(This post is sponsored by Nielsen-Massey Vanillas. All opinions regarding this product are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support The Sugar Coated Cottage)
How to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream and how to to fix it. Tutorial on how to create this luxurious buttercream as well as how to fix broken Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Ahhh Swiss Meringue Buttercream, you either just smiled when I mentioned it or you cringed. You’ve either made it successfully or it was a total flop or maybe both. Heaven knows I have had my fair share of Swiss Meringue Buttercream failures. Talk about a waste of time and money, not to mention a bruise to my buttercream ego. It took me years to learn some tried and true steps to a perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream every time (ok, so every now and then if there’s a full moon and the wind is coming out of the SW I might still get a fail, lol, but its very, very rare now) but more importantly how to fix broken Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Today’s post is all about the important steps to making a great Swiss Meringue Buttercream and maybe the most important part of todays post, How to FIX broken Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Because if you know how to fix it you’ll be more confident to make it. So let’s get started. (please note that all the suggestions/fixes below are based on a standard buttercream batch of 5 cups, if making more or less timings and amounts may need to be adjusted as necessary).
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Success Secrets:
- Separate your egg whites from the yolks and make sure there are no yolks in the whites. Since SMBC is meringue based, yolks (a fat) can quickly stop a meringue from not forming its stiff glossy peaks as required. Not sure how to separate eggs properly check out this helpful video from Nielsen Massey Vanillas where they’ll show you how. Nielsen Massey Vanillas has started the BetterYourBake.com campaign to help bakers like you with mastering the basics, follow along. There you will also find baking myths, a vanilla quiz and baking Q&A with Food Network’s “Challenge” Champion and world-renowned cake designer Marina Sousa.
- Make sure there is no grit once you have whisked the egg whites and sugar together, pinch a bit of mixture between your fingers and press. If smooth you’re good, if gritty continue to whisk until smooth.
- IMPORTANT – Bring your eggwhite/sugar mixture to room temp, just take the pan off the stove and let it sit for 30-60 minutes or until it is no longer warm. I am so passionate on this step because a lot of chefs, bloggers, influencers, recipe books, recipe magazines, etc. never mention it and to be honest it ticks me off because this step alone can make or break your SMBC (and has broken many of my batches in the past). Once you have whisked your egg white and sugar mixture it is now warm. If you create your meringue right away it to will be warm (warm is bad lol), warm meringue will melt your butter and give you buttercream soup. (see below how to fix swiss meringue buttercream soup)
- Once you have achieved stiff glossy peaks on your meringue give it a quick fold to insure that the meringue underneath is also at the stiff glossy stage. Many times the meringue on the bottom is not, if this is the case continue to whisk until the entire mixture forms stiff glossy peaks.
Perfect glossy peaks
- Make sure your butter is room temp, not chilled but not mushy either, just room temp and holds its shape. Too soft of butter will end up making SMBC soup. Too cold of butter will give you curdled buttercream.
The top butter is too soft, the bottom is perfectly room temp and holds it shape.
- When adding the butter to your meringue mixture (switch to paddle attachment) the mixture may look funny at first. Just keep mixing (I put my mixture on speed setting #8) if all of the above has been done SMBC should form, it just may take a minute, so walk away if you need to.
- Flavoring – Without proper flavoring SMBC can taste flat and just sweet. You need to flavor it. If you’ve been to the blog before you know vanilla is one of my favorite flavorings. For this post I used Nielsen Massey Ugandan Pure Vanilla Extract, this is a wonderful all purpose vanilla and really brings out the flavor of SMBC. Ugandan vanilla has a bold, creamy-sweet flavor profile with notes of chocolate. This vanilla pairs especially well with chocolate, caramel, and citrus dishes, enhancing and layering on flavor. Some info on the Nielsen Massey Vanilla Company:
- Nielsen-Massey uses as few ingredients as possible when producing its pure vanilla extracts to create the highest-quality product available.
- Nielsen-Massey is a family owned and operated producer of premier pure vanillas and flavor extracts.
- All Nielsen-Massey products are all-natural, allergen-free and certified Kosher, gluten-free and Non-GMO Project Verified.
