| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | about 2 quarts buttercream |
Ingredients
- 9 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds unsweetened butter (6 sticks), softened but still cool
- Optional flavoring: extracts, melted chocolate, liqueurs, fruit and fruit purees, broken cookies, chopped candy, nut pastes, instant coffee
Instructions
- Place the egg whites and sugar in large metal mixer bowl set over simmering water. Whisk constantly until the sugar melts and the mixture is very thin and warm.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Continue beating on low speed until cool, about 15 more minutes.
- Beat in small pieces of the cool but soft butter on low speed. The mixture may “curdle” before coming together. Add vanilla extract or other flavorings if desired. Rebeat occasionally while frosting the cake to maintain a smooth texture.
Reviews
Way too many eggs. When this recipe ends up curdling, and it does, it’s just so expensive. I’ve found other recipes that work just as well and use maybe half the product.
I too ended up with cottage cheese like texture. I tried microwaving a small portion and adding it back, which helped a bit. I decided to try a warm water bath in the sink, and submerged my mixing bowl in Med-hot water up to the level of the meringue and whisked it. The texture very quickly smoothed out and I immediately returned the bowl to my mixmaster and beat it at a medium speed. A couple minutes later I had a lovely smooth Swiss Meringue!
Very buttery tasting. Definitely suggest decreasing the amount of butter to 4-5 sticks instead of 6.
I haven’t made this particular recipe, but have made Swiss buttercream before. The recipe says it will come out looking curdled or how some of you say “cottage cheese”. Just keep whipping and be patient with it. The first time I made Swiss buttercream it took about 10-15 minutes to smooth itself out. Also make sure your butter is room temp!
This frosting was VERY buttery tasting—too overpowering.
Delicious and easy to pipe. I added pulverized Oreos to make a cookie frosting for a child’s birthday cupcakes
This is my new go to recipe. The only thing I would clarify is that i cook my meringue to 160 degrees Fahrenheit before whipping. Comes out beautifully every time.
This is definitely what I’m going to be using for my cupcakes going forward! The icing is not too sweet and so fluffy. I’m glad I read the other reviews before I made it so I knew to take some and heat it up to reincorporate it. That made the icing smooth out right away.
I tried this recipe and it turned out runny and lumpy. What did i do wrong. Do you use reg sugar or powdered sugar or regular sugar?
Thank you all for those comments!! I made this recipe and in the end had an expensive bowl of cottage cheese and was heartbroken. Your tips about warming a little bit of it up and mixing it back in totally saved the day! The icing is delicious. Next time I will try it with butter flavor shortening to be if that helps too.