Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream | Fix Runny Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

The ultimate compliment! I'm glad that I could help 😀

i know right!!! she is truly amazing, it’s so impressive.

Awww I love that you breastfed your daughter while making this frosting. Such a multitasker and you're amazing. I miss having little babies around 😭. Good luck with your cake! 💕

iconic mother moment

It’s also a bit same in the country that I lived (32°C) My suggestion is to use cold butter straight from the fridge

The butter would eventually soften as one work it out… I suppose you would have had handheld mixer, right ?

Aww thank you 😍😍😍 And yes I love making cakes for them, it really is my pleasure to do so for the kids

Thank you

Glad it was helpful! I hope you love your Swiss meringue 💕

Oh that makes me so happy. Getting Smbc right can be a challenge but oh man it changes the game when you know how to make it 😊

@@Sugarologie . Yes it turned out great thanks to all your great tips! I used it as my filling for macarons! Huge it. Thank You again for a great recipe.

Aww that’s so great! I’m so happy it’s been helpful :)

Great to hear!

Thank you 🥰🥰🥰🥰

You are so welcome! I hope you love your buttercream!!

Oh I’ve done that. Like you dropped little pieces of cold butter in a bowl of water right? Haha the butterfat is so cold but it’s so great you figured it out.

@@Sugarologie lol yep exactly like that! it just sloshed around, the paddle could barely catch it. so strange. once emulsified it was no different than fresh made, the transformation was just crazy to see! makes me think that a lot of people would have thought it a lost cause and thrown it out 😢 so dont give up on your buttercream, people!

Glad it was helpful!

I'm so grateful for your compliment 😀 and glad it was helpful!

Tried ur swiss Meringue recipe today and it worked perfectly....am inlove...my go to NOW

❤️💕☺️

Welcome aboard!

You’re so welcome

Yes! Make your frosting ahead of time! It tastes and functions 100% the same as fresh, so I do it every time I make a cake. And I feel you...I had to buy a teeny tiny extra cheapie freezer just for this purpose lol

Thanks so much for the kind words :)

You're welcome!

Most welcome 😊

Glad it was helpful!

Glad you liked it!

Yes, absolutely. It can go as big as your mixer can handle ;) Your meringue will get quite fluffy so your bowl has to accommodate that bulk and be able to thoroughly mix in the butter in the last stages. :) Have fun!

Perhaps it's because of the cakes and cookies we have lying around the house 😉

@@Sugarologie haha

It does! One of the main reasons I love SMBC 💕

hope this isnt too late for you. there are a number of different types of buttercream, the easiest and most common in north america is american buttercream which is butter, powdered sugar, a splash of milk or cream, and flavouring. its what a lot of people make at home, and what i grew up eating on homemade cakes. i hate it too lol. in order to get american buttercream to be spreadable and a frosting consistency, you have to add enough powdered sugar for structure, and the amount needed for that is beyond what a lot of people would consider too sweet. it's also grainy since the sugar doesnt dissolve fully, and develops a thin hard "crust" when left in contact with the air. european buttercreams are all made a little differently, but i feel like the most important difference between european styles vs american, is that european buttercreams use something besides sugar for structure. swiss and italian both use egg whites. because the eggs provide the structure, you only have to add as much sugar as you want it to have, so theyre not too sweet. theyre also super smooth and have a great mouthfeel because the sugar is dissolved fully in the egg whites (swiss) or a syrup (italian). they dont crust like american buttercream. all this info and more is provided on the excellent sugarologie website every time you select a frosting type. ive seen people make italian buttercream (similar to swiss) with a hand mixer, but it is probably best to specifically look for a recipe method that does. it could get pretty tiring to hold up the mixer for as long as swiss buttercream needs to mix.

@@sarahmcdonough7713 Thank you so much for the information!

