The Friday Baking Project
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
| Yield: 1 qt. | # of Servings: 12 |
- 1 cup (8 oz / 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (4 fl oz) egg whites
- 1 cup + 2 tbl (8 oz / 227 g) sugar
Special tools and equipment needed:
- Handheld or countertop mixer with whip attachment
- Small sauce pan
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Start double boiler – bring 2 inches of water to the simmer in small sauce pan
Directions:
- Beat butter until light and fluffy. Set aside.
- In clean machine bowl, using a heat-proof spoon or spatula combine egg whites and sugar over the double boiler.
- Continually stir egg whites until hot enough that you don’t feel any sugar granules between your fingers dipped into the whites, about 140 °F.
- Once sugar has dissolved into the whites, remove from heat, place on mixer with wire whip, and whip on medium-high speed until a thick meringue, and just to the warm side of room temperature. Let sit for approximately 15 minutes.
- On low speed with the wire whip, add the butter to the meringue and mix until well blended.
- Flavor as desired.
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream may be stored in refrigerator for 5 days or the freezer for 3 weeks. Let come to room temperature, put in machine bowl and whip on low speed until smooth.
Baking tips:
- The buttercream is fairly firm, but will smooth out as flavorings are added.