Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Swiss meringue buttercream is silky smooth, versatile, and perfect for people who find American buttercream to be too sweet. This recipe takes a bit of effort and patience, but it's so worth it!

Yields about 5 cups of frosting, enough frosting to generously cover 24 cupcakes, an 8" or 9” two layer cake, or a 9x13” cake.

This recipe works well under fondant and may be colored using food coloring.

Recipe includes a how-to video. If this is your first time making Swiss meringue buttercream, I recommend watching this before beginning!

Course Dessert, Frosting, icing

Cuisine Swiss

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 5

Total Time 20

Servings cups

Calories 788kcal

Author Sam Merritt

Equipment

Ingredients

6 large (210 g) egg whites¹ make sure there is not even so much as a tiny bit of yolk mixed in with the egg whites or they won’t whip properly. (7.5 oz/210ml)²
1 ¾ cups (350 g) granulated sugar
¼ scant teaspoon salt just ever so slightly less than ¼ teaspoon
1 ½ cups (339 g) unsalted butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces. Butter should be room temperature but not melt-y/oily, still solid enough to cut, but softened
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

You will need a double boiler or makeshift double boiler for this recipe. I use my KitchenAid stand mixer and a medium-sized saucepan that the bowl fits snugly into without touching the bottom of the pot.
In clean, dry mixer bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, and salt and whisk until combined.
6 large (210 g) egg whites¹, 1 ¾ cups (350 g) granulated sugar, ¼ scant teaspoon salt
Heat about 1 ½ inches of water over medium-low heat in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Rest the bowl of your mixer in the pot over the simmering water (should not be touching the water).
Whisk egg white/sugar/salt mixture constantly until the sugar is dissolved and mixture is no longer grainy (if you rub a small bit between your fingers it should feel smooth and not at all gritty) and the mixture reaches 160F (70C). This will take several minutes.
Remove mixing bowl from heat and dry the bottom of your bowl. Fit bowl into your stand mixer.
Using a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium/medium-high speed until meringue is thick and glossy and you have achieved stiff peaks (see photo in post or see video for visual). This will take about 10 minutes or so.
Once you have achieved stiff peaks, stop beating and allow bowl to cool down completely. The bowl must no longer be warm to the touch before proceeding.
Once bowl is no longer warm to the touch (make sure you are feeling near the bottom of the bowl), switch out whisk attachment for paddle attachment. Turn mixer to medium speed and add butter one Tablespoon at a time. Don’t add the next tablespoon of butter until the previous one is incorporated into the meringue. If you notice that your buttercream starts to break down or look curdled, just keep mixing and it will come together. If it still doesn’t come together (it could take some time), place the mixer bowl in the fridge for about 10 minutes and then try mixing again.
1 ½ cups (339 g) unsalted butter
Once all butter has been beaten into the meringue, scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir again. Beat on medium/high until smooth and thick.
Stir in vanilla extract or other flavoring and any food coloring, if using.
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Spread or pipe over cupcakes or cake or use under fondant! I used an Ateco 848 for the cupcakes shown in this post.

Video

Notes

¹Egg Whites

I do not recommend using pasteurized egg whites (the kind that you buy from the store in a carton) for this recipe.

²Measuring Cup

If using a liquid measuring cup, you would fill to directly between the ¾ and 1 cup line

Making in Advance/Storing

Swiss Meringue Buttercream may be made several days in advance of using it. Store refrigerated in an airtight container and then allow frosting to come to room temperature and stir well before using. If the buttercream seems to have lost some of its volume/lightness, use an electric mixer to whip it until it returns to its original texture.

Here are a few recipes to use up your leftover egg yolks!

Frosting variations

I also have recipes to make this as a chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and a brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream.

Butter note

When I first shared this recipe in August of 2019, I made it with 2 cups of butter. The recipe works this way (and works well! I did it this way for years), but is more buttery and I have as of 2026 updated the recipe to only use 1 1/2 cups of butter, which I now prefer.

Nutrition