Yes, I love this with berries, because berries are pretty acidic and cut the sweetness of the buttercream quite a bit. Especially now since they'r still kinda sour :)

Hi Jadel! (What a beautiful name btw) Yeah, so you're right on point, since it's a buttercream frosting, it really is essential for this recipe. I think what you're looking for is actually called "meringue frosting". It is quite light in texture, since it only contains a cooked meringue. Here is a very precise recipe for that: www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2019/09/old-fashioned-7-minute-frosting.html This is almost exactly like my recipe, just without the butter part 😊 Lots of people like this frosting, and even torch it to give it a toasty look and taste, like what you see on pies and stuff. Wow my mouth is watering. Happy baking 💕

Tasty Pastry Kitchen thank you so much!! I learn so many things watching your videos. I'll be making a birthday cake for my friend's mom and i want it to be perfect. So glad i came across your channel! 💖 Anyways, I might probably just stick with your recipe since it really looks so good!! 😍

@@jadelkayegines7464 Oh that's so sweet... yeah, adding butter stabilizes your frosting and therefore your cake quite a bit. I usually make my cakes the day before I serve them with this buttercream cuz I can just stick it in the fridge and it comes out perfect. Let me know how it goes! I'll be baking a couple birthday cakes in the next week or so too, so I'll be here 💕 Happy bday to your friend's mom!

You're welcome!

Awww don’t despair, sometimes soup is a part of the process if the temps aren’t juuuuust right. Take the whole bowl and freeze it for about 15 mins. The bowl should be cold and the perimeter of frosting should be cold. Maybe the middle is still soupy, that’s ok. Then mix on medium low speed until it comes together. Let me know how it goes. ❤️

So glad to have you here 😀

Hi! It's hard for me to pinpoint the issue without seeing your frosting, but if your frosting was ok when you initially made it, then I'm wondering about the re-whipping process. Freezing shouldn't really have any effect on the finished buttercream. Sometimes it takes more than 10 minutes for mine to come back - if it's still runny, I'm thinking the meringue was starting to come back, but the butter was still in such a cold solid state that it wasn't able to reincorporate back into the frosting. I can always tell because my bowl is still cold during this process. Do you remember if your bowl was cold as well?

@@Sugarologie thanks so much for replying! I think you may be right about simply not whipping it long enough since it was a good batch of by when I first made it. I whipped it for several minutes, but next time I’ll be sure to do a full ten or more. If yours rewhips than it CAN be done, right?! Thanks a ton, and best wishes! 🙏🏻😀

Yeah that's normal - buttercream is lots of butter sitting inside a sweet meringue. If it's too strong you can add things in, fruit curds, jams, chocolate ganaches, and that may lessen the butter taste for you :)

Sorry for the half massage I point is my Swiss butter cream gets hard quickly because of the temperature in my kitchen what do I do

Wow your room temperature is that cold... that's amazing! You should work with chocolate more :) But as far as swiss meringue buttercream, the biggest component is butter, so it will firm up when cold. The only thing I can think of is having to work quickly once you make it up or warm it before it firms up, but up to a point, this is actually useful because you'll get cleaner lines. Also, you can warm your knife in hot water and wipe the water off to bring the temp down a bit.

Myrtle Street Podcast Hello! If the chocolate were a *little* too warm, my guess is that you would only be melting the butter. In that case, you’ll need to firm up the butter a bit by using the fridge or freezer technique, then using the paddle attachment again to get to a creamy consistency. If the chocolate were really hot (like steaming chocolate lava!) my guess is that you may alter the structure of the meringue and melt it (high heat may transform or denature the proteins in such a way that they are not maintaining the light and airy structure) in which case you may need to start over. But that actually might be hard to do. I bet it was the first case so stick that frosting in your fridge and see what happens 💕 Good luck!

Oh I'm so sorry about that... plastic bowls are known to hold onto fat molecules, which can prevent egg white foams (meringues, essentially ) from forming, so I'd stick to glass or metal if you can. But the fact that you still used glass and ended up with soupy result is interesting. I'd ask these questions if I were with you: 1. Did you meringue look nice and fluffy like it did in my video? If so, then 2. It's a matter of the butter, in which case either you don't have enough, or it's the wrong temperature. Both are easy to fix. The temperatures can be modified by refrigerating or warming the bowl, which you did. So then I would ask if you could slowly add more butter, a TB at a time, and see if you get the change in consistency. What happens is that the fat in the butter will weigh the meringue down until you get to a certain ratio. Then it will magically fluff up like nothing was wrong at all. Give it a try and see if it works! Let me know how it goes 💕

You can :) …start with a little at a time and work your way up. Soon you will get to a point where it will have a sandy texture as you exceed the amount of liquid available to dissolve the powdered sugar. That’s why it’s good to start with a tablespoon or so and work your way up slowly.

