Buttercream

Swiss meringue buttercream.

I had the hardest time learning how to make it. I mean, I can do it in my sleep now, but it took me forever to get that confidence. One thing working with pastry is that you need to learn how to pay attention to detail. You learn how to look at your product and gauge how it is coming along. Catching mistakes early saves you from upcoming headaches (and heartaches.)

I don't really care too much for frosting. To be honest, I don't really like buttercream, (whipped cream for me, please) but having a good buttercream recipe is essential. Because it involves incorporting air, it is much lighter than your supermarket frosting (which if you read the label is mostly made of shortening and sugar.)

I threw out many failed batches. But after making it over and over, I have learned a few things to make this buttercream foolproof.

Swiss meringue buttercream involves two parts: the Swiss meringue, which is egg whites and sugar, heated over a water bath and then whipped in a stand mixer. Then butter is added.


The recipe involves 1 1/2 cups sugar and 3/4 cups egg whites (a Swiss meringue is 2:1 sugar to egg white) and 1 pound of soften butter.

A quick note on the butter. It should be soft and quite maleable in your hands, but not melted. If the butter is too cool, it will not mix into the meringue and, you will get chunks of butter throughout your buttercream. (You can get this by microwaving the butter in 5 second intervals. Or, you can leave it out at room temperature for a few hours.)

Place the sugar and egg whites into a mixer bowl. Whisk it by hand. Place over a pot of simmering water. (Bowl should not touch the water.) Continue whisking, scraping the bowl as you go. If you don't, your egg white mixture will not heat evenly and you will have cooked egg whites. (Heating the meringue makes it more stable.)

Heat to 140 F.

You can use an instant-read thermometer. But if you don't have one, you can test it by touching the meringue with the back part of your finger. It should feel hot, but not burning. Think about a hot bath after a long tiring day.

Remove and place in a mixer and whisk on medium high until cool. This may take a while depending on how much buttercream you are making and the temperature of the room. It can take 10 minutes or as long as 45 minutes. Again, test by touching the meringue with the back of your finger.

The meringue should also hold its shape. (Also known as a stiff meringue.)

When it is cool, add the butter a little at a time. There should be about ten additions. Keep whisk going at medium speed after each addition.

The buttercream may look like it is not coming together, almost clumpy, but keep whisking! It should bind. When the buttercream has come together, take out the bowl of from the mixer. With a spatula scrape the bottom and finish by hand.

And there you go: beautiful buttery buttercream. At this point you can flavor it as you like: vanilla extra, strongly brewed coffee, melted chocolate, etc. (With chocolate, take a third of the finished buttercream and mix seperately with the chocolate. Then add into the bigger batch of buttercream.)

It is best to use the buttercream right away, but refrigerate or freeze if not using right away. Just leave it out at room temperature when you plan to use it.