- Nielsen-Massey uses a proprietary cold-extraction process to preserve more than 300 delicate flavor compounds in their Pure Vanilla Extracts to consistently deliver the richest tasting vanilla from around the world. Nielsen Massey Vanilla’s are known for their quality products and I have always been impressed. Always make sure your vanilla is high quality.
- Don’t forget the salt! Salt is just as important as flavorings and will make your SMBC pop. Whether its a pinch or a little more don’t forget it!
How to Fix Swiss Meringue Buttercream Soup:
- Soupy Swiss Meringue Buttercream – you did everything right (or so you thought) only to have a soupy mess that looks alot like melted ice cream (been there). Nine times out of ten it means something in your mixture was too warm and the butter melted thus giving you this soupy mixture. Pop the mixing bowl in the fridge until mixture is entirely chilled but still somewhat fluid. Timing will depend on how warm your mixture was to start. I usually check it every 20 minutes but find it takes at least 45 min because the mixture is thick. Once the mixture is cooled try whipping it up again, the bowl being chilled will also help cool the mixture as it mixes. You may need need to walk away as it mixes, it could take a few minutes, again I set my mixter on setting #8, I find I get splattering if I go all the way to #10.
- Broken Swiss Meringue Buttercream (curdled): My least favorite scenario. This happens when the egg whites separate from the butter, thus forming a slippery, curdled buttercream that does not whip together. This happens when you’re butter is too cold. It can also happen to chilled SMBC that has not fully been brought to room temp before mixing. Again the butter is too cold to whip together with the meringue and they separate. (see photo below) The fix is taking a 1/3 cup of the buttercream mixture and melting it in the microwave. You want it just melted but not boiling hot. With mixer on medium pour in the melted mixture and then bring mixer up to speed #8 and whip it (paddle attachment) for about 1-2 minutes. Voila, your SMBC should be fixed, smooth, glossy and ready to go.
Broken SMBC that is curdled and separated.
Melted SMBC to fix the broken batch.
The now saved SMBC is smooth and glossy and ready to decorate.
How to make Swiss Meringue Buttercream white:
- Because SMBC is made with butter that by nature has a yellow cast your buttercream will also have a slight yellow cast to it. If you need a more white SMBC add a very small about of purple gel food dye and some white brightener. This will counter the yellow and leave you with a white buttercream. But do not add too much purple gel food coloring or you will have a grayish buttercream.
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Spoon on the left has been whitened, spoon on the right in its original color.
How to Make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- To make chocolate swiss meringue buttercream follow steps as listed to make vanilla buttercream. Then melt 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and let cool, it should be cool enough that it is no longer hot but is still thickly fluid for pouring (or sometimes plopping) into the buttercream. Turn mixer on high and slowly pour the chocolate into the buttercream mixture. Mix until completely incorporated and scrape sides of mixing bowl as needed.
Whoa! That was a lot of information I just threw at you but I hope this answers a lot of your SMBC questions and eliminates some fears on how to approach SMBC and how to fix it. Any questions please let me know!
Enjoy!
Stacey
Cupcake details:
a. Wilton “Violet” food color gel
b. Wilton tip “1M”
c. SprinklePop Sprinkles – Hey Sugar! sprinkle mix
PIN FOR LATER! Thanks 🙂
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 Cup Sugar
- 5 egg whites
- 1 lb butter room temp
- 1/2 Tbsp Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
- 1. In medium sauce pan add the egg whites and sugar.2. On medium heat you are going to whisk egg mixture until sugar is completely dissolved (you can test it by rubbing a small amount between your fingers to test it, it should be completely smooth). 3. Remove from heat and let mixture cool. (If mixture is too warm it will melt your butter when the time comes). 4. Transfer to mixing bowl and with whisk attachment whisk on high until stiff peaks form and mixture is completely cooled.5. Switch to paddle attachment.6. On low speed add the butter one piece at a time.7. Increase mixer to medium/high speed and mix until buttercream forms. 8. Add in the vanilla, continue mixing until completely mixed in.To make chocolate swiss meringue buttercream follow steps 1-8 as listed. Melt 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and let cool, it should be cool enough that it is no longer hot but is still thickly fluid. Turn mixer on high and drizzle the chocolate into the buttercream mixture. Mix until completely incorporated and scrape sides of mixing bowl as needed.
