This light and fluffy buttercream is super-stable, thanks to a sugar syrup. Italian buttercream makes a great cake filling and frosting, and is excellent for piping decorations.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 40 min |
| Active: | 25 min |
| Yield: | about 5 cups |
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- Pinch kosher salt
- 16 ounces (32 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the egg whites and 1/3 cup of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until the egg whites reach the soft peak stage.
- Meanwhile, pour the remaining sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and bring to the soft-ball stage, without stirring, 240 degrees F.
- The egg whites and syrup should be ready at about the same time. If one is ready before the other then you can remove the pan from the heat or stop whipping for a few minutes.
- Continue to whip the egg whites on medium-high speed and slowly drizzle in the hot syrup, aiming the syrup between the side of the bowl and the beaters. Continue to whip until both the bottom of the bowl and the mixture are cool, 10 to 15 minutes. The mixture should be thick and will form firm peaks at this point. Beat in the salt. At this point you have an Italian meringue.
- While still beating on medium-high, add the butter, a few pieces at a time. As the butter is added, the buttercream may appear to thin out some, but it will thicken into firm peaks once all of the butter is added. Beat in the vanilla extract. If the buttercream is still too loose, beat on high speed until thickened.
- Use right away or refrigerate in an airtight container overnight. The buttercream may need to be beaten slightly to smooth out before using.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 16 servings |
| Calories | 281 |
| Total Fat | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 19 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 19 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Cholesterol | 61 mg |
| Sodium | 24 mg |
Reviews
Not too difficult to follow, as long as you make sure your eggs are whipped before the syrup is finished, as another commenter points out. Whips up a treat and has an excellent texture, nice and stiff but spreads and pipes quite easily. The only problem is it tastes extremely heavily of butter—almost felt like eating butter right out of the refrigerator. The saving grace was that my cake didn’t have butter in it and so together they seemed to be a nice buttery cake and a rich buttery frosting, but I think it would be way too much like straight butter on a cake that’s already quite sweet and buttery
This is a great option for Italian buttercream. It will make a fantastic addition to your baking repertoire.
First let’s start with some basic issues
1:when pouring syrup into meringue stop the machine and pour. This stops the syrup from getting splattered on the side of the bowl.
2:change beaters between meringue and adding butter it’s easier to clean up.
Mix away and eventually you will hear a plopping sound. It’s the buttercream coming together not very technical but vert edifying. If the mixture doesn’t seem quite right, maybe the butter was too cold keep mixing.
Don’t be afraid of this methodology take your time nothing bad will happen because it sits for a minute or two.
Overall I was very pleased with the results. The mixture came together beautifully. I just wish we could post pictures that’s how pleased I am
I made this recipe twice over the holidays. It got excellent reviews from my guests. This was the first time I ever made Italian buttercream. Yes you do have to pay attention to timing between the syrup and the egg white/sugar mixture but it all works out. This is much less sweeter than American buttercream which I don’t think I’ll ever make again.
great!! buttery and airy! after step 5 my it was still REALLY loose so I stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then whipped it again and it came out perfect!
Divine. I enjoy Swiss Buttercream, however, I found this more stable with a creamier texture. I added a good amount of vanilla paste and it was delicious. Doubling this made enough to fill and frost a 4 stack 8×2 inch cake. I did make a white chocolate buttercream between the fillings to add flavor and stability.
I love this buttercream
Inedible because of all the butter. Impossible to pipe. It melted just from the heat of my hands.
Way to buttery
Excellent
The recipe itself is great. But the directions need to be edited. You can not leave the sugar and water mixture unattend. It will crystalize. What you can do is the egg whites and sugar mixture first and then do the other. Overall its best not to do in the summer. The heat doesn’t help. Italian butter cream isn’t easy but if you know what youre doing it comes out beautifully. Remember dont leave the sugar and water in the pan it will get hard and you’ll have to start again. Good luck to all you first timers. It took me a couple of tries. Mainly cuz you have to remember the temperature. Everything has a different temp.