Like a brown-eyed baby born with blue eyes, all my buttercreams are born vanilla. The only exception to that is my brown sugar buttercream because it doesn’t follow the recipe below. Make up a batch of vanilla buttercream and imagine the possibilities. You can add some melted white or dark or milk chocolate, any kind of homemade fruit puree (which I prefer over jam), crushed candies or nuts, zest of orange or lime or lemon, freshly made caramel…really, anything! Just avoid anything with too much liquid in it, or cream cheese (I’ll tell you how to make that further down in this post) as this can break your buttercream.
Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Makes a lot of frosting…enough to frost 24 cupcakes with big swirls, or to fill and frost a cake. Recipe can be halved or doubled with no problems, I have even made 1.5 batches of this recipe many times. If you have left over frosting, you can freeze it in an airtight container for up to 2 months or store it in the fridge for a week. To reconstitute it, take roughly 1/3 of the cold buttercream and microwave it until it’s warm and soupy (not hot). Add the warmed buttercream to the cold buttercream and rewhip with the paddle attachment until silky and smooth.
Okay, this is gonna get super easy. Are you ready? Just remember… 10, 15, and 20 (in that order) and you can make this buttercream anytime without even looking at the recipe. To halve of course, would be 5, 7.5, and 10. I’m talking ounces here, so get out your trusty kitchen scale. If you don’t have one…go buy one. With weight, you will NEVER go wrong with this recipe….
TLB Tip: Before you begin, wipe your mixing bowl and attachments (paddle and whisk if using a stand mixer) with lemon juice soaked paper towel. Just squeeze some lemon juice into the bowl and wipe with a paper towel, use that same paper towel to wipe down your mixing attachments. This will remove any residual oils or grease left on the bowl that would prevent your meringue from whipping up into silky oblivion.
You will need:
10 ounces of egg whites
15 ounces of granulated sugar
20 ounces of room temperature unsalted good quality butter (organic or European butter will give you the best results because it doesn’t have any artificial flavorings added, which can give your buttercream a funny taste)
pinch of salt
1/4 cup pure vanilla extract (not imitation) you can also use vanilla bean seeds scraped from the pod for vanilla bean buttercream. Mmmmmm
TLB Tip: Don’t go separating eggs, unless you really want to. Instead, go to the egg section of the grocery store and purchase liquid pasteurized egg whites. It’s so much easier than wasting egg yolks. I use these liquid egg whites for my buttercreams, royal icing, white cakes, lemon cakes, chiffons, angel food cakes, marshmallows, meringues, french macarons, and more. It’s great stuff!
You will need a medium sized sauce pan that can fit your mixer bowl into the top portion of it (test to make sure it will rest on top comfortably).
Put a couple of inches of water into the saucepan and then put your bowl on top for a second or two, remove the mixing bowl and check to see that there isn’t any water on the bottom of the bowl. You want the bottom of the mixing bowl close to the water but not touching it. Pour some water out, if needed.
Bring the water to a boil over medium high heat.
Set the mixing bowl on your scale and pour 10 ounces of egg whites into the bowl of your stand mixer, clear out the scale and then add the 15 ounces of sugar (you can use organic sugar with ease here because its cooked, the texture wont affect the buttercream). Add a pinch of kosher salt to the mixture.
Lightly whisk the egg and sugar and salt together until they are mixed together and the sugar is no longer clumped on the bottom of the bowl.
Place the bowl with the egg mixture over the boiling/simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture begins to look foamy.
TLB Tip: It’s important that all of the sugar gets dissolved so you don’t end up with grainy buttercream, so for best results, use a thermometer.
Carefully remove the bowl from the saucepan (with a pot holder on your hand) and place on the mixer. Using the whisk attachment, turn mixer on to medium high (#8 on my mixer) until most of the steam is gone, then, crank up the mixer all the way to high (#10 on my mixer) and set a timer for 10 minutes.
