This small batch Swiss meringue buttercream is the easiest and tastiest small batch frosting you will ever make! It is not overly sweet, creamy, silky smooth, and works for cakes, cupcakes and even cookies!
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Baking is a science. Thank god it is a science actually! Because of that baking science we have Swiss meringue buttercream. A less sweet, more smooth frosting recipe compared to our good old American buttercream.
This frosting recipe is a lot easier compared to the Italian buttercream because it doesn’t require you to make a stable sugar syrup. All you need it to cook your egg whites and sugar while you whisk them over a hot water bath until you reach the right temperature. Doesn’t get easier than this!
This is the best small batch Swiss meringue buttercream
This. is one of my favorite small batch buttercream recipes because it doesn’t require too much work and will be ready a lot faster than a full batch.
When I make cookies, or a mini cake, I often would rather not have huge amount of buttercream left so I decided to share an easy small batch recipe that you can use to make smaller batch treats without all the leftovers.
Save room in your fridge or freezer by making just enough to frost your cakes or cupcakes, or even fill cookies, and macarons!
What makes this small batch Swiss meringue buttercream so special?
- A lot less sweet than regular American buttercream
- Easier to make than Italian buttercream
- Smooth and silky
- Creamy and This
- One of my favorite butter creams to frost with
- Super versatile! Can be used to frost cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, fill whoopee pies, or even macarons!
What is Swiss meringue buttercream
Swiss meringue buttercream is a frosting recipes that differs quite a bit from our original American buttercream, but in a great way! This recipe doesn’t require a ton of sugar to make it stable. It is made my heating the egg whites and sugar together all while you’re whisking them. Then beating the heated mixture with an electric mixer until stiff peaks are reached. After that you will be adding some butter into it to create a light and smooth frosting.
What’s the difference between Swiss meringue buttercream and Italian meringue buttercream or American buttercream?
Swiss and Italian meringue buttercream are a lot more similar to each other than you would think. Both of them are made with a meringue base but the process is slightly different. The Italian meringue buttercream is made by making then pouring a hot sugar syrup into the egg whites as they whip. While the Swiss one mixes the sugar and egg whites together over a a hot water bath to heat up the egg whites and melt the sugar.
American buttercream though, it the simplest but also the sweetest and that’s why I don’t usually make it. It is made by whipping butter and sugar. This method results in a way sweeter frosting compared to the meringue bases frostings.
Ingredients for Swiss meringue buttercream
Here are the ingredients you will be needing to make your small batch Swiss meringue buttercream. Make sure to scroll down to the recipe card to get the detailed ingredients:
- Egg whites- When you separate the yolk from the white, make sure that there is no residue in there. Even the tinniest drop of yolk (fat) will keep your meringue from rising!
- Sugar– You will need regular granulated sugar for this frosting recipe.
- Butter– Your butter will need to be at room temperature but not toverly softened.
- Vanilla extract– The vanilla extract will take your Swiss buttercream to the next level.
- Salt– As I always say, a little salt is always a good idea to balance out the sweetness of your treats!
Is it safe to eat Swiss meringue buttercream?
Absolutely! When making this Swiss meringue buttercream you will notice that you will have to heat up the egg white mixture to 160 degrees F. This temperature will kill any salmonella bacterias and will be making your Swiss meringue buttercream totally safe to eat!
The best thing to do when making Swiss meringue buttercream is to use a kitchen thermometer to know when your egg white mixture is ready!
How to make small batch Swiss buttercream?
Here is how you can make this delicious small batch buttercream frosting recipe. Full instructions available on the recipe card below. Keep scrolling for the full recipe.
- Clean your utensils. When working with meringue, you have to make sure that your utensils are free of any fat residue because that will keep your meringue from rising.
- Cook the sugar and the egg whites. This is the specific method that is used to make Swiss meringue buttercream. Set your bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering water, making sure that the bowl is not touching the water, whisk the egg white and sugar mixture until it reaches 160F (70c). You will have to whisk this mixture constantly to avoid having the eggs cook. As time goes, you will notice the mixture become thinner and whiter.
