Tips & Tricks for Swiss Meringue Buttercream

In our opinion Swiss Meringue Buttercream is the best. We think the taste is amazing, and you can't beat that silky smoothness. If you don't have CakeSafe owner, Juli's recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream click here. If you're having any problems with your Swiss Meringue Buttercream, we are here to help. Watch Juli make her the buttercream and see helpful tips below. If you have any other questions. Please email or call/text. 

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Tips and Tricks:

• All the quantities of the ingredients in this recipe can be adjusted to your preference.  I like a buttercream that’s not too sweet, but you can tweak it either way.  You can also vary the amount of butter, and anything else for that matter.  The more butter, the more stable the buttercream.

• As I mentioned in the recipe, when you add the butter to the meringue, it may look like its “breaking” ( not combining/emulsifying/mixing together) but don’t worry, it will whip together.  If it takes a long time, you may need to put the mixture back over the stove or double boiler to warm it some. If you do this, make sure you keep scraping the bottom of the mixing bowl so there’s no burning. The colder the butter is the more it breaks and the longer it takes to come together.  With the egg mixture warmed before whipping it and the butter softened, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It’s pretty forgiving, so don’t be afraid to play around with it until it’s the consistency you want.

• In rare occasions, the butter may melt and be too much to whip up into buttercream. If this happens, just refrigerate it somewhat until it cools enough to emulsify when whipped.

• This buttercream can be stored at room temp for 24 hours.  I usually make up a bunch of it, double wrap it in plastic wrap, and freeze whatever I’m not using.  Once it’s at room temp (fairly warm), it can be rewhipped and used.  I warm it a fair amount so it’s silky smooth again.

• Anytime you want to add another extract besides the vanilla, do so slowly with small amounts and taste to see if you have the level of flavor you like. Many extracts are much more potent than vanilla, and a little goes a long way in my experience. For a 5 qt. batch of buttercream, I would start with ¼ teaspoon and you’ll most likely be adding more. But as you know, you can’t take it out so adding small amounts until you get the right flavor is the safest option.

• Can you freeze this buttercream? Yes. I do it all the time, especially if I have a lot of cakes in one weekend. It’s one of the things I can do in advance so I’ll make up batches, and freeze them in plastic wrap so I can put them out the night before I’m going to ice. If they’re still pretty solid, I microwave them for 30 seconds at a time, cutting up the chunks to make it easier for the buttercream to warm evenly, and continue until I have some liquid but most still buttercream. I put it in the mixer and with the paddle, blend it together so the soft melted buttercream combines evenly and the whole batch becomes smooth and creamy.