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
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.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Can I add food coloring at the end? I want to make it pink for my daughter’s birthday.
Hi Irina, 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.
Great recipe! It took longer to cool than expected in the mixer (45/50min) but stuck with it and it turned out great! I used it to ice a cake and do piping work with it. It was fantastic!
I’m so happy it worked out for you Paloma! Thank you for sharing your feedback with us!
Natasha, I’m making a wedding cake for a friends daughter next week. I want to use SMB. Can I use it over an American BC crumb coat? Should I use all SMB. If I should can I use smb as filling and crumb coat and then freeze. I want to finish decorating the cake the day before the wedding. Please advise.
Hi Tamia, I would suggest testing that combination in advance (wedding cakes would make me nervous for experimenting). It should work fine to frost over a buttercream crumb coat and this frosting is freezer safe so it should be ok to freeze the finished cake.
i had beautiful egg whites and then when I added my first tablespoon of butter it turned to a liquid, I finished adding the butter but it’s still runny after 20 minutes of beating! What went wrong
Hi Emma, 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.
I find the type of butter you use makes a difference. Do not use one labeled sweet cream butter. More milk seems to weep out and prevent a firm product
How does this hold outside? Making my sisters wedding cake in 3 weeks. Looking for a good buttercream that will not melt.
Hi Jasmin, if it will be left out for a long time, I would experiment with refrigerating it as long as you can and then letting it come to room temperature over time during the wedding. It will take a couple hours for it to fully soften (more or less depending on the temperature of the location).
Omgoodness this recipe is so yummy! Thanks for sharing- such a good change from the usual butter cream frosting! It’s lighter, and so silky- and somehow feels like its a tad healthier since the egg whites take the place of all that shortening! This is a keeper for sure! I haven’t let them sit overnight yet to see how it holds but even if it doesnt- next time i would just make the day of because I love it so much!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, Megan!
I can sometimes still taste the butter in the frosting. Should it just be mixed more or should I add something?
Hi Jenna. Did you alter the recipe in any way? If you put less than 2 cups of sugar, it might taste too much like butter.
This is a great recipe! But it tastes buttery how do I fix this??
Hi Shawnee, Was anything altered in the recipe by chance? It shouldn’t taste buttery. You might add more sugar if you prefer a sweeter frosting which will also mask any butter flavor. I hope that is helpful to you! 🙂
Hi, what is the yield for this recipe?
Hi Christine, I wish I had measured it that way, but I can only guess now – maybe 5 or 6 cups? It is enough to frost a 9″ two-layer cake.
Hey. Can you use pasteurized egg whites from a carton for this recipe??
Hi Jae, those can have additives in them and results can be hit and miss because of it. I would recommend fresh egg whites.
Hi Natasha, I want to make a cookie cake and was wondering if SMB can be used to pipe between the layers and on top?
Hi Lydia. I honestly don’t see why not!
Thank you so much for answering so quickly.
Can you double the recipe for Swiss Meringue frosting? The Meringue is really good.
You can definitely double this recipe.
This looks delicious! I’m just wondering if it cooks the egg whites and is it safe to eat?
Hi Mel! Yes it is completely safe!
I double checked this because I wanted to make it for a baby shower cake and it turns out that the temperature you heat the egg whites to kills all the dangerous bacteria that could be in raw eggs, yet does not cook the eggs. It’s even safe for pregnant women. 🙂 My pregnant friend loved it.
yes. you already cooked the eggs during the process of double boiling. I always make SMBC and it is always a success specially this recipe. The taste is delicious with chocolate specially with vanilla cake filled with mixed berry curd! this recipe never fails. If you are skeptical about the eggs, you have the choice of using organic eggs or try Italian SMBC same as this only requires sugar syrup and Candy thermometer. As for this recipe, I highly recommend it is airy and dreamy and yummy mucccchh better than American buttercream. Hope I helped. You can flavor it as well.
I was wondering how to fix my smb because I made it and it was great and then I put it in the fridge and when I took it out to use it again I put it in my stand mixer to try and beat it up a gain then it looked like it was splitting so then I put it in the freezer and took it out and it was still like that. Is there any way I could fix this ? Please reply asap
Hi Holly. It should have been fine after taking it out of the fridge, I’m sorry to hear that happened. Make sure to read all of the tips throughout the post and that should help. It sounds like maybe your meringue was too warm when butter was added. I have had that happen before and it needs to be refrigerated and whipped again. I have also found that giving it 3 minutes of extra mixing time helps if it still looks too loose. Longer mixing time will fix it almost every time!
I made this cream today for cupcakes and it was amazing. I am so glad that I found this recipe. Thanks Natasha!
One question: can I use this cream for cream tart cake?
Hi Olga! Honestly I haven’t tried that. If you do experiment please let me know how you like it!
I’ll let you know! I plan to do the cream tart cake for my fathers birthday in September. I will try to use this amazing cream! Thanks again!
Looking forward to it
I’m going to try something a bit different the next time I need a buttercream. I have a really hard time getting the meringue to come down to room temperature. I’ve got an old style KitchenAid with the solid metal base, which is part of the problem. 20 minutes and still quite warm. I took the bowl off the mixture and put it in an ice bath. Next time I’m going to make the egg white sugar mix, and chill that. Then whip it and see how it goes from there.
Still, a phenomenal recipe! Yum!
Thank you Valerie! I’d love to hear how those changes turn out!
Valerie, I have a cheap stand mixer with a plastic base and i have a similar problem. I let the warm mixture stand on the counter for 5-10 minutes before I start to whip it and I wrap a cold wet towel around the bowl to help bring the temperature down. A water bath could work, too.
That’s exactly what I do! I dissolve the sugar into the egg whites, then my bowl goes into an ice bath for a few mins. Whips up fast and perfect!
Fabulous recipe! Excellent, well-written instructions, too!
Thank you for the great compliment Valerie! I appreciate the feedback!
I have wanted to try Swiss Meringue for some time. I often freeze cakes in advance for when I am expecting someone for dinner. Since I have never made this type of frosting I would like to know if the cake and frosting will freeze well. I am having 14 people over next Friday and would like to make a couple of deserts in advance.
Hi Rosanna! I haven’t tried that but I think it can be done since this frosting is freezer safe. I have only tried refrigerating this type of buttercream but from my research, it should be ok to freeze but you do need to make sure it is thawed before rewhipping and using. Thawing can take 2 hours or more depending on your room temperature. I hope that helps!
I was thinking of freezing the cake complete….after frosting. I wouldn’t freeze the frosting by itself.
Rosanna, if you do that I would love to know how the cake holds up! I haven’t tried freezing it already frosted. 🙂
LOVE this recipe! Worked great. Thank you SO much!
I definitely pretended like the meringue was room temp when it wasn’t (despite your very clear instructions!) and ended up with runny whip cream texture. Popped the batch in the fridge for 20 mins and then re-whipped and it was perfect.
I’m so happy it worked out for you Kathleen! 🙂
Is there any Way possible I could turn this into a chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream?
Hi Holly! I haven’t tried making this chocolate, but From my research, chocolate is always added at the end. I would probably start with 8-9 semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled and whip it in at the end.