The Best Swiss Meringue Buttercream for Macarons, Cakes and More

Easy meringue based Swiss buttercream frosting that is so smooth and not overly sweet like American buttercream. Perfect for piping designs on cakes or filling macarons.

Jump to:

• A Pipeable and Fluffy Meringue Based Buttercream
• Why You'll Love Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• What is the Difference Between Swiss, Italian, French and American Buttercream?
• Ingredients and Substitutes
• 3:2:1 Ratio for Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• Step By Step
• Why Does My Buttercream Looks Curdled and Separated?
• How to Fix a Runny Buttercream
• Secret to a Smooth Buttercream Texture
• How Do I Make This Frosting White or Less Yellow?
• How to Store and Freeze this Frosting
• How Do I Use SMB as a Macaron Filling?
• Recipe

A Pipeable and Fluffy Meringue Based Buttercream

Today, I want to share this standard Swiss Meringue Buttercream with all of you since it is one of the best ways to prepare a meringue based frosting which is fluffy, stable, pipeable and most importantly, delicious tasting. As the name suggests, it's part of the meringue buttercream family. Unlike American buttercream, which is simply made with powdered sugar and butter, it doesn't have that overwhelming sugary taste and gritty texture. Swiss meringue buttercream is smooth, rich and buttery.

Many home bakers find that the method for making Swiss buttercream more approachable than the Italian one so it's a great recipe to have on hand in case you need to frost a cake, cupcake or fill macarons. Once you have mastered the easy steps in this base recipe, you can modify it for a variety of different flavors. The possibilities are endless!

Here are some macaron recipes that uses this Swiss meringue buttercream as a base: lemon curd macarons, strawberry basil macarons, & rainbow vanilla macarons.

Why You'll Love Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• Delicious Taste & Texture - less sweet than American buttercream and super smooth.
• Minimal Ingredients - requires only sugar, egg whites and butter.
• Easy Swiss Method - it's easier than the Italian method, no pouring of hot syrup. 
• Convenient 3:2:1 Ratio - easy to convert ratio allowing you to make just enough buttercream for X amount of ingredients you have on hand.
• Prepare in Advance - prepare and freeze for important events.
• Multiple Uses - use it in macarons, cakes, cupcakes and more. 

What is the Difference Between Swiss, Italian, French and American Buttercream?

First of all, Swiss, Italian and French buttercreams are meringue-based buttercreams meaning that they all contain meringue, which is a whipped mixture of egg whites and sugar. The difference between them is mainly based on how the meringue is prepared. American buttercream on the other hand is not meringue-based and is a simple mixture of icing sugar and butter.

Swiss Meringue

Swiss meringue buttercream is made from fat, sugar and egg whites. Granulated sugar and egg whites are beaten in a bowl over hot water, butter is then whipped into it.

PROS:

• Super smooth silky texture
• Easier to make than the Italian buttercream

CONS:

• Not as strong as the Italian buttercream

Italian Meringue

Italian meringue buttercream is made from fat, sugar and eggs. Granulated sugar is heated with water to produce a syrup that is poured into egg whites that are beaten simultaneously.  Butter is then whipped into it.

PROS:

• Sturdy and stable.
• Use of only egg whites allows for it to be snowy white and can be colored nicely

CONS:

• Texture is not as smooth as Swiss buttercream
• Heating the sugar while beating egg whites can be tricky
• Some find this buttercream too "buttery"

French Meringue

French meringue buttercream is made similarly to the Italian method except egg yolks are used instead of egg whites. Sugar and water is heated to create a syrup that is poured into egg yolks that are beaten simultaneously.

PROS:

• Amazing taste, like whipped custard and less buttery
• Helps use up egg yolks that are left over from the macaron making process

CONS:

• Fastest to melt due to high fat content, can be a goopy mess on hotter days
• Uses a lot more butter than the other buttercreams, may be too "fattening" for some
• Use of egg yolks makes this cream yellowy and harder to color

American Buttercream

American buttercream is made from beating butter and icing sugar together optionally along with salt, extract and a bit of milk. 

PROS:

• Strongest of all the Buttercreams
• Withstands heat better than all the other meringue-based buttercream fillings.
• Does not contain eggs so it can last longer than the other buttercream fillings.
• Does not contain eggs. Safer for pregnant women and children

CONS:

• Super sweet. Coupled with a sweet macaron shell or other sweet dessert bases, some might find it overwhelming.
• Some find American Buttercream bad tasting in general. ("grocery store" baked goods taste).

Ingredients and Substitutes

• Egg whites - use fresh egg whites for maximum whipping volume. Some brands of carton egg whites denote on the packaging that it can be used for whipping.
• Granulated sugar
• Unsalted Butter - must be at room temperature to prevent separation.
• Optional: vanilla extract (or any other flavoring added to taste).
• Optional: sea salt highlights the flavors and cuts down on the sweetness. Use it depending on which flavoring you choose.
• Optional: food color. Use gel color for the most concentrated color without adding excessive moisture into the frosting.

