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.
I made this a few weeks ago. When I added the butter, it turned soupy. No whipping fixed it. Finally, I stuck it in the fridge for an hour and tried again, and it was perfect. I didn’t cool my meringue enough. Anither recipe says you can put a bag of ice around the bowl while you mix in the butter to cool it down. I may try that today. I plan to add melted and cooled chocolate to the buttercream. We shall see how it works. I’ve tried another smbc before but it was way too buttery. This one was really good. Everyone liked it
Sounds like a good plan, Christine. We would love to know how it goes, please share it with us.
Hi Natasha. I tried this buttercream- it was sooo beautiful. I’ve tried several other buttercreams, but they were so thick and not smooth enough. Your recipe was just great, as the consistency was just so perfect- thank you so much! I was just wondering if I can flavour this buttercream. Let’s say that I was making a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. How much melted chocolate should I be adding. It would also be great to know if I can double this recipe, or if there is any other way to make a larger batch. Again, thank you so much for this recipe!
What a great compliment and feedback, Keneesha. Thank you so much for sharing that with us and for giving this recipe an awesome review!
No problem! I was just wondering if I can flavour this buttercream. Let’s say that I was making a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. How much melted chocolate should I be adding? Also, can I double this recipe, or is there any other way to make a larger batch?
Hi Keneesha, I haven’t tested this with chocolate to advise but here is what one of our readers wrote “I ended up adding 3oz of melted semisweet chocolate and 3 oz of bitter 100%cocoa chocolate after adding the vanilla. I didn’t want the sweetness to go up because of the chocolate. And I also sifted about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder at the end and hand mix that in. Tastes amazing! I’ll re-whip on Friday for the cupcakes I’m making” I hope that helps.
Thanks, that helps so much! How about doubling this recipe?
I haven’t tried that but it may overwhelm the mixer unless you have an industrial size.
Yes, u can flavor the frosting. Just add a bit at a time until u achieve the flavor u are looking for. i.e. I made a mocha frosting… by adding powdered cocoa and coffee concentrate. turned out amaaaaazing… and yes, u can also double the recipe. It does take a little longer, but still worked fine.
Oh, that’s great. Though I did once see a tip on another website that doubling the batch wouldn’t be so safe. Do you think that this is true, or is it still safe to double the batch? Thanks for letting me know!
How many cups of frosting does this recipe make? Thank you!
Hi Carol, This recipe makes maybe about 5 or 6 cups. It is enough to frost a 9″ two-layer cake, OR it will ice 24 cupcakes.
I was about to ask the same question. 🙂 I’m making a cookies & cream anniversary cake this weekend as a surprise for a young couple I’m friends with and I was trying figure out how much I’ll need to make. Knowing how much this recipe makes is a huge help. I think this is a better choice of frosting as opposed to American buttercream (which I love) since I’ll be using ganache, oreos and dark chocolate cake. I didn’t want the cake to be overly sweet , putting the couple into a coma (LOL), and this frosting looks perfect! Thank you, Natasha!
I can’t imagine a decorator using this frosting for cakes, cupcakes, or any other treat that needs to be beautifully decorated.
The frosting was more like marshmallow fluff…dashing my dreams for a beautiful 40th birthday cake.
Hi Christina, I am happy to help troubleshoot where I can. This is normally a pretty stable frosting and great for piping on cakes and cupcakes. Consider if you changed anything in the recipe (timings, temperatures, proportions), also if the frosting takes longer to come together, it may be due to adding butter before the mixture cooled sufficiently so you need to mix longer and it will come together even when it looks like it won’t. I hope that helps.
I forgot to mention that I used carton egg whites. They worked just fine for me. However this time I am going to try real eggs.
I didn’t let the mixture cool enough even though it was well over an hour after I took it off the heat. Can I place it in the refrigerator after my peaks are stiff and glossy to cool before I add the butter? AND is it possible to overbeat this once the butter is added?
Hi Cheri, typically, the issue is with under-beating and not over-beating unless you are changing the method (using a balloon whisk at very high speed for example) I haven’t tried refrigerating at that point and probably would not recommend it. I don’t think it would incorporate the butter properly without breaking down.
hi this recipe was turning out really great until I added the butter, it then went very runny and even after about 25mins of whipping it still did not turn out nice and fluffy but I made it again and didn’t add the butter and it was just fine! xo
Hi Ruby, 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.
I’ve never made Swiss meringue butter cream before. It turned out great. I haven’t used it on a cake yet as this was a test run. The taste is amazing and it’s so smooth and fluffy. I will definitely use this recipe again.
