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Basic Swiss Meringue Buttercream
| Yield | |
|---|---|
| Source | Adapted from a number of recipes around the web |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Recipe Tags |
Description
A real buttercream recipe that won't crust up, doesn't involve Crisco, and isn't so sweet you want to scrape it off. Optionally, this may be flavored with extracts, fruit purees or chocolate.
Ingredients
| 4 | egg whites (large) | |
| 1 | c | sugar (granulated, NOT powdered) |
| 1 1⁄2 | c | butter (3 sticks, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature) |
| 1 | t | vanilla extract |
Instructions
Equipment needed for this recipe:
- A double boiler, or a bowl large enough to sit on a pot of simmering water without the bottom of the bowl touching the water
- A heavy-duty stand mixer. You can use a hand mixer instead, but be forewarned - this recipe requires A LOT of beating, and a hand-mixer just isn't the ideal tool.
I actually prefer the bowl/pot combination for this recipe, as there's a lot of stirring and checking of temperatures, both of which are a little difficult in my deep, narrow double boiler. Combine the egg whites and sugar in the top of your double-boiler/bowl, and heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until the temperature reaches 140 F. Keep the whites at 140 for three minutes, lifting the bowl off the water if it starts to get too hot. Transfer to the mixing bowl, and whip with the whisk attachment on high until the whites form stiff, glossy peaks (5-7 minutes). Feel of the side of the bowl - if the mixture seems hot enough to melt butter, wait a few more minutes for it to cool. Swap out the whisk for the flat paddle, turn the mixer to medium, and start adding the butter in 1- to 1-T chunks. Wait until each chunk seems incorporated before adding the next. DON'T PANIC if your icing all of a sudden clots up and looks soupy - keep adding butter. After all butter is added, turn the speed up to medium-high and beat until it forms a smooth frosting. This can take as little as a minute or two, or as long as over 10 if you've got a bowl of curd soup. Keep beating - it will come out okay. The clotting happens when the butter is too cold. If it looks like your butter is melting when you add it, or the frosting is smooth but looks too soft, you may have added the butter before the meringue cooled sufficiently. If so, set it in the fridge for a while, then beat again (you'll probably go through the curd soup stage) until it's a nice frosting consistency.
At this stage, you have an unflavored frosting that has a mildly sweet, buttery flavor. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and it's vanilla frosting (clearly, other extracts can be used). Fruit purees and liqueurs apparently also work, but I've never tried either. Add (as we did for the piggy cake) about 8 oz of melted chocolate and a couple T of unsweetened cocoa powder, and it's a chocolate buttercream. Note that it won't be a dark frosting, even with good dark chocolate - maybe adding more chocolate, cocoa, espresso powder or even food coloring can overcome all that paleness from the eggs and butter, though I haven't tried it - but it will have a nice chocolate flavor.
Use to cover and fill layer cakes, sheet cakes and cupcakes. The chocolate version of this frosting (on a cake) held up just fine at room temperature for 24 hours (as always, YMMV). The frosting manages to feel light and fluffy, but it's definitely pipable, at least for simple decorations.
Notes
I've seen buttercream recipes with 1/4 more sugar, 1/2 c more butter (and 1/2 c less, which I don't recommend), cream of tartar, and even slightly more egg white. This one works for my purposes, but if you like it sweeter, or want it a little stiffer, I wouldn't hesitate to increase sugar or butter. I'm not sure what adding more chocolate would do, but I doubt you'd break anything by adding another couple of ounces beyond the 8 I mentioned, and ditto for the cocoa powder.
Heating the egg whites serves two purposes. It apparently helps to stabilize the meringue (I'm not sure why - maybe because it ensures that all the sugar gets dissolved?), and it also kills any lurking salmonella (this is why you keep it at 140 F for three minutes). I've seen recipes that call for heating it briefly to 160 F, then starting to beat it. I imagine this works, as all that sugar should keep the white from coagulating, but I haven't made it that way yet because, as a procrastinator, I've always made the frosting when I need it, with not enough time to do it over if I scramble the eggs. If you're really paranoid, you could use pasteurized egg whites from the get-go, but I'd still heat the whites and sugar to 140 before beating. I've read that pasteurized whites don't always form a meringue, but I haven't tested it myself.
If making the chocolate frosting, make sure the melted chocolate isn't too hot, or you might have to refrigerate and re-beat before you use the frosting.
You can make this ahead and either refrigerate or freeze it, but be prepared to once again beat the curds out of it before you'll be able to use it.