3:2:1 Ratio for Swiss Meringue Buttercream

One of the best attributes of this Swiss Meringue Buttercream is its easy to remember 3:2:1 ratio of 3 parts butter, 2 parts sugar and 1 part egg whites. That means for every 1 oz. of egg whites, you just need to multiple that by 2 to calculate the amount of sugar you need and multiple it by 3 for the butter. It comes in handy if you ever find yourself constrained by a certain quantity of ingredients you have on hand. Say for example, you only have 3 oz. of sugar left in your pantry, all you need to do is divide 3 oz. in half to get your egg whites and so forth. I made a handy chart below for you:

Step By Step

Set butter out at room temperature. Bring a small pot of water to a boil.

Place egg whites and sugar into a heat proof bowl. Stainless steel is light and safe. Gently whisk the whites & sugar mix over the boiling water, do not let the bowl touch the hot water. Pay attention to whisking the mixture when it starts getting hot, you don’t want to cook the eggs. Whisk the mixture until the temperature reaches 160F*
Whip the mixture in a counter mixer with the balloon whisk attached. Whip on low to start, then increase to medium.

Once the mixture is stiff and the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch, stop mixer. Change the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment. Add butter a little bit at a time while beating with the paddle attachment on medium speed.

The mixture might look curdled or separated for a while but keep mixing. It will all come together. Add any extract, flavorings, salt or food coloring if desired. Whip until incorporated.

Using a flexible spatula, fold out excess air in the frosting so that it can be piped or spread smoothly. Use immediately to frost or fill cakes, cupcakes, macarons or other desserts. Refer to post on how to store and freeze extra buttercream.

Why Does My Buttercream Looks Curdled and Separated?

Once you start adding the butter to the meringue, you will find that it will start looking separated or curdled. It's really grainy and gross looking! The fats bond quickly together with the proteins while the water takes longer to get incorporated but if you keep beating it, it will all come together.

How to Fix a Runny Buttercream

On the other hand, if you add the butter too soon while the meringue is still hot, your buttercream will still be runny even after lots of beating. Put it in the fridge until the outer edges start to firm up. If the center is still soft, that's okay, it will start balancing each other out when you start beating it. Keep beating the separated frosting until it comes together again.

Tip: remember to always use room temperature butter and only add the butter when the meringue has cooled to 32C. 

Secret to a Smooth Buttercream Texture

Have you ever piped a frosting that breaks intermittently because of air pockets inside the mixture? The secret to get this buttercream to a smooth piping or spreading consistency is to use rid it of excess air by folding it out with a flexible spatula. After beating in the mixer, gently press the buttercream against the bowl with the spatula until you can see some of the bigger bubbles in the cream have "popped". This will prepare the cream for spreading and piping.

How Do I Make This Frosting White or Less Yellow?

• Choose a paler colored butter - Grass-fed butter tends to be more yellow due to the nutrients in the cow's diet.
• Whip it good - butter becomes pale and fluffy after a good whipping.
• Add violet - a bit of violet helps to neutralize the yellow color in the butter. Dip a toothpick in a bit of violet gel food color and smear it into the buttercream at the end. Beat to incorporate and add more if desired.
• Beware of extract colors - if using a natural flavoring like vanilla, the natural brown color will tint the buttercream yellow. Consider using artificial/clear versions: e.g. clear vanilla extract.

How to Store and Freeze this Frosting

This Swiss meringue buttercream can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. If storing in the fridge, make sure it's placed in a sealed air tight container.

I usually make a big batch of this buttercream at one time since it freezes so well. It saves a lot of time when I have buttercream on hand to frost cakes or fill macarons. I usually divide the cream up into 100 gram packets and wrap them up with plastic wrap and shape them into flat rectangles. This way, the extra surface area allows them to defrost more readily and I don't need to defrost a whole tub at once.

When you're ready to use it, take the packets you need out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. As soon as you can break up the buttercream with the beater, you can start beating it in the mixer. This will make it all nice and fluffy again. And don't worry about it separating at first. Keep beating it, it will all come back together. If you still have problems, take a look at the section above on how to fix a curdled buttercream.

How Do I Use SMB as a Macaron Filling?

This Swiss meringue buttercream is sturdy enough to be used as-is for macaron filling. To flavor, just add in your favorite extracts to taste or you can get creative by adding other elements like dried powders, teas, jams and curds etc. As with all other macaron fillings, it's important to keep the moisture level low. Here are some ideas on how to add flavor to the basic Swiss meringue buttercream without compromising it's structure:

• Add in dried powders
• Infuse it with teas: steep the tea leaves in melted butter and let it solidify again before adding it to the meringue.
• Mix it with cream cheese: Example: Pumpkin Cheesecake Macarons
• Add in curds or jams: add fruit curds or jams to finished SMB a spoonful at a time while checking on the consistency and taste. Example: Strawberry Basil Macarons, Lemon Curd Macarons
• Use it to create a "dam" for soft center fillings: pipe a ring of it on the outer edge of the macaron and fill the inside with a low-moisture curd or other filling. Example: Pumpkin Spice Macarons, Lemon Curd Macarons

I hope you find this tutorial and chart useful. Don't forget to PIN it to your recipe box since it can be used for a variety of baked goodies.

XOXO,
Mimi