy (similar to an airhead candy).
If you make this frosting, let me know what you think of it in a comment below.
Hi Natasha, can I use a hand whisk for this? I don’t have any kind of electric one. I don’t mind whipping longer as long as it isn’t wasted.
Thanks!
HI Sarnya, I haven’t attempted that but I think it would be impossibly difficult to whip that hard and that long with a hand whisk. My arm hurts just thinking about it.
Thank you for the recipe, I love how this buttercream came out, I am not fun of buttercream cause I don’t like the taste of the butter, but with this one I felt in love. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Hi Victoria, That’s so awesome! Thank you so much for your wonderful review and great feedback!
Once the cake is decorated with this SBC can it be transported in a box for more than three hours? Will it melt or will the cake be ok?
Hi Debbie, from what I have read, there are mixed thoughts about leaving it out vs refrigerating. The majority of sources I have found said it can be left overnight at room temperature. If you can refrigerate, that is probably the safest route and then let it come to room temperature before serving. I bet it would be easier to transport if it is chilled since the frosting firms up and is more stable for transport.
My family went crazy over this icing!!!
Thank you very much!!!
That’s so awesome! Thank you so much for your wonderful review and great feedback, Donna!
Hi
Love your recipe. It’s a big hit at home.
How do you get your buttercream so white?
Mine doesn’t get as white
Hi Derusha, some butters are more yellow in color so maybe try switching to a different butter. I’ve tried organic unsalted by Simple truth brand and the longer sticks from Costco by Kirkland signature unsalted butter and both were very white in color.
I would highly recommend Challenge brand unsalted butter also! My buttercream turns out so white!
This swiss meringue buttercream is amazing! Especially when paired with Natasha’s vanilla cupcake recipe. I filled mine with prickly pear lemon curd. My icing took forever to cool so I threw it in the fridge for an hour and then whipped again. It was perfect!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe Rachel! Thank you for sharing your awesome review with me!
I read using a meringue to apply sprinkles to the outside of a cake is best. My reg buttercream frosting seems to set up too quick to add sprinkles to. If I made this, then froze the cake so I could flip it (I only want the sprinkles on the top) 1 will i be able to flip it without ruining the icing on the top?? 2 will it still allow sprinkles to stick??
Hi Barb, I’m honestly not sure what you mean by flipping the cake – do you mean the bare cake layers or a frosted cake? You would want to bring this frosting to room temperature for the sprinkles to adhere. They would not adhere to this in its frozen form.
Made it, flavor and texture were great but once I added the butter it definitely was no longer white, especially not like in the pic. I would say it was ivory going on beige 🙂
Hi Jenn! That could be the case, some butters are more yellow in color so maybe try switching to a different butter. I’ve tried organic unsalted by Simple truth brand and the longer sticks from Costco by Kirkland signature unsalted butter and both were very white in color.
Can’t wait to try – I need to make enough to cover the outside of a 5 layers cake – should I double…triple?
Hi Merrilee, This recipe makes maybe 5 or 6 cups? It is enough to frost a 9″ two-layer cake so doubleing it would be a good idea!
Hey. I made a four layer cake and the cream was just enough to lightly fill and cover the cake…..it turned out perfect for me….. however if you want a thick layer and to decorate, it won’t be enough.
Thank you for sharing that with us Fatima!
Thanks, both! I ended up doubling just in case and had plenty left over. I used it for my son’s Lego head cake and it came out great – even with a good amount of yellow gel coloring! It has a a nice light taste that will pair well with the more sweet interior layer frosting.
Really tasty light and everyone like it😋. It will be my go cream recipe ..thank you alot.
I’m so happy to hear that Aisha! Sounds like you found a new favorite!
I’m currently making this frosting and everything was ok until I tried to whip it to stiff peaks. The egg white and sugar mixture got quite stiff, but never peaked. I added a stick and a half of the butter ( I made sure the egg mixture was cool) and put it in the freezer. I plan on trying to whip it soon.
Letting it sit in the freezer should help! I hope that works Mira!
It turned out wonderful, and was such a pleasure to make 😀…..the whipped egg and sugar cream looked so delicious I almost didn’t want to add the butter 😅
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
LOVE these ratios of Egg Whites to Granulated Sugar to Butter! My new favorite! Thank you so much!
This piped like a dream and smoothed on so easily to my layered cake!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Jennifer!
Yay! The heaven’s opened up when this recipe worked on the first try! Your instructions were spot on (except for the minutes it took to come to temp – for me much longer), and it felt like that bowl would never cool, but finally it did. At first the mixture was thin, but following your instructions in some of the comments I kept the mixer running and it came together beautifully. I pulled out half for another use and put some lemon curd in the other half and it still held it’s consistency. I plan to pipe it into some lemon macarons! Thank you tons!!!
You’re so welcome! I’m so happy that worked for you! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Hi Natasha,
Thanks for this recipe. I wonder which would be the correct moment to add in any flavors (citrus oil in my case) or colors? And would you advise liquid food color or a powder version?
Thanks!
Hi Frauke, you sure can! I think you could, but add a little color at a time until you reach your desired color while maintaining the consistency. I would recommend using a gel food coloring over a liquid one. I would add the at the very end.