- Whip the mixture in a stand mixer. Once the mixture reaches the right temperature, remove it from the double boiler and transfer it to your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachement, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and the meringue is no longer hot to the touch. This will take 7-10 minutes since this is a small batch recipe is is. a-lot faster than a regular batch sized recipe.
- Add in the softened but still cool-ish butter. Once the meringue has cooled down, start adding 1 tablespoon butter to the meringue mixture and mixing using a paddle attachement. Wait until the butter is fully incorporated before adding more in. Add in the vanilla, and salt, beat one last time and frost your cakes or cupcakes!
More frostings you will love!
- Easy Raspberry Cake With Raspberry Buttercream
- A Small Batch Coffee frosting – coffee buttercream
- Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vanilla Bean Italian Meringue Buttercream
What are stiff peaks?
Have you ever seen people on Youtube or the food network take a bowl of meringue and flip it over their head to show that it’s stiff? Well their meringue has probably reached still peaks.
Stiff peaks happen when you’ve gotten enough air whipped into your meringue. Those stiff peaks mean that if you take your beater and flip it upside down, the peak that’s been formed will stay up and remain sharp. No drooping down over here!
How to store SMBC and can I make it in advance?
YES!! Swiss meringue buttercream is awesome because it can be made ahead of time. It also stores very well.
Yo store your small batch Swiss meringue buttercream, place it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. When ready to use, make sure to rewhip the frosting to get that smooth texture back.
Or in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 6 months. When ready to use, thaw the frozen buttercream in the fridge overnight then rewhip it to get that silky texture back.
How do you add color to Swiss meringue buttercream.
When it comes to coloring your SMBC, make sure to stick to get food colorings. They mix in easily and won’t ruin the texture of your final buttercream. I always take a tooth pick, dip it in the gel food coloring then swirl that toothpick into the buttercream than whip the frosting to get the color incorporated.
You can start with a little bit and add more as you go until you’ve reached the right color.
Does Swiss meringue buttercream harden in the fridge?
This buttercream will not form a crust per se, but it will harden in the fridge because it had a high fat ratio. Don’t worry about that because all you need to do to use it after it hardens is let it get back to room temperature, whip it, and frost your cakes and cookies. with it!
How does this small batch Swiss meringue buttercream hold up in the heat?
This frosting does well at room temperature but once it gets to 80F you will start noticing that it’s getting a little softer. It is made with a good amount of butter and we all know what happens when butter is heated.
So if at all possible, keep this cake away from high heat areas for long periods of time.
Trouble shooting!
Here are a few things that might help answer your questions if you think something went wrong.
- My meringue won’t reach stiff peaks! The issue here is probably FAT. If you leave, even the tiniest bit of fat in your egg whites, they will not whip up. So make sure that there is no egg yolk in the egg whites and that all your utensils are clean.
- The buttercream is too curdled! Don’t worry! The buttercream might look like it curdled once you add in the butter but keep whipping it and will come together.
- My buttercream flavor tastes too much of butter! SMBC contains quite a lot of butter so it will naturally have some butter flavor. One thing I noticed is that if you use salted butter in your Swiss meringue buttercream the butter flavor is gonna be a lot stronger. So make sure to use unsalted butter for this recipe.
- The buttercream is too thin! If your buttercream is soupy, you probably added butter that was too soft. Pop the mixing bowl in the fridge for 10-15 minutes then whip it again. If it’s still on the soupy side, your kitchen might be extra hot and the buttercream might need a little more than 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
I don’t have a stand mixer, can I use a hand mixer to make Swiss meringue buttercream?
I would say it’s possible, but not recommended. Swiss meringue takes a while to come together so that’s why a stand mixer is the best option. Between cooling the meringue and whipping the butter in, it could take anywhere from 10-15 minutes. With a stand mixer it could easily be double that time.
So if you don’t have anything, you could try it but just know that it will take quite some time.
Small batch Swiss Meringue buttercream
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Small batch swiss meringue buttercream
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- ¾ cup butter softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Start by whisking the egg whites and sugar together in a heatproof mixing bowl, then place that over a medium saucepan filled with simmering water. Make sure the bowl is not touching the water. Whisk the egg whites and sugar mixture constantly until the mixture is thin, the sugar has dissolved, and the temperature has reached 160F.
- Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer and start whipping the egg white mixture on high speed right away, make sure not to let it cool before whipping. The meringue will need to reach stiff peaks and cool down to room temperature. This can take anywhere between 10-15 minutes.
- A little trick I learned in my pastry internship is to touch the outside of the mixing bowl to see if the meringue is still warm. If the bowl is still warm, keep mixing before adding the butter. This way the butter won't melt once added in.
- Switch to a paddle attachement and on medium-high speed start adding the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Wait until the butter is fully incorporated before adding more. Once you're done with the butter, add in the vanilla and the pinch of salt, then beat for 1 minute.
- Your small batch Swiss meringue buttercream is now ready to be used to decorate your cakes and cupcakes!
Notes
Nutrition
Thank you so much for making it down here!
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Faseeha
Hi
Can I use plant based butter for this recipe? Will it hold for frosting and piping on an 8” wedding cake ?
Chahinez
I have never tried making this recipe with plant based butter so I can’t attest that it would work unfortunately.
Caitlyn
Hi! first of all I wanted to say that this recipe is amazing! I just had a quick question. The salt that I have, the granules are a little larger so when I added it to the buttercream it didn’t fully dissolve. So I was wondering am I able to add the salt to the eggs and sugar when it’s cooking so it melts or will this affect the taste? Thank you!
Chahinez
Yes you definitely can add them to the eggs and sugar so that it dissolves better.
Shanna
This is really good and I think once you incorporate all the butter it really isn’t too buttery its nice and I actually didn’t wait for each piece of butter to incorporate but it still came out fluffy. I thought I would have an issue when I saw it was too thin but it does come together. My favorite buttercream- thanks for sharing!
Chahinez
Absolutely! I am so glad you like it 🙂
Penny
This is my go to recipe for Swiss meringue buttercream. I made a 4 layer cake and used the small batch vanilla to use in between layers with a crunch added (smashed oreo cookies, smashed kit kat chocolate bar) then used doubled the recipe in chocolate to cover the rest of the cake! Everyone loves it because it is not too sweet. I especially love the tip about feeling the outside of the mixing bowl to ensure the buttercream is cool enough to add the butter. I told my niece this and that’s how she does her Smbc now too!
Chahinez
Ooo that sounds so good! I’m glad you enjoyed the tip ☺
Lisa
I’m not sure what I did wrong but it turned out really foamy and runny. Other than that it tastes really good!
Chahinez
Oh no! What did you use to measure the ingredients? Did you use measuring cups or a measuring scale? It also could’ve been that buttercream was over mixed too. Let me know if you have more questions!
Sherin
I love the thoughtfulness of the small batch. It was so precise. So creamy yet light. The flavour is already bomb without vanilla. Thank you.
Chahinez
You’re welcome!
Lesley
Hi , I have always wanted to try meringue butter cream and this recipe has made it sound straight forward. Thank you also for also having metric weights. Fingers crossed .
Chahinez
No problem! Thank you for trying out the recipe 😁
Marnee
I just made this recipe. It was my first time trying Swiss Buttercream so I liked that your recipe was small. It turned out fantastic. Glad I did my research before trying this because I was ready for when it looked like chunky cottage cheese. I knew to keep mixing and it came out great!
Thank you so much.
Chahinez
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!😁
Cici
I love this small batch recipe. Would you ever do a small batch Italian meringue?
Chahinez
That is a good idea!
Zoe
Loved this!! Made a 1/2 batch of macarons to test out my new oven, and this was the perfect amount of buttercream to pair with them! Thank you for sharing this recipe 😊
Chahinez
Ooo this sounds so good!! You’re very welcome!
Res1
Hi, can I make this recipe with pasteurized eggs and powdered sugar to avoid having to cook it?
Chahinez
It sounds like you could, but I’m not 100% sure on the food safety aspect.
Sarah
Soooo, I have been mixing this for what seeems like forever, but it is still very much curdled 🙁 I followed all the steps and had amazing peaks on my meringue and all was going well right up until I added the last cube of butter. Any suggestions? Is it possible that i over whipped it? Thanks so much,
Chahinez
Yes that is possible it was from the over-whipping. I hope you try the recipe again and it works for you this time!