Stacey, what a fantastic post! It’s so packed with helpful information. Thank you!
Hi Kelly! Thank you so much, everyone can use a little SMBC help from time to time 😉
Your technique for saving curdled buttercream SAVED ME! I thought I had just wated all of those egg whites and butter! My god, you’re a genius! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Hi Kyla, I am so thrilled your buttercream was saved. Happy to have been a help to you 🙂 . Take care and happy baking.
THANK YOU for mentioning the need to cool the egg/sugar mixture first! I noticed so many recipes that just had you whip the hot eggs and sugar until it got to room temp, which takes FOREVER. Side note – could I pop it into the freezer for 15-20 mins to help speed up the cooling process?
Hi Rosemary, I am so happy to be of help 😉 . Yes you could place the bowl in the freezer. I would recommend whisking every 5-7 minutes so the mixture gets evenly cooled during the process. Happy baking! Take care.
I put my mixing bowl in a round bottomed copper bowl with ice water and stirred for about 6 min
Thank you for the tips especially the cooling process no one ever mentioned that and it can slow the process down. It was soo helpful! I’m a baker as well and learning as I go.
Hi Rashunda, I’m so happy you found these tips helpful 🙂 Thank you for letting me know. Happy baking! Take care.
I followed the tutorial with fabulous success. My Ugandan vanilla gave it a rich flavor as did the Kerry Gold butter. Now to cover a Lane Cake! Thank you for the detail, especially cooling egg white mixture to room temp.
Hi Deborah! I am so thrilled you had great success and can just imagine how luxurious your buttercream was with the Kerry Gold butter 😉 . You are so welcome for the tips and I appreciate your tip on cooling the mixture in a chilled bowl over ice water for 6 minutes, that’s a great way to speed up the process! Take care 🙂
On your #1 fix of how to fix soupy buttercream, what attachment should you use to thicken it back up? The whisk or the paddle?
Hi Joni, thank you for your question. I favor the paddle attachment for this step. In reality, either should work but I like that the paddle attachment give a nice smooth texture as the cooled butter begins to emulsify with the egg whites once again. Any other questions let me know. Enjoy the buttercream! Take care 🙂
Loved all your insight especially about bringing curdled buttercream back to life.
If you could also post how much chocolate ganache to add to make a Swiss chocolate buttercream that would be awesome.
Hi Janet, I’m so happy this post was helpful to you. I took your wonderful suggestion and added instructions for making chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream to the recipe as well as the post. Thank you for offering a suggestion that will certainly be helpful to other readers as well. Take care 🙂
YES – FINALLY – thank you for being ticked off at all those folks who set us up to fail! Game changer with cooling the egg/sugar mix. Thank you, Thank you. <3
Hi Chrishy, I am so happy you found this tip helpful. Game changer is right, if we can head into a recipe with confidence it makes all the difference! Take care 🙂
I was seconds away from giving up trying to make Swiss meringue buttercream having broken batch after batch. Then I found your site. Thanks to you, I now make the glossiest, silkiest SMBC I only dreamed possible. Thank you so much. I owe you a debt of gratitude. All your in-depth information saved the day.
Hi Dhani, Yes! That’s what I love to hear 🙂 . You are so welcome. I have been where you are and wasted a lot of time and money, not to mention a broken heart each time it didn’t work. Enjoy your new SMBC skills. Take care 🙂
Hi.I’m hoping you can help me figure out what caused a problem I had with my last SMBC. It came together fine and was silky after mixed. I spread it on cake, smoothed it perfectly and let sit, and was so sad to find tiny pieces of butter visible a few hours later!The SMBC was flavored with nutella and was originally evenly colored. The little dots of yellow that appeared later ruined it. Any ideas? I greatly appreciate you sharing your expertise!
Hi Heather, sorry for the delay, your comment ended up in my spam folder. First, I’m so sorry this happened, its always a real disappointment when you work so hard to have the end result not turn out as expected. I know it’s hard if I’m not there to see but see my thoughts below for possible culprits.
1. Nutella is delicious for sure but it also contains oil from the nuts. Unlike butter that stiffens when chilled a lot of oils will not stiffen. As the buttercream (and butter) stiffens up the oils will remain un-emulsified and could affect the texture of the buttercream on a whole or just parts of it where present (yellow spots, even the separating of small butter pieces if its surrounded in the oil).