I absolutely adore this recipe. Never again will I make regular buttercream. How can I make a chocolate version of chocolate this?
Hi Nancy, For chocolate SMBC, I have not experimented that way but from what I’m finding online is it may be possible! It is suggested to add 2/3 cup or up to 9 oz of melted, cooled chocolate, or you can add 3/4 cup of nutella. If you experiment, let me know how it goes!
Hi. Would this work if I used already pasteurized eggs from the carton?? If i still put it o er a double boiler just to melt the sugar, would that be ok? Thank you
Hi Amanda, I haven’t tested with carton whites but I have heard readers report both (that it works and others day that it doesn’t), so it may depend on the brand and whether or not there are any additives? One reader wrote: “I did try with the egg whites from a carton and it didn’t work. I started again, this time using egg whites from regular eggs and it worked beautifully.” If you test it out, please let me know how it goes.
Hi. I read the recipe and excited to try it today evening. But I don’t have paddle attachment in my electric hand mixer. May I continue with the whipping attachments? Waiting for your reply. Thanks
Hi Manidipa, I always make this with the paddle attachment and the stand mixer but here is a tutorial on using an electric hand mixer that should help.
It tastes amazing but is very liquidy. I thought it was cool? Maybe not enough? How do I thicken it up? 🙁
Hi Lisa, usually if you just continue beating it for another 2 to 3 minutes, it will thicken. You may run into a problem if your butter was overly soft/partially melted, or if butter was added while the meringue was still warm. If that was the case, I would refrigerate 15 minutes and then continue mixing.
Thanks a ton… 😁
This is an excellent Swiss buttercream recipe. I followed your recipe exactly and it worked wonderfully. It was lighter than most, which I very much appreciate. A lot of Swiss buttercreams often taste like sweetened butter, but this did not.
The only thing I would recommend is to perhaps not make the last beating time of 3 minutes a definitive thing. I found my buttercream was perfectly creamy without the additional three minutes. However, I did beat it for 2 more minutes, which I feel put too much into air into it so that it no longer had that very smooth appearance and instead looked like over-whipped cream. I know many have had the opposite problem, but that is easily solved by checking the temperature of your ingredients. I continuously scanned the temperature of my meringue mix and did not start mixing it with the butter until it reached 73 F. I also whipped my butter and it was at 62 F. Ensuring the temperature is actually room temperature will probably help a lot of people with this icing.
Thank you again for the recipe. It is really a very lovely buttercream.
HI Jeanne, I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for sharing your temperature readings for us, that is helpful!
Hi
I made this 3 times in a row, it comes out perfect. Stiff and firm but while I’m working with it (like crumb coating) it starts getting runny. For the final coat it’s not even firm enough to achieve sharp edges. What am I doing wrong?? Is there something I’m missing? Is it supposed to be kept cold while waiting for the crumb coat to get stuff?
Hi IRene, If it is runny and not pipe-able, the easiest fix is to beat the swiss meringue buttercream frosting a few minutes longer. It could be that the mixture did not cool completely to room temperature before adding butter, but it can be fixed with longer beating. I hope this helps.
Help!! I’ve just made a batch and must have not scraped the bowl well enough while melting the sugar into egg whites because I ended up with a gritty buttercream. I also used pasteurized liquid egg whites. Could that cause a problems? Is there any way to save this buttercream so I don’t have to throw it out??
Hi Danielle, the liquid egg whites may have been the culprit. Are you doing anything else different in the process or maybe using a different tool (hand mixing versus using an electric stand mixer) – using the correct attachments? Not trying an substitutes such as egg whites in the carton? Was the mixing bowl completely at room temperature before adding butter? Most issues with texture are repairable with a little bit longer mixing. I hope that helps!
I did use egg whites from the carton because they are pasteurized I was hoping for some peace of mind. That is the only difference.
Is there any way to save this batch? Maybe heating up the buttercream, refrigerating, then mixing it all again??
Hi Danielle, do the egg whites have any additional additives? You might try refrigerating 10 minutes and then beat again – most often, it is due to the mixture being too warm to form. I would not reheat it, but cooling might work.
Hi Natasha. I use pasteurized carton egg whites all the time with no problem. All whites brand. I have heard that if there are any undisolved sugar crystals left, it can reseed the batch. Also heard that if the temp gets too high, it is especially vulnerable to that.
I actually use the microwave slowly until 160 degrees. Very fast, then put in freezer until cool. But then again, I beat the BUTTER until fluffy, then add cooled egg/sugar mixture in 2batches. No Meringue! It is firm at this point. Easy, fast, fluffy and delicious!
I did have a question. Do you ever add cookie butter or peanut butter to your SMBC? Thank you!
Hi Cynthia, I haven’t tried the microwave method – that would make mer nervous about uneven heating. I haven’t tried adding those to SMBC. I’m not familiar with “cookie butter”
Amazing, this one is for keeps.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that Rumbi!
I just made this three hours ago and it was runny. I thought it was ruined I kept reading comments and one said to put in refrigerator. I did just that for two hours then I whipped it on medium for about 10 minutes more and it turned out perfect. I also changed the flavoring to 1 tsp vanilla and a half teaspoon of almond flavoring. Its perfect!
Hi Cheryl, I’m so happy that worked out for you! Thank you for sharing that with me!