Salma
Hello 🙂 I have a question, can I use this recipe to pipe buttercream flower?
Chahinez
Yes you can Salma!
Chahinez
Eslie
Hi! I added room temperature butter but once I added the first cube it got super runny ? Do you have a tip?
Chahinez
Make sure that you let your meringue cool down fully and get to room temp. So you will need to continue whipping the meringue until it gets to the right temperature about 71F before you add in the butter. Once you add in the butter it will get a bit runny but don’t lose hope, continue mixing and it will hold itself back together! Hope this helped.
Chahinez
Zee
I experienced the same problem but the icing did not pull itself back together,it just continued to get runnier ,now I have put it in the fridge and I don’t know what to do with it .is there any way I can fix it??
Chahinez
This happened because you added in the butter when the egg whites were still warm. Make sure that your meringue is completely cool before adding in the butter to avoid ending up with a soupy mess.
Chelsi
Hi Chahinez,
Can you use honey instead of the granulated sugar?
If you can, how much should be used?
Chahinez
Hi there!
I did a quick search and found this article showing a recipe made with honey instead of sugar! https://www.wifemamafoodie.com/naturally-sweetened-swiss-meringue-buttercream/#tasty-recipes-15464-jump-target
Hope this helped
Chahinez
sonia
hey,i only have a hand mixer so can i still use the whisk attachment to beat the butter into the meringue?
Chahinez
Yes, but you will also need to whip & cool the egg whites with the hand mixer which can take double the time a stand mixer needs. It is definitely still doable. Hope this helped.
Chahinez
Megan
I tried Swiss meringue buttercream for the first time and I don’t think I’ll ever go back! I love how light and fluffy this frosting is. And the best part, it’s not overly sweet!
mona
Hi, I love your recipe. can I ask is this good for 6 pcs cupcakes? thank you!
Chahinez
Yes! It would be perfect for 6 cupcakes 🙂 Hope you love it 🙂
Connie
I have been looking for small batch SMBC recipe for a loooong time, finally I found you 🙂 Can I reduce the sugar amount to 1/2C but everything else stays the same, I still find it too sweet for me? My 3 whites weigh about 110g, is it ok? Can I use honey or coconut sugar (I don’t mind the darker colour)? Pls HELP! Can’t wait for your reply, so wanting to try it out!!! Cheers
Chahinez
Hi Connie! So happy you found me.
You can definitely reduce the sugar amount to 1/2 cup, just make sure to use unsalted butter.
I did a quick search and found this article showing a recipe made with honey instead of sugar! https://www.wifemamafoodie.com/naturally-sweetened-swiss-meringue-buttercream/#tasty-recipes-15464-jump-target
Hope this helped
Chahinez
Diliam
Hello Chahinez. Thanks for the recipe. I have a question. Can I add melted chocolate to it?
Thanks a lot
Chahinez
Yes!
You can add a little melted chocolate at the end. Make sure that your melted chocolate is not too hot though so that your buttercream doesn’t melt.
Chahinez
Diliam
Thank you…. have made many times… with and without chocolate… comes out great ever time… my favourite recipe 🥰
And now I want to try something new… what about using cream cheese instead of butter? Have you tried?
Eliza
Hi! How many cupcakes could this frost?
Chahinez
about 6-10 depending on how you frost them.
Lorena
I think there is a bit too much butter. Once i got to about 1/2 a cup it started losing its beautiful texture. My first batch was not salvageable and the texture was too slippery. I also wouldn’t recommend changing to the paddle. Trying my second batch and its in the fridge right now to see if I can salvage it, as it started separating when I started adding the final 1/4 cup. My meringue came out beautiful. I put it in the fridge before adding the butter per another recipe suggestion. It’s the butter thats my biggest issue.
Christena
Great recipe! I hate American buttercream, making it, the taste, texture – it never turns out right for me. This is so light and easy to work with. I used Lakanto sweetener so it’s sugar free and it turned out great. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Chahinez
Same here!! This is such a step up huh!
Caron
Is this recipe enough to frost 2 layer 7” cake in semi-naked finish?
Chahinez
TRy making 1 & 1/2 of this recipe to frost your layer cake!
Chahinez