If using a stand mixer, you can use these 10 minutes to practice good mise en place and clean up and get your 20 ounces of butter ready. For reference, if using stick butter, that’s 5 sticks of butter. Unwrap the butter, measure it out, and cut and the sticks in half, if using. Some recipes will tell you to cut the butter into little tiny cubes, but that really isn’t necessary, it just makes the process go a little faster. In fact, you can even use cold butter, yes cold, but it will take much longer for the buttercream to come together.
When the 10 minutes is up, the meringue should be beautifully white and fluffy, doubled in size, and the bottom of the bowl should be pretty close to room temp. Stop the mixer, bang the whisk against the bowl several times to dislodge any meringue caught in it and switch to the paddle attachment.
If your mixer can handle the volume, add the butter in all at once. I have a professional 6 qt kitchenaid and it’s a little much for my mixer (I usually double this recipe) so I start on the lowest speed and gradually throw in the butter so it doesn’t overflow. Mix on low speed (#2 on my mixer).
Now is the time to NOT panic because your buttercream is going to look ruined and wrong but trust me on this, it’s just fine.
Stage 1: When the butter begins to mix in, the buttercream will become loose and soupy looking. It’s just the air in the meringue beginning to get weighted down from the fats in the butter and it’s totally normal. Scrape down the bowl if necessary and then continue to mix on low speed
Stage 2: Past the soupy stage, the buttercream may look curdled (sometimes it wont depending on the temp of the butter used). This too, is just fine. It’s just the butter beginning to break down and mix in, if you see this, you’re doing it right!
Stage 3: Right after the curdled stage, a miracle will happen. All of a sudden you will look in the bowl and see the buttercream has become thick and creamy and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the bowl. This is called emulsification…and it’s a beautiful thing. Success! Keep mixing on low speed a couple minutes more until its very silky.
Add in the vanilla extract on low speed and mix again until combined.
Taste the buttercream…it should taste like silky room temperature vanilla ice cream. YUM. Now you can add in any additional flavorings on low speed if desired.
How to make Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
You would think that you could just add some softened cream cheese to a batch of SMB, but sadly, you can’t. Believe me, I’ve tried it…many, many times. The best method for me is to follow a recipe for plain old cream cheese frosting and sub in the SMB. Like this one, courtesy of “Miette” in San Francisco, which can also be doubled.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 3 cups
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sifted, powdered sugar
2 cups (1 pound) cream cheese, room temperature
Now, instead of using the unsalted butter and the powdered sugar, you will substitute your prepared Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead.
Start by beating the room temp cream cheese until completely smooth, then add in the 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons Vanilla SMB and mix on low speed just until combined. Done!
This is my Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream which was born as Vanilla until I added some homemade caramel to it and a pinch of fleur de sel (sea salt)
Comments
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It came out PERFECT. Silky, smooth and amazing. Thank you!
It always takes much longer than 10 minutes for my meringue to form. Is that normal ? It’s still kinda runny in 10 minutes.
I don’t get it, so we don’t add the butter and sugar? You said instead so that confused me.
Thanks
[...] ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg For more detailed instructions on making Swiss Meringue Buttercream, click here [...]
hello, I plan on making this.
http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/188729040605290921_dopoDV0A_c.jpg
I have not used smb before and wondered if it sets hard enough (in the fridge) for me to take out and ad coloured smb for the flowers and then royal piping on top of that? Is this recipe okay for this?
Jeff
Hi, Thanks for the recipe …I’ve tried it and it went out so well. I live in a humid surroundings so i used this SMB to frost my cupcakes in order to stablize my swirl. Everything… taste, saten look and apperence …all was perfect..BUT, the main problem i faced was that when i put the cupcakes in the refrigerator , frosting become so hard to eat..:( just like we are eating a block of butter on the top of cupcakes
:( …..My question is, if i have to deliver the cupcakes to my clients then it wont be fine that when they refrigerate the cupcakes, the whole story of cupcakes change..:( Moreover, the weather of jeddah is so hummid that if we put these cupcakes at room temperature for longer period then they wont retain their shape 
:(so please need a solution to this problem…A BIG help needed , waiting for ur reply..!!