Ahh yes, it's just good ol' Kirkland Signature (costco) unsalted butter :) It's the best in terms of quality and price and I know I scare the other customers when they see at least three packs in my cart everytime I go, but I freeze it and pull it out when I need it. 😁

Yes you can! It will make it taste more buttery, but I actually don't mind that... :)

Hmm, if it came together as a buttercream, all you may need to do is whip it for a little longer. That will do a couple things - first it will aerate the buttercream a little, a give that impression of fluffiness that we love in buttercreams. It also increases the temp of the buttercream. Since the buttercream has such a high proportion of butter in it, the texture of the buttercream is entirely dependent on the temp of your butter. I think you'll be amazed how much you can keep it at room temp and not have it melt. On the other hand, if the butter is cold or even slightly cold, it gets firmer, so can you try to whip it at room temp for a while and see what happens? I often let my SMBC go on my mixer for at least 10 mins on low speed before frosting a cake with it.

Yeah so meringue is kinda gooey, like marshmallow, so you're on the right track. As for the butter, I've read the the amount of yellow in a butter comes from the cow's diet from which the milk was sourced. But it's totally normal for SMBC to be yellow if your butter is yellow. What I do if I'm looking for a pure pure white is to use Americolor white food coloring. Sounds weird but it has a component that turns the frosting much whiter. Not sure where you're located, but I use a butter from Costco, which turns my SMBC a creamy off white. Usually I color the buttercream, so it doesn't bother me too much. :)

@@Sugarologie thank you for replying so fast! Oh that’s good I was confused just because yours looked more like cream but mine in the end turned out good! Oh so I’ll try and change the butter. I’m planning on coloring it too but I’ve seen some people say if your buttercream is yellow then it effects the colors. Thank you so much again!

Interesting! It usually takes me about 5-8 minutes. Can I make a couple suggestions? I would check your double broiler set up and make sure your eggs within the bowl are in contact with the steam. The other thing I'm thinking about it your thermometer - is it an instant read? Sometimes the eggs are such a small amount it's difficult to have the therm submerged the entire time to get an accurate reading with the non instant reads.

You should be good to go with oil based flavoring - I sometimes use oil based coloring and it works just fine without messing up texture :)

@@Sugarologie Thank you so much!

Yes, you can do this with a hand mixer, but it will just be more labor intensive for you in that you'll stand there to ensure the meringue gets nice and fluffy. Happy Baking!

@Tasty Pastry Kitchen I’m truly thankful for your reply❣️ You did not answer my question about the whisk though

@@savvinatrapotsi1732 Oh you mean by hand, like a hand whisk? That would take a very long time, but I'm sure it's possible. 🙂

@Tasty Pastry Kitchen No no that is not what I mean sorry for the misunderstanding I am referring to the paddle attachment you said we should switch to before adding the butter I just don’t have a paddle attachment

​@@savvinatrapotsi1732 it's just to get rid of air bubbles and to be able to frost smoothly. you can use a spatula to vigorously get rid of as much air bubbles as you can once it's done. you can still use a handheld mixer when incorporating the butter

You can omit! It's an acidic ingredient that aids in the unraveling of the egg proteins so that you can whip it up, but it's fine if you leave it out, you'll still get a nice and yummy frosting in the end.

@@Sugarologie thank you so much!

You can omit it, it helps develop the meringue by messing with the egg proteins but feel free to leave it out :)

@@Sugarologie thank you!! I actually tried it without and it worked out beautifully. Thank you for being very helpful and responsive! Appreciate it

Sure, its on my website and I have a link for you below the video.

