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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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.
It worked! It worked!
Hooray!!!! I made it twice this recipe and worked perfectly.
Just put it back in the fridge to firm and whipped again!
That’s so great, Teresa! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Hi,
I would like to make the SMBC in pastel pink so may I know when to add the food colouring gel?
Hi Yen, 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.
Can’t wait to try this recipe!! Can you use already separate eggs white that you buy in a Carton from Costco? If so what would the measurement be on that( cups/tablespoons)? Thanks!
Hi Emily, 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 Emily and Natasha,
I have used carton egg whites most of the time. I’m in Western Australia (where it’s hot for much of the year). I buy the brand called Puregg, it is 100% egg whites, nothing else added, I don’t know if Costco brand is the same.
This recipe works for me every time. I made it last weekend, it was a pretty hot day. I find the best thing is, when I have heated the egg white and sugar until the correct temp to melt sugar and pasteurise the egg white, I then put it in the fridge to cool it BEFORE beating it. Just make sure you don’t get condensation from the shelf above, dripping into the bowl. DO NOT cover the bowl, you don’t want water dripping into it. I leave it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, then start the beating process when I can feel the outside of the bowl is room temp.
Also, make sure your butter isn’t too warm. Room temp doesn’t mean warm, it should just indent a little when you press a finger into it, not slip deep into the butter. I hope this also helps others in warm climates. I have never had it go sloppy with this method. Cheers
Thank you so much for sharing your results using carton egg whites. That is really helpful!
Can I use salted butter and omit the salt at the end?
Egg whites and sugar, heat to 160F✔️
Fluffy peaks ✔️
Butter to room temp add to fluffy peaks ✔️
Mixtures turned to soup 😭
I lost all hope! Refrigerated entire mixture.
Then I read to keep mixing just keep mixing 🐠
Persevered and it came out beautifully ❤️ Literally soupy then BAM into fluffy peaks again
Also – from Australia and it still worked (I did read a comment previously saying it didn’t work for a blogger from aus. Although it is 1 week after summer maybe not as humid?)
Thank you so much for sharing that with us. It’s really helpful for others who are also experiencing some issues. Appreciate that and your good review too!
Recipe looks grainy and not coming together. Any suggestions?
Hi Stefanie, I’d be happy to troubleshoot. I also recommend reading through some of the comments, there are quite a few tips in there you may find helpful. Did you use a different kind of sugar maybe or used more than? Was anything else altered in the recipe?
Do you think this would be good on a strawberry cake? My daughter wants “pink” cake and I really want to try this recipe!
Hey Nikki. I haven’t tried that yet to advise but I imagine that should work too. Let me know how it goes in case you do an experiment!
Hi Nikki, that sounds delicious! I bet that would work great together. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I made this today and it tastes amazing. I used carton egg whites and the consistency turned out great. However I added a pinch of salt at the end and whipped it a bit longer, but I could feel the graininess of the salt when I taste. Any suggestions to get rid of that?
Hi Jessi, if it doesn’t have enough time to incorporate and melt into the buttercream, you get a little graininess, so make sure to use a fine grain salt (kosher would take awhile since it has big flakes) and give it a little more time mixing.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!! Been wanting to try SMBC for a long time.(Either sounded too complicated or I’ve just been lazy…)
At any rate, this recipe turned out perfectly the first time. Beautiful fluff without being overly sweet! Finally an icing even I like!!! My advice if it’s not turning out, be patient! Each step took a while longer for me and I had to finalize whipping on high speed, but this recipe is dead on!!! Thanks again… Oh yeah, this icing is perfect for practice decorating! You can deck out your cake then swipe it all off and start over, repeatedly!!! (Not much fun with American Buttercream.) The photos throughout this recipe were a great addition too!!!
I’m so glad that was helpful! Thank you for sharing your experience with this.
I was completely out of sugar when I decided to try this recipe for a second time, and i substituted with powdered sugar it was a success!!
That’s so awesome Lauren! I’m so glad that worked for you!
Do u think substituting flax seed gel with egg whites work? If so, how much do we need to replace?
Hi Angela, I honestly cannot say that it will or will not work out. This recipe heavily relies on the eggs for a substitution to be considered.
Wanting to try swiss buttercream icing but make ahead & freeze. My question is can u store it in plastic container after it is prepared?? I know u cannot use any plastic when preparing due to grease possibility ruining the mixture. Thanks for ur prompt reply. Pat
Hi Pat, you can store in a clean and dry container that is plastic. I would suggest washing with soap and water before using and thoroughly drying it.
Hello, how long can you store it for? Both in fridge and freezer x
Hi Krishna, it will keep tightly covered in the fridge up to 2 weeks and up to 2 months in the freezer. See the make-ahead tips above for bringing it back to its creamy consistency.
Any tips for making the icing not soupy? The first time I made it, I just put the whole bowl in the fridge to cool it down and it turned out perfectly. The most recent time making, It was still soupy even after refrigeration. I also added some freeze dried strawberry powder, so I’m not sure if that had any affect on it.