Thanks in advance!
Sajida
Hi Sajida – What you’re experiencing is very common and very normal. SMBC does in fact get very hard in the refrigerator. I always say to store the cupcakes or cakes in the refrigerator but to serve the cupcakes at room temperature. Experiment first by timing how long it will take a cold cupcake to come back to room temperature at your location. Then, go ahead and tell your clients/customers that all they have to do is leave the cupcakes or cakes out at room temperature for that amount of time before eating (for me it’s about 1 hour). The frosting will go back to it’s silky and delicious self as if it were never refrigerated. Hope that helps!
I had never made SMBC before and was eager to try it. I halved your recipe because I knew I didn’t need as much. It worked out well and I totally love the texture. It is truly silky and smooth, although I wasn’t sure of the flavour. It had quite a buttery taste and felt a little like eating raw butter, also the vanilla made it look quite brown. Once it was in the cake it tasted great and everyone loved it. I wondered what vanilla you use? I use a pure vanilla extract and wondered if you used the clear vanilla? I’ve not used that because of all the other stuff added to it, although I am tempted because it’s clear. Might have to experiment with the amount of butter in it. I do like this recipe much better than American Buttercream, it is certainly not as sweet.
Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful recipes. You really do make wonderful cakes. I just sit and stare at them in awe!! You are incredibly talented.
Happy Thanksgiving
Hannah~
I just made this SMBC for the first time today and it is DELISH! It’s soo creamy and smooth, I love it! Thanks so much for sharing. I forgot to put in my pinch of salt and hope that it didn’t make a big difference in my finished product.
Have you used Americolor gels to tint your SMBC? I’ve heard that it could leave streaking when smoothing. I really want to tine mine and not use candy coloring. Thanks
Hi, thanks for the Cream Cheese SMB recipe. I LOVE making SMB, it’s my favourite icing so far! But I also love the taste of cream cheese frosting, which, unfortunately since I live in Bali, always a failure to make. So I had an idea of combining SMB and cream cheese, and thanks for the tips here!
One unrelated Q: how do you make the caramel version of the SMB? Do you just add X amount of caramel into SMB at the end of the butter stage?
Yep! Just add caramel sauce to the finished SMB to taste. Just curious – Why does cream cheese frosting fail in Bali?
Hi there, I want to try a cream cheese or SMBC icing, but am worried about the shelf life. Once a cakes covered with either of these, should it be kept in the fridge, or will it ‘survive’ in a cake box like a fondant or buttercream covered cake?
Many thanks for your advice, Claire
Hi Claire – Cakes with SMBC covered in fondant or ganache can last at room temperature about 5 days. Cakes iced in SMBC (without fondant) can last about 3 days at room temp. Cream cheese frosting, or cream cheese SMBC are perishable and have to be stored in the fridge and can only sit out at room temperature for a few hours. Hope that helps.
I made a buttercream a couple of days ago uing egg whites & brown sugar when it got to the soupy part, after i whipped it to fast i guess .I stopped didn’t add any more butter ,Disaster can i save it or has it gone to far i don’t have a paddle on my machine.panicked put in the fridge.Found your site after looking to see what i can do with disaster.So sad
Thank you for sharing your recipe! Wondering how you take this and then make into the chocolate SMBC that you mentioned in your Ganache video? I’ve tried adding dark chocolate (or semi sweet) to SMBC but when i do it speckles vs blending in to on consitent color/texture. I’m obviously doing something wrong?? I’m guessing it has to do with WHEN to add the chocolate and the temp? Any advice you can share would be greatly appeciated!
I add the choco ganache to the SMBC when the ganache is still very thin (but no longer warm) and fold it in until smooth. If you’re still having trouble, you can try making a small amount of ganache that is 1:1 rather than 2:1 (more of a chocolate sauce or drizzle consistency) and then blend that in. You can also use cocoa powder mixed with just enough hot water to bloom the cocoa and turn it into a pourable sauce, just make sure it cools completely. Hope that helps!
