Swiss meringue buttercream is different from American buttercream in that they are lighter to eat and silky smooth in texture. Recently, I’m intrigued by buttercream floral and love the roses, camellias, sunflowers, leaves and the likes I saw on social media and since edible flowers are so rare and fondant flowers are so difficult to master, buttercream floral may be the way to go. Swiss meringue buttercream it is for the buttercream floral.
Ingredients
- 200g egg whites
- 400g caster sugar
- 400g butter at room temperature, cubed
- desired colour pastes or flavours
Method
- Heat water in a heavy pot till water is simmering.
- Whisk egg whites and caster sugar over the pot of simmering water (bain marie) till the temperature reaches 70 degrees C. (I used a digital thermometer.)
- Remove from heat and beat the heated egg white in a mixer fitted with a balloon whisk till the meringue is cooled. This takes about 10 minutes.
- Add the butter a little at a time, whisking at slow speed till all the butter is incorporated.
- Add desired flavours using jam, fruit puree or colour pastes.
- Chill in fridge till ready to use.
- When taken out from fridge, allow to warm up a little and use a hand whisk to slowly bring the buttercream back to silky texture. In the beginning, it may look split, but fret not, whisk slowly continuously and the cream will come back together.
I have coloured mine a few colours and added raspberry puree to one portion and will be using them to bake a cake or 2 quite soon.