Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Servings
18cupcakes
Servings
18cupcakes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar.
  2. Put the bowl atop a saucepan with about an inch of simmering water. Make sure that the bowl does not reach the water, and vice versa.
  3. Whisk the egg white mixture until all the sugar are dissolved. Test by rubbing a drop between fingers; the mixture should feel smooth and not gritty. The temperature should be hot, but not too hot that you’ll burn your fingers.
  4. Remove the bowl from heat.
  5. [This step is optional and only applicable if you’ll be using a hand mixer, not a stand mixer] Place the bowl in a shallow basin with a little water and a couple of ice cubes. This helps bring down the temperature, especially if like me, you’re living in an infernally hot place.
  6. Whisk the egg white mixture with an electric mixer until volume is about doubled or tripled and looks smooth and glossy. The resulting meringue should form and hold stiff peaks when you lift up the whisk. It should also be down to room temperature by this time.
  7. Add the butter cube by cube, making sure each cube is well incorporated before putting another. You may need to scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time with a silicon spatula.
  8. Add in the vanilla and salt, and beat until the frosting is smooth and silky. This is already a finished batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC), yey!
  9. In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. You may use the same beater attachments you used for the SMBC without cleaning it since they’re all gonna be combined later anyway.
  10. Add the SMBC to the whipped cream cheese by heaping tablespoonfuls, beating until everything is evenly mixed and smooth.
  11. [This is the most important step.] Lick the used spatula and beaters clean (or better yet, have your kid do that for you) and congratulate yourself for a frosting well done. ?
Recipe Notes
  • This recipe produced a thick, stable, and perfectly pipeable frosting just enough to generously frost eighteen (18) 2-oz. cupcakes.
  • My recipe was adapted from these two SMBC recipes (from CakeSpy and Korena in the Kitchen) and tweaked as I deemed necessary. This is a test batch which thankfully turned out successful and yummy. ?
  • I used Chefmaster 852 closed star tip to frost my cupcakes. My piping skills badly need an upgrade, I know.
  • You’re supposed to use a candy thermometer when making SMBC but I don’t have one so I just wing it and go by feel instead (see step #2).
  • if you’re bothered by the ‘curdled’ stage of making SMBC when adding butter in step #7, don’t lose heart! There’s actually an alternative way of adding butter without deflating the fluffy meringue. Look it up here.
  • This frosting is also perfect for red velvet cupcakes (recipe here)!