Also, I live in Puerto Rico, and room temperature here is between 80 and 90 degrees all year long. Will this buttercream hold in warm/hot high humidity weather? Usually we use crusting ‘buttercream’ with a shortening base, since butter wont hold for long. Ganache wont work very well either…
This recipe calls for 1/4 cup of Pure Vanilla Extract, is that right? If so, how can I substitute it for vanilla beans, since the extract can be very expensive and 1/4 cup seems too much for me…
Hi Yaritza – yes, 1/4 cup is correct. This recipe makes a big batch of buttercream (enough to frost 24 cupcakes with big swirls and fill and frost an 8 or 9 inch cake). You could also try making your own vanilla extract. Recipe here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=389769961065650&set=a.299456423430338.68127.133591223350193&type=3&theater Or just use your vanilla beans (just keep in mind you will have black specks in your BC)
Hi, Love your website…Will the Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue be as stable as your Swiss Meringue? And will they travel well (driving 2 hrs), also, if i refrigerate the cake, and take out a couple hours ahead, will it be fine? I also live in a humid place. Thanks!
The cream cheese SMB is stable, although somewhat thinner than regular SMB. If you create a dam with regular SMB before filling with the cream cheese SMB, and refrigerate until cold and hard, you should be just fine traveling with the cake
Hi Erin, Thanks for your reply. I actually planned on also covering a carrot cake with the Cream Cheese SMB. Do you think that would hold up as well if refrigerated, and how long would it take to come back to room temp? Thank you so much!!
I would fill the carrot cake with cream cheese SMB, but finish it with vanilla SMB, or cinnamon SMB would be lovely too. I take my cakes out to sit at room temp about 3 hours before I want to serve.
[...] you’d like to use my Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe, you can find it here. What You Will [...]
Hi there! Thanks for sharing this. I saw your tip about using pasteurized egg whites, but I tried that once and noticed the meringue didn’t whip up as high or firm. I’ve also read from multiple sources that what I experienced would happen. Does this make a difference in the final consistency of the buttercream? Thanks!
Your website and cakes are fabulous! I was wondering if there is a particular brand of pasteurized egg whites that you use. I have tried several but have not found one that will whip up past a ribbon stage. Also, your yellow cake recipe is just awesome!
Your site and cakes are amazing!!
I have made SMBC numerous times and it is wonderful to decorate with. Does the cream cheese version hold up as well as the regular version if using it to pipe flowers onto cupcakes?
Thanks much!
Hi Erin!
I could look at your cakes over & over and never tire from it! they are truly beautiful.
Quick question though- on the English Rose cake and the Rotating Princess cake, I see you’ve used some fondant embossers for the names. Where did you purchase those? I’ve been searching the internet and can’t seem to find them… I love the font!
If you could let me know, that would be great!!
-V
Hi there! I use rubber stamps to emboss names. You can get them in several different types of fonts. I find my stamps on Amazon or at craft stores such as Michaels.
One more question! Can I do the ruffle icing technique with regular cream cheese icing? Or should l do it would the SMBC cream cheese? My sister wants a red velvet cake for her birthday and I’d like to do ruffles for her.
Thanks!
I love your site, your cakes and this recipe! Am devoted to SMBC…but this batch of mine just won’t move past the curdled milk stage…in fact there are drops of water in it as well, and believe me I have been beating for ages!! Is there a way to resque this or do I start over? :/
The drops of water are from the butter separating it’s fat from it’s liquids. Are you using high quality butter? Some of the cheaper low-quality butters will separate and have a hard time emulsifying. If you’ve been beating on low for more than 20 minutes and it still wont come together, I would start over and use a higher quality butter and make sure your mixing bowl is completely clean by rubbing it with fresh lemon juice.
