My Favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Swiss meringue buttercream is like heaven. It’s so light and fluffy and not at all overly sweet like some frosting. I definitely prefer it over any other kind of frosting.
Ever since I first tasted SMBC I have been searching for a fool proof recipe that I love. I have found that recipe. Trust me on this one. It’s amazing.
Most people seem intimidated by SMBC because of the fact that sometimes it curdles when you’re mixing it up. You have to be patient and know that it’ll come back together. Because of the technique used in this recipe, you won’t have to worry about that here. I was a bit skeptical when I first tried this recipe, but it works every time.
I prefer to refrigerate my cupcakes after frosting them with this SMBC. This will set the frosting. Then bring them to room temperature prior to serving.
One Year Ago: Rice and Beans
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
This is my favorite Swiss meringue buttercream
Yield: Enough to frost 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
4 oz egg whites (3-4 large egg whites or about 1/2 cups)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp lemon extract, almond extract, orange extract, or vanilla extract
Directions:
Lightly whisk egg whites and sugar together over simmering water until egg-white mixture is hot to touch or a candy thermometer reads 140°F (60°C).
Pour hot whites into a room-temperature bowl and whip with a wire whip until double in volume on MEDIUM-HIGH speed. When the mixer stops, the meringue should not move around in the bowl. Meanwhile cut up butter into 2-inch pieces. (The butter should be slightly moist on the outside but cold inside.)
On your mixer, remove the whip and attach the paddle. Add half the butter into the bowl immediately and pulsate the mixer several times until the meringue has covered the butter completely. To pulsate the mixer, turn it on and off in a jerky motion. This forces the butter on the top to the bottom of the bowl. Add the balance of the butter and pulsate mixer several times. Slowly increase the mixer's speed, starting with the lowest speed and increase the speed every 10 seconds until you reach a MEDIUM-HIGH speed.
Continue beating until the mixture begins to look light and fluffy. Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl. Reduce speed to LOW. Add flavoring and continue to beat on LOW speed for 45 seconds. Then beat on MEDIUM-HIGH speed for an additional 45 to 60 seconds.
Leftover buttercream can be placed in plastic containers with lids and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost completely (several hours) and rewhip before using.
Storage: Store the icing in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe from epicurious
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
This sounds amazing! I’d be shocked if the people you manage don’t think you’re the best boss ever!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:56 am
Ha, I’m ok with bribing them with baked goods into feeling that way 🙂
I wish my boss would do something like this for us. This cake sounds phenomenal! Anything that tastes like a donut gets an A+ from me!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:57 am
I had a boss once who would bring a store bought cake and cut it into the same number of pieces as there were people at the meeting. And he made us sing. It was horrible.
Definitely the best boss when you get homemade cakes that have been compared to a glazed donut! Congrats!!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Thanks 🙂 I am pretty lucky in that my team is pretty awesome too.
Congratulations on the promotion! Your team sounds lucky to have you and this cake looks gorgeous!
beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 4:21 pm
Thanks!
Congratulations on the promotion!! This looks and sounds delicious!
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:05 am
Thanks
oh my! a giant glazed donut in cake form??!! yes please! i am sort of curious though as to why it’s called a kentucky butter cake 🙂
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:04 am
I have no idea why it’s called Kentucky butter cake. I did a quick Google search and it doesn’t look like anyone knows.
I’m glad there’s no explanation as to why it’s called a Kentucky Butter Cake, because I am making this for a themed food fest at work next week, and I’m changing it to Hawaiian Butter Cake so that I don’t have to find another recipe. 🙂
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:07 pm
I like the way you work 🙂
The staff meeting treat sounds like a regular monthly blog post…cant wait to see what is on deck next month
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
For sure! I have already started asking my team members who have May birthdays about what they’d like. One said anything with chocolate. One said anything but chocolate. So that’s going to be a challenge! Luckily I’m the only June birthday so I’m going to go all out for June!
Ever seen The Office? Hehe… they looove birthday parties! And that’s so sweet that you’re acknowledging your workers like that. I’m sure you’re a great boss!
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
Ha – if only we could all have parties like they do on The Office…
best boss ever 🙂 this looks fantastic!! we have birthday buddies that we bring cake for, and it’s a pretty awesome tradition 🙂
beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 4:13 pm
Oh I like the birthday buddies idea! I’m not sure that would work for my team since it’s ~80% guys… I do joke that everyone needs a buddy cause sometimes I look around and can’t tell who we’re missing. It would be a lot easier to just ask if everyone’s buddy was here like when we were kids on field trips.
Yum! Looks devine! Such a perfect looking cake and the glaze makes it look extra shiny and pretty!
Oh, this is such a perfect looking cake 🙂
Oh, I so want a slice of this! Love cakes that are soaked with syrup. So yummy!
i made this on Friday for a brunch on Saturday. It was delicious and I got lots of compliments! I was surprised when i made it because there were no instructions about adding the butter to the batter. I assumed that the butter should be softened and mixed in, but I would’ve expected it to be mixed in earlier so that it would incorporate more fully. You might consider adding clarification to that step.
beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
Glad you enjoyed the cake. The second sentence in the second step talks about adding the butter. Are the instructions confusing?
I think I’ve seen this recipe elsewhere on the interwebs… (of course my eye is drawn to anything Kentucky, my home state!) Glad to hear it’s so good!
beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:47 pm
It’s definitely out there on the web! I couldn’t find any info about why it’s called Kentucky Butter Cake though. Do you know anything about it? Do you guys eat it in Kentucky?
So the glaze is on the bottom of the cake correct? You don’t reserve any to pour over the top?
beantownbaker — May 13th, 2013 @ 8:24 am
Yep, you pour it all in to the bottom of the cake while it’s in the pan.
Hi there! Wonderful cake. Just wondering — did you let the cake sit overnight with the syrup soaking?
beantownbaker — September 10th, 2013 @ 7:58 am
Yep, I let the cake sit overnight after adding the syrup.