Glad it was a success! Thanks for sharing that with us, Jennifer.
Hello! This is my first time making Swiss meringue buttercream, is there anyway to fix my butter cream to make it taste less buttery after making it? And also for next time could I just use the meringue without butter for frosting or would it not withhold? Thank you
Hi, make sure not to cut the sugar and to use vanilla and everything in proportion with how it’s written. Using less sugar will make it seem more buttery.
I used the exact measurements but o guess it could just be to buttery for my preference, but again could I just use the meringue itself or would in not work for cake decorating?
Hi Galatia, make sure not to reduce the sugar in the recipe or it can seem buttery. Swiss meringue buttercream frosting is stable enough to pipe onto cakes for decorating.
I didn’t have the great response with this recipe that others had I am sad to say. My sugar and egg whites never dissolved even after 25 minutes over simmering water. I used farm fresh eggs, that may have been the problem. I went ahead and finished off the recipe as directed hoping that beating the butter in would help but of course it did not. The recipe just ended up tasting like a beautiful fluff, with sugar grit and too much butter. But thank you for the recipe at any rate.
Hi Rita, I haven’t had that happen before – did you possibly use coarse or organic sugar? That could be the culprit.
Amazing! Have made it 3 times already and it’s only been 1 1/2 months! We are hooked – can’t even think of having a different frosting!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
HI Natasha, this is a great tasting recipe! my issues with SMBC is that as soon as I add the vanilla extract the mixture immediately starts to curdle and doesn’t go back to the nice creamy look it had after the butter had been incorporated. Does that have anything to do with the type of vanilla I use?
I use the artificial vanilla by the way.
Thank you!
Hi Nat, I’m not sure if there is some kind of ingredient in it that would cause that. I’m using our natural homemade vanilla but I haven’t heard of that happening in my research. Usually it separates if the butter is added while the mixture is too warm.
Hi Nat, I’m not sure if there is some kind of ingredient in it that would cause that. I’m using our natural homemade vanilla but I haven’t heard of that happening in my research. Usually, it separates if the butter is added while the mixture is too warm.
I will use this recipe again and again! It is smooth, easy to make, and taste beautiful!!!
I’m glad to hear that, Kathi! Thanks for sharing.
Tastes awesome, but I couldn’t get it to whip up after adding the butter! Where did I go wrong?
Hi Nic, 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. I hope this is helpful.
Hi Natasha. Thank you for this recipe, Trying to make it at the moment, the first part was amazing, after I put in the butter, it became liquid and deflated, I was mixing for a while after n it still the same, how can I rescue the frosting.
Hi Stephanie, 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.
Would love to see video of Swiss butter cream frosting, I’ve never made it, don’t think I’ve ever tasted it, very nervous over the amount of egg white, and heating it up!Love all your recipes, especially the chicken pie, do you do beef in a pie?
Hi Jean! Thank you so much for that suggestion! I do not have a beef pie, but I bet with substitutions, that could be possible! If you experiment, I would love to know how you like this recipe.
Is it okay to use salted butter and then half of the amount of salt?
Yes, that would work! I hope you love it.
Is it possible to incorporate a bit of cream cheese into this recipe?
Hi Rachel, I honestly haven’t tried that yet to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes!
Hi Natasha, I found this recipe several years ago when I first wanted to give SMBC a go and I nailed it first time with your wonderful instructions. It now gets used for about 200 cupcakes a week, thank you so much! My only query is that my piping is never as neat with SMBC as it is with ordinary buttercream, I think because it is so airy. Is there a way I can improve this?
Hi Hollie, it could be the type of frosting tip. I like a large open star tip for SMBC versus a closed star tip.
Really amazing buttercream :)!!! I unfortunately only had my whisk attachment and I made it all with the whisk buuuuut it does taste like I whipped the butter LOL is that normal?
Hi Monti, it is a buttercream but should be sweet like a frosting.
I can’t figure out how to fit my kitchenaid mixing bowl into a pan of hot water when my bowl has a handle. There is no way to make sure the bottom of the bowl seals to the top of the pan of water. I have to find another recipe, as I need the cake TOMORROW :=)
Hi! I’m not sure you need this after Feb, but! You could pasteurize the eggs/melt the sugar in a glass bowl over double boiler and cook that way. Then just pour the mixture into your stand mixing bowl, easy! 😉
I used to have the same issue with the Kitchenaid mixing bowl, I now simply put another heat-safe bowl in the pot to “shield” the mixing bowl from direct contact with the water and it has been working really fine.