Hmmm I don't have the most experience with baking in a tropical country (although I wish I did 😊 ) but if you find that swiss meringue is not stable enough for your purposes, you can definitely try other buttercreams. I know Rosie's Dessert Spot uses a very stable hybrid buttercream that may be of interest: www.rosiesdessertspot.com/blog/hybrid-buttercream-recipe

@@Sugarologie Thank you. But will try your recipe first. Will let you know soon 😊

@@Sugarologie aPim9aag8988

lemon juice, vinegar or leave it out entirely. it will still whip up firmly

I believe it should be ok - American powdered sugar may have a bit of cornstarch in it, but it's so little that it may have little difference in the meringue texture. Let me know how it goes! 🌸

It should take almost the same amount of time, it really depends on the power of your mixer. The other thing you should think about (which I forgot one time!) is the size of your bowl. The meringue will grow in size about 3-4 by volume so you don't want it to overflow ;)

Yes, you can! I always have to be careful when I add purple bc I always end up adding too much 😀

Hello hello! My Swiss meringue buttercream is uncolored in this video - it naturally turns an off white to cream color after adding the butter and smoothing it out for a while. It's actually not pure white and the intensity of the cream color is largely dependent on the brand of butter you use. Some butters have color added in, but some cows actually produce cream that is more creamy due to their diet. :)

It's a thermapen mk4, and I got it directly from the thermapen website :)

Oh no! First can I say how cute you and your channel are?! Ok, back to the frosting lol. So if I'm understanding you're mixing and it doesn't fluff up? There are a few things I need to know - the type of eggs you're using, and the temp that you bring your eggs to, and the amount of time youre whipping them. Sometimes it's hard for me to answer back here on YT so if you DM me on insta I can see your response more easily :)

@@Sugarologie omg your the sweetest thank you!! Also I wrote my question wrong my apologies, but I also messaged you on Insta so it's a little easier! 🤗😊

It should be below the video but you can click here too: cakeculator.tastypastry.kitchen

For a pretty long time! I keep mine in the freezer for months and in the fridge for up to a couple weeks :) Just use airtight containers.

I feel ya... wasting food feels awful. DM me on Instagram and give me your exact recipe and where you see the grainy soupy stuff happening. I can try to help

You know I've never tried margarine, but I know there are buttercreams that use shortening, so it may work, though I'm not certain. Also, the taste might be a bit different though, since buttercream is largely made a butter, and that is typically one of the advantages of using real butter.

I'd make sure your egg whites are fresh, and that you mix for at least 10 mins. Mine takes that long with a stand mixer, and you can see it get nice and glossy. I did a live tutorial a couple weeks ago, you can kinda watch me do it in real time and see if it matches what you're doing. Hopefully that will help you :)

Estefani Tito I’m not nearly as experienced with Italian meringue buttercream, but conceptually they are very similar. They should have the same proportions of butter to meringue, it’s just that the meringue is prepared in a different method using sugar syrup. If it’s too soft you should be able to cool it to get the right consistency. Same as if it’s too firm, warm it up using your hands or perhaps more quickly with a hairdryer (be careful and use the low setting!) to get it spreadable. I hope that helps and I’ll definitely try to make a Italian meringue buttercream video soon!

It lasts a very long time - usually you run the risk of making the butter take on smells before it actually goes bad. At least a few weeks :)

@@Sugarologie thank you for replying! You made my day 🥺 also can i ask, cake with fresh cream (non dairy whipping cream) how long its gonna last in the fridge? I'm selling cakes really wanna make sure cake still good for customer. Glad if you can help

Sure, that should work great :) Any heatproof bowl will work.

Here I'm using fresh egg whites. Companies use different techniques to pasteurize their whites and some heat them too high to actually work. I've tried with Costco brand and it didn't work :( but other brands may?

@@Sugarologie oh no! That's the brand I bought. The Kirkland egg whites. That's ok. I'll have to use fresh ones. Thanks so much for your answer. 💜💜

You might get a denser meringue, and it may take longer to whip up, but I think it should still work.

@@Sugarologie thanks for the quick reply. used a hand mixer w/ whisk and it didn't fluff to stiff peaks...do u think I can try again but cut the recipe in half? I don't want to waste all my ingredients if it doesn't work again