I have never made frosting better than this.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 80 |
| Yield: | 80 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice, or as needed
- 4 cups white sugar
- 2 cups egg whites
- 5 cups unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Wipe the bowl of an electric stand mixer and the whisk attachment with lemon juice to remove any trace of grease. Add sugar and egg whites to the bowl.
- Whisk sugar and egg whites together in the bowl of the stand mixer over simmering water, whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F (60 degrees C), about 10 minutes. Return bowl to the stand mixer.
- Whisk sugar-egg white mixture in the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until mixture is thick, glossy, and temperature of outside of bowl is room temperature. Change attachment to the paddle attachment and continue mixing on low speed. Add butter, 1 cube at a time; mix until silky-smooth. If mixture curdles, continue mixing and it will return to smooth.
- Pour vanilla extract and sprinkle salt into butter-sugar mixture; beat until fully incorporated.
- Vinegar can replace the lemon juice if desired.
- If you don’t have a candy thermometer, simmer the egg whites and white sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. You can feel a drop between your fingers to ensure no granules are left.
- You can use a bowl and whisk of you don’t have a stand mixer. Wipe both with lemon juice.
- If buttercream is too runny, the butter was possibly too soft. Place into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, then beat again. If still too runny, add a few more cubes of butter and keep beating until it reaches desired consistency.
- For chocolate buttercream, melt 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate. Add to every 5 cups buttercream and beat until incorporated.
- For strawberry buttercream, add about 1/2 cup strawberry puree to 5 cups buttercream and beat until incorporated.
- For vanilla bean buttercream, add 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla bean for every 5 cups buttercream and beat until incorporated.
Reviews
Oh my gosh, waaaay too much butter! You may as well slather 5 cups of butter on the cake and not bother with the meringue. Won’t be making this again.
Made it several times and will make it again tomorrow. Absolutely delicious, not too sweet.
This is THE BEST frosting I have ever made. It was also easy and very forgiving. You can adjust the amount of butter/meringue to make the consistency and flavor you want. It’s smooth, light, not too sweet, and it is stable at room temperature. I am never making American buttercream again. Only thing to consider: this recipe makes a lot of icing, and with a 5 quart standing mixer, I had to make it in two batches. Totally worth it though.
I loved this. My first time making anything other than American Buttercream. The only thing I would change is that I would use the unsalted butter it calls for. I normally always use salted butter and it is what I had on hand, but I don’t want salt to be the main flavor I taste… Also, I refrigerated and rewhipped to use the next day, I didn’t do any flowers so I’ll have to see how it works for that type of piping.
Love this recipe – very smooth, creamy – great flavor.
It turned out perfect minus the grit left over by the white sugar. Followed to a T and it’s just kinda a weird mouth feel.
Made this today since I was out of cream cheese for my regular frosting. Followed the recipe exactly. Won’t make again.
If I make this again I think I would use less butter. I know that this is a buttercream, but I was hoping for a little more of the swiss meringue part to come through.
This recipe is great! I found that the recipe was too runny though.
It was easy to make and everyone that tried it said it was perfect. Very good feeling for my first time making it.
Made this to pair with chocolate cupcakes. Adjusted recipe to 20 servings to frost 12 cupcakes & added 1/4 cup caramel. So creamy, not too sweet, got rave reviews on the cupcakes, I was asked which bakery I got them from! The paddle attachment like the recipe suggests didn’t work for me so I switched it to the whisk attachment, put it on medium high for 10 minutes & it was the perfect consistency for piping. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
I’ve used this recipe several times now! It’s my go to for not-too sweet and light and airy buttercream. This is very good and it’s coming from someone who hates buttercream. Here are some tips that I’ve found works for me: (1) use a thermometer! It really helps to get the right temperature when beating the egg whites over the stove…it takes a lot less time than you think, (2) I like to let the egg whites beat for a long while until the mixer bowl is nice and cool and no longer warm…this takes a very long while (like 20 minutes or so) so I just set it and check on it 5 minutes or so to make sure things aren’t running down the sides (it’ll get super fluffy and go over the bowl sometimes), (3) beat in the butter in small batches…take your time and don’t rush…if it gets runny – let it go until its light and fluffy again or stick it in fridge for a bit, and last (4) I always make this a day or two ahead and then stick it in large plastic containers in the fridge. Just give it a quick run through the mixer after it’s been sitting out for about 10-15 minutes (or more depending on how big of a batch and temp in your house) because it gets hard in the fridge.
This takes some practice – it’s a very precise process, but Oh My Goodness is it worth the effort!!!
Wow this is SO good! So fluffy and not too sweet. I scaled it down to 24 servings, used a large tip, and went quite tall on 12 cupcakes. It held its shape perfectly and everyone raved. Definitely a keeper!
Divine texture! Smooth as silk and looks like whipped cream in the bowl. I cut the batch in half and made it precisely as written with real vanilla and unsalted butter until I tasted it and found it needed a bit more salt to make the flavor properly pop. The flavor is quite subtle so perhaps it would go best on a strong flavored cake. I will most certainly be making it again perhaps even the other flavor variations. Its NOT sickly sweet like foul American buttercream so if you like your frosting super sweet choose another recipe. Does anyone know if this frosting freezes well? I’d love to make a full batch and have it on hand in the freezer.
It was very runny and I was not able to spread it.
Absolutely a hit at our party. The best frosting ever!!!
I used regular salted butter and omitted the additional salt at the end- really tasty, smooth, creamy. This time, I added 1 T. pumpkin powder to about 1 c. icing, a dash of pumpkin pie spice, turned out really lovely.
I will really make it again I made it for a Harry Potter birthday party and it worked everyone loved it so I had to make more I made at least 5 batch of frosting for a 7 hour party for a 5 year old and of course I will make it
Best frosting ever! And great for decorating. Holds it shape beautifully. Definitely a keeper!
Very good…….not too sweet. Followed the recipe exactly, except I cut it in half. Made more than enough to frost a 9 inch layer cake. I found 6 large egg whites equaled one cup. It was good with the 2 and half cups of butter, but am going to make it next time with 2 cups instead and think it will be fine.