Well, just tried to use the left over icing that I made for my son’s cake last weekend. I had it in the fridge, so I whipped it up again but it separated and looked soupy and awful! I took the other half of the leftovers and warmed a little up and them mixed it – same thing happened! I’ve made a double batch before and managed to get it all silky and smooth again. Any idea what I could have done wrong? I mixed it on med/low speed.
Hope you can help! Thanks!
Anita – of the TOTAL amount you want to bring back to life, take about 1/3 of the amount and warm in the microwave until it is liquid (not hot, just melted). Add the melted amount (1/3 of the batch) to the cold amount (2/3 of the batch) and mix on med low until combined. Then go up to medium speed until it comes back to being silky and fluffy as the day you made it. It will go through an awful curdled, separated and/or soupy looking stage…just KEEP mixing until it comes back together. It sounds like from your explanation, you first whipped all of it without warming 1/3 of it, and the second time you warmed all of it? If so, neither of these will work, or you just didn’t mix long enough. Try again with your next batch. Good luck!
Thanks for getting back to me! The second time I only warmed up 1/3 but I think, by the sounds of things I didn’t mix it for long enough. How long should I keep mixing for? Do you use the mixing paddle or whisk attachement?
I am going to keep trying! I have 2 cakes on the weekend. Thanks for your help
Making this for the *100th* time (or just about)
And still love it as much as the first time I made it! Vanilla cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream filling for my son’s 5th birthday tomorrow! Thanks again, Erin, love this site, your cakes and your recipes!!
Thanks, Erin! And I am in total agreeance with Erica- a tutorial would be fabulous!! I’ve also seen some people use a 10″ cake board for a 10″ cake while using ganache… That way you get perfect sides. Is that the way you do it?
Excellent! Followed to the letter and it is perfect! Not too sweet …used it on a banana cake with slices of banana between layers.yum! Thank you!
Hi Erin,
I wanted to thank you for sharing this. I now use this formula and never crack an egg anymore when I’m making swiss meringue buttercream. THANK YOU!
I do want to know if you ever subbed the granulated sugar for brown sugar. Would the ratios remain the same?
Thank you again!!!
Hi Lori! So glad this recipe has worked for you. For brown sugar buttercream the recipe changes to 8 oz egg whites, 20 oz brown sugar, 24 oz unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons of vanilla. 8-20-24. Not as easy to remember as 10-15-20 but just embrace it
Hi Erin, I wanted to know, how you get your ganache so clean on your cakes, would you be willing to share a tutorial on how you do that?
Do you dirty ice before ganache, and then fondant? Also, after you ganache do you put your cake in the fridge, and then fondant it?
Btw: your cakes are so clean, and are edible perfection!
Thanks!
I dirty ice or “crumb coat” with a thin layer of ganache, before the full ganache job. I don’t crumb coat with buttercream if I am applying ganache as the buttercream will mix with the ganache and you wont get it as smooth and you’ll have a much more difficult time with it. After ganache and before the final step of hot knifing, I put the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes, then it stays out at room temp overnight, preferrably.
I made a sample batch and it was way too buttery! It was very much yellow and looks like
butter. If I cut down a bunch of butter, would it be better? Btw in the scaled down batch I used half stick of butter and 1 egg white and 1.3 oz sugar, I weighed them all too)
my smbc seriously just looks like butter not frosting ):
I finally made this frosting and it was great!
How could I make this frosting lemon flavored instead of vanilla?
I need this recipe for a 2 layer 9 in round cake.
I have a large kitchen aid mixer, will this recipe amount be too little for my big mixer?
If it is, what is the least amount I could multiply the recipe by to be enough?
The Pro 620 with the 6 qt bowl is currently the largest KitchenAid on the market. It is the model I have as well and use everyday, including this recipe. The volume is not too low for that size mixer.
Is it possible to overbeat this frosting?
As long as you’re beating on low speed after the butter is added, you cant really overbeat this frosting. Once the emulsification has occured, and if you were to increase the speed to medium or high, you run the risk of the buttercream breaking after prolonged beating
Would this be enough for a large kitchen aid mixer?
