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Basic Recipes

Original Italian Meringue Buttercream

by Lisa

Trained pastry chef

Smooth, glossy Italian meringue buttercream in a mixing bowl

5.0 (1)out of 5, 1 rating

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Makes
1 servings

This buttercream is made with a hot sugar syrup. The batch is usually enough to fill & frost a 10-inch (26 cm) cake.

Notes:

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  • You can reduce the sugar by up to 6 ½ tbsp (80 g) if you like.
  • Works under fondant.
  • You can flavor it with, for example: jam (in the US jam or preserves, in the UK jam; seedless if you need a smooth cream), melted cooled chocolate, peanut butter, puréed fruit, lemon curd, unsweetened cocoa powder (in the US not hot cocoa mix, in the UK cocoa powder, not drinking chocolate), ground Oreos, ground nuts or Nutella.
  • Keeps for 3 days unrefrigerated, at least 14 days in the fridge & at least 2 months in the freezer.

Advantages:

  • Especially high volume
  • Keeps for a very long time
  • Freezes beautifully
  • easy to flavor
  • Holds up even in warm temperatures
  • light and easy to digest

Ingredients

Makes 1 servings

  • ¾ cup180 gegg whitesabout 6 large egg whites
  • 6 tbsp75 ggranulated sugar
  • 1 ½ cups300 ggranulated sugar
  • 7 tbsp110 mlwater
  • 6 sticks675 gunsalted buttersoftened. German butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter (European-style unsalted butter is closest); in the UK, unsalted butter.

Method

  1. In a clean, grease-free bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Meanwhile, slowly sprinkle in part of the sugar and keep whipping until the meringue is stiff and glossy.

  2. Bring the rest of the sugar and the water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Use a candy thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature until it reaches 241°F (116°C).

  3. As soon as the sugar syrup has reached the right temperature, slowly pour it in a thin stream into the whipped egg whites while the mixer keeps running. Simply pour the syrup straight down the side of the bowl to avoid splatters.

  4. Keep beating the mixture until it has cooled and the bowl is back at room temperature. This can take a few minutes.

  5. Add the softened butter in small pieces, one at a time, while the mixer keeps running. Simply add one piece of butter at a time and beat it in well before adding the next.

  6. Keep beating until you have a smooth, creamy buttercream. This can take a few minutes, and you may need to mix briefly to make the buttercream completely smooth.

  7. Your Italian meringue buttercream is now ready to use. You can use it to frost cakes or flavor it however you like.