Hi Lola, it can look soupy before it comes together and that is normal. If it stays soupy after a few extra minutes of mixing, it is likely due to adding butter before the meringue fully reached room temperature, or due to adding oversoftened or partially melted butter. I would suggest refrigerating 10-15 minutes at a time and continuing to mix and it should come together.
Can I use pasteurized egg whites in a carton?
Hi Hannah, it is difficult to say. I have had some readers report poor results using carton whites. It could be due to additives in the whites but it could also have been due to a change in the process or deviating from recipe instructions.
Hi! Im anxious to try your recipe and compare to mine, If I were to cut this recipe in half, how many egg whites would I use? Thanks in advance
3-4 egg whites should be alright Pam. Let me know how it goes!
Wow! First time of making this and its a success. Will never use American buttercream again. I made ahead of time in case it didn’t work out to use on a couple of large valentines cakes that I’m making for people. Will keep in the fridge for a few days before using. Thanks for the great recipe and excellent method x
Hello Christine. I am happy to hear that the recipe was a success! Thank you for sharing.
Hi there, how many cups of buttercream does this recipe leave you with? I need enough for a semi naked 4 layer 9 inch cake
Hi Victoria, this recipe makes maybe 5 or 6 cups? It is enough to frost a 9″ two-layer cake OR it will ice 24 plus cupcakes so doubling it would be a good idea! One of our readers wrote, “I put a generous amount on 24 cupcakes and still had some left.” I hope that helps
Hi,
I was wondering if I could use aquafaba instead of egg whites for a vegan alternative. If so, how much would I put in?
Hi Angela, to be honest, I have not tested that with a vegan substitute to advise. This recipe relies on the egg whites but if you find a solution I would love to know how you like that.
It’s not very effective in an Australian summer with humidity of 90%
It’s been mixing for 35 minutes and it’s still not coming together. And that is after is 100% was cold enough, butter was still cold to touch just soft and with 2 x 10m in the fridge.
Sadly this isn’t work the amount of time and money to make in this climate in Australia French butter cream works a bit
better here
Yes, the humidity will affect the recipe. We try to keep it in a controlled in a home environment even during the hazy days of summer. Thank you for sharing that with me.
Hi! I’m wondering how can you make the buttercream so white? They’re lovely!
Hi Kat, some butters are more yellow in color and make this less white. 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.
Thank you so much for the info
This frosting is simply amazing! Can you add flavoring to it? If so should I use an extract? I am looking for a light option to decorate a sour cream pound cake in a few days. Was hoping for a lemon flavor. Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Rebecca! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed this frosting. Normally flavorings are added at the very end. If you try something new, I would suggest trying to add it to a small batch in a ramekin to be sure it doesn’t hurt the consistency and to see if you enjoy the overall flavor. There are so many ideas! Almond extract, liqueurs, fruit puree or preserves, the list goes on. You might google to get ideas for add-ins, depending on the type of cake you’re making. If you are adding another then I would sub the vanilla.
How much icing does this recipe make?
Hi Lauryn, this recipe makes maybe 5 or 6 cups? It is enough to frost a 9″ two-layer cake OR it will ice 24 plus cupcakes so doubling it would be a good idea! One of our readers wrote, “I put a generous amount on 24 cupcakes and still had some left.” I hope that helps
Hi, your frosting taste amazing, but I messed it up again. After five minutes of whipping the sugar and eggs, I had stiff peaks.
Once I added the butter, it became a little too wet/soupy. I tried to heat longer, but it became crystalized looking. Any advice would be appreciated!!!
Hi Anna, there is a period of time where it looks soupy and looks like it won’t come together but be patient and give it a few more minutes. Please see the troubleshooting tips above which cover the most common questions about SMBC frosting.
Hi there
How far in advance can I make this?
Thankyou
Hi Cindy, it will be fine to cover and refrigerate for several days, just be sure to bring it to room temperature then re-beat it to smooth and fluff the frosting
I’m trying to use mine after 3 days in the refrigerator but it is VERY runny. It whipped up just fine when I made it. How can I whip it to bring it to its former glory?
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.
It seems if I hear it longer, it looks like the butter is breaking down and the mixture is not smooth anymore but looks liken it broke down. Is that possible.
Hi Gaylene, typically it will look a little soupy before it comes together. It almost looks like it won’t come together just before it does. If it stays that way too long, I suggest refrigerating for 10 minutes at a time then continuing to beat longer.
This is the best buttercream frosting recipe I have tried. It is absolutely perfect! Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Ok, I admit I got a little panicky after the butter was added because it didn’t thicken up, but just took a little longer. 5 more minutes of mixing with the paddle attachment and it looks and tastes like heaven, thank you for the recipe!!
I’m so glad that worked out for you Hope! Thank you for the amazing feedback.
I’m going to give this a second shot today! I’ve been on a macaron kick lately. Do you think it would work well for that or is it too light?
Hi Sarah, I think it would still taste good but it doesn’t have a distinct flavor so I don’t usually use it for macarons.