It’s the one with the crank handle on the side…and large metal bowl that attaches on by the sides .
Yes, its enough for any kitchenAid Mixer. If using an industrial or commercial size mixer, I would double or triple the recipe
Oh I meant would the frosting amount be too little for my big mixer? I am going to use the recipe to frost a two layer 9 inch round cake.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes! Could you please share your steps to create your Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I see that it starts with your vanilla SMB then you add homemade caramel. What is the ratio and what temp is the caramel when you add it? Also, is the caramel the recipe that you shared (minus the pumpkin and spice)?
BTW, your cakes are beautiful!!
You can add caramel to taste starting with about 1 cup and adding more if needed. Caramel, along with anything else you add to a meringue buttercream, must be no warmer than room temperature or you will melt the butter in the buttercream. The caramel recipe I posted is for making caramel candies and would be too thick to mix into buttercream. Look for a recipe for homemade caramel sauce instead. Ina Garten has a lovely one.
Wonderful! Thanks so much
Thanks so much for the tip on reconstituting the frosting. I pulled mine out of the fridge expecting to frost some cupcakes and found it hard. I would have been lost!
Yes, thank you! That makes a lot of sense. I can’t wait to try your method.
Hi. I have a questions about your cream cheese SMB recipe above. You said that you can’t just add softened cream cheese to a batch of SMB (I have also tried this without much success). But then your instructions say “instead of using the unsalted butter and the powdered sugar (in the cream cheese frosting), you substitute your prepared Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead. Start by beating the room temp cream cheese until completely smooth, then add in the 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons Vanilla SMB and mix on low speed just until combined.”
Would you be able to clarify this? Thanks.
For the fats in the cream cheese to not break the SMB, the ratio seems to be, in broad terms, more cream cheese and less SMB. Adding the cream cheese to the already made SMB seems to break it, but doing it the other way around (adding smaller amounts of SMB to the softened cream cheese) works. If you follow a cream cheese frosting recipe, the ratio of butter to cream cheese is the correct amount to make it work…but in this case you will use the prepared SMB instead of the butter. Does that help?
On your Cake Central Post for how you made the Hi-Hats cupcakes you said to use either Swiss or Italiah Buttercream “but don’t add the butter”… without the butter wouldn’t it be Royal Icing and get really hard?
Royal Icing is made from raw egg whites or egg white powder, lots of powdered sugar, and small amounts of lemon juice and water. The high amounts of sugar and the uncooked egg whites is what leads to the RI turning into edible “glue” and becoming hard. Meringue buttercreams are completely different in that the egg whites and sugar are cooked to a certain temperature and then lightly whipped resulting in soft, billowy, marshmallow-like meringue that does not harden under the chocolate. This method is similar to a frosting called “7 minute frosting” with just a little more oomph
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for sharing your Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream with us,I cant wait to try this. Your cakes are always so beautiful. Do you let you cakes chill good before applying your fondant?? I’m sure with the butter in it that it does harden in the fridge.
THank you again,
Jody
I fill my cakes with SMB, but I ganache the outsides before fondant. If I am using buttercream under the fondant, I will let the cake rest after being filled and stacked, apply a crumb coat, refrigerate until set and hard, and then apply another very thin coat of SMB but do not put in the fridge. If you cover a very cold cake with room temperature fondant, the difference in temperature can cause air bubbles in your fondant or ridging (where you can see the layers in the cake beneath the fondant).
thanks for the tip Erin!
I make this type buttercream a lot (scary in rfdlioa!) and love it, but want a pristine white buttercream. Do you know how to do? I have seen it on cakes by Gail Watson and it’s gorgeous. It takes more than just using a clear vanilla – it’s the yellow in the butter that makes the icing always come out a pale yellow shade. Any ideas?
[...] One recipe of your favorite vanilla frosting or buttercream, or use our Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream [...]