Italian meringue buttercream frosting

Silky, smooth, light, fluffy and addictive Italian meringue buttercream frosting. This frosting is the best you will ever try.

It took me a while to make this wonderful buttercream and get the right consistency. The first time I made it, it was a complete flop! But I tried and tried until I got a grip of it. As a result I am able to share this fool-proof recipe for this phenomenal buttercream frosting. If you never made it, you should and I can tell you, you will not look back to overly sweet American buttercream.

How to make Italian meringue buttercream frosting

This recipe is a little bit technical, therefore it is important to follow all the steps precisely.

There are two steps to making this recipe. First is making Italian meringue. Second is incorporating butter into meringue.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

1. You will be dealing with very hot sugar syrup, so please be careful while making this recipe.
2. Use a sugar or a kitchen thermometer as you will need to bring sugar syrup to 118C /235F. If you cook syrup to a lower temperature the meringue will not be stable enough.
3. When you combine sugar and water in a pot, stir it and then turn on the heat. From this moment DO NOT stir sugar syrup as it will clump up and you will have to start all over.
4. The bowl and whisks have to be completely free of any grease and moisture as egg whites will not whip.
5. When you are pouring hot syrup to the meringue, do not pour it on the whisk, pour it on the side of your bowl and pay attention as it will be very hot.
6. After adding sugar syrup to your meringue you need to mix on high setting of your mixer until bowl is not warm anymore. It took me about 12 minutes for my meringue to cool.
7. Use unsalted butter as it will be easier to control the flavour.
8. Use room temperature butter for the best results and add small chunks slowly.
9. After you start adding butter you will notice that the meringue will start to deflate and the mixture will split. This is completely normal, do not panic. Keep mixing and adding more butter.
10. I used a balloon whisk to make my meringue and when I was adding butter. After adding all the butter I changed balloon to a paddle attachment in order to get this silky smooth buttercream.
11. I recommend adding any flavouring and colour at the end.
12. If you place buttercream in the fridge and you decide you want to use it, just take it out from the fridge and leave the bowl at room temperature. Next beat the buttercream again. It will split but just keep mixing and it will come together. Follow the same steps if you want to defrost it.
13. In order to make buttercream white, you can add a drop of purple or violet food colouring. It will neutralise yellow colour from butter. Add a tiny drop and then increase in order to achieve the desired colour.

Good luck 🙂

What does Italian meringue buttercream frosting taste like?

This buttercream tastes heavenly, it is light, smooth and irresistible. It pipes like a dream and is not overly sweet. You can create any flavour you want, for example:

• coffee ,cappuccino just add espresso or cappuccino powder to the mix
• vanilla , like I did, just add a teaspoon of good quality vanilla extract to the mix
• matcha, start small and increase amount in order to control bitterness
• pumpkin spice
• cocoa
• chocolate, just make sure your melted chocolate is cooled completely before adding to the mix
• fruit curd
• the list can go on and on…..

How to use Italian meringue buttercream frosting

As I mentioned above you can flavour this wonderful buttercream any way you want. It pipes very easily and is perfect for decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, brownies, you name it.

This recipe makes 650g buttercream.

How to store Italian meringue buttercream frosting

You can store it in an air-tight container for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.

If you are looking for more recipes for frosting or buttercream, I can recommend you the following:

Coconut and powdered milk frosting

Biscoff marshmallow fluff

Toasted walnuts buttercream frosting

Goat cheese buttercream frosting

Click this link if you want to see all my frosting recipes

I hope you will make my recipe and if you do, please leave a comment below and let me know your feedback. You can also find me on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Gab and Gettr. Please say hi and do not forget to tag me in if you make my recipe. I love seeing your creations.

Recipe source –my own

Enjoy!