2. It’s also a possibility that your Nutella buttercream covered very tiny butter specs that did not get fully mixed into the buttercream (I know its hard to believe that butter specs would still remain but it can happen). As the buttercream sat, the coating of Nutella buttercream slipped (from the oil) revealing the little butter specs.
Best wishes on your buttercream endeavors! Any other questions please let me know. Take care 🙂
Hi, I want a pale pastel lilac but my Swiss meringue just keeps going grey unless I add a lot then the purple is too dark, help x
Hi Pamela, I hope I am not too late with my response, I was out of the “office” so to speak. When working on trying to achieve light purple I find it best to create your purple from scratch. 1 part blue + 2 parts pink. When I mix it that way I don’t seem to get the grey undertones you describe and I have experienced myself. It seems like the premixed purples have a hint of black in the them and they can come up grey when we want a lighter shade, I don’t seem to get that when I create the purple myself. Best of luck! Take care 🙂
Hi Dear
I just have a huge problem with SMBC. First I did it and it was great I add 1/2tsp lavender essence oil to it and everything goes fine and I did crumbling coat with it.
Then I add liquid food colour to make the final coat purple.
At that point , it breaks . It looks grainy, I can feel the suger crystals and the purple colour began to pop up as purple syrup.
I put it in the fridge and wiped it again and used it on my cake, here the disaster started, after finishing the decoration it starts to collapse leaving the cake naked ..
Hi Marwa, wow I am so sorry. Disasters like this are the worst.
There’s a few things going on with your buttercream so let’s break it down:
1. You mention sugar crystals – this typically can’t happen if sugar was dissolved properly into the egg whites and then emulsified with the butter. Sounds like maybe not all your sugar dissolved in the heating process which could have weakened the structure of your buttercream.
2. You mention lavender oil. Anytime you add more fat (the oil) to a recipe it’s going to change the outcome. Even though you probably did not add much oil, its still slippery and it possibly did not emulsify (blend completely) with the buttercream mixture. As your cake chilled the butter firmed up but the oil did not and therefore it separated causing the buttercream to slip down.
3. You mentioned liquid food coloring. I have never used liquid coloring in SMBC, only gels which are thicker. But I have had too much liquid in (raspberry juice) cause my buttercream to seperate. So same theory as the raspberry juice, the liquid coloring may have just been too much, especially with the oil thus not emulsifying properly into the buttercream. On the surface they may have seemed to mix well but as the cake chilled they separated out.
I hope my theories have been helpful. Any other questions please let me know. Take care 🙂
Hi Stacy, I was wondering what to do if my Swiss meringue buttercream is really airy, almost like whipped cream, and sort of soupy too. I have made it literally three times today to try to get it right and I am really getting frustrated. Ive have followed the recipe exactly, and I was just wondering if you have any ideas of what could be causing the problem. I know you are probably really busy, but I would be very appreciative of you could try to write back as soon as you can. Thanks!
Hi Rain, Thanks for the question. I am sorry that your buttercream is giving you some difficulty. So there are three things I can think of…
1. Sometimes when I put me butter into the meringue it doesn’t emulsify (blend) together quickly and will look soupy because the butter hasn’t fully blended together. If this is the case just keep mixing on high speed (between 8 and 9 on the KitchenAid with the whisk attachment), it will come together.
2. If the meringue is too warm it will melt your butter or if the butter was too soft you will get a soupy mixture. If this is the case place the mixing bowl into the fridge for 20 min, stir, refrigerate for about 20-25 min more to stiffen up the butter. You want the mixture to be fluid but chilled. Whisk again until buttercream forms.
3. Your meringue may be at a stiff peak stage on the surface but the meringue on the bottom of the mixing bowl may not be at stiff peak stage yet. This will cause a soupy like buttercream because not all the meringue is at the right stage. So when your meringue appears to be at stiff peak stage, give it a stir so see if the meringue on the bottom is at stiff peak stage as well, if not keep whisking until all is at stiff peak stage.
I know these are like stabs in the dark because I am not there but I hope one of these can help get you on the right track ;-). Any other questions please let me know. Take care!