Recipe
Italian Meringue Buttercream
A light and fluffy buttercream with a base of Italian meringue. This buttercream is very stable and can resist moisture and warm weather. It's suitable for covering cakes, filling cakes or as cupcake frosting.
Time: 30 minutes 
Difficulty: Moderate
Yield: 1 large piping bag*Ingredients
- 200 g sugar
- 110 g water
- 125 g egg whites
- 25 g sugar
- 340 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Put 200 g of sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over high heat until it reaches 120 °C (248 °F).200 g sugar, 110 g water
- While the sugar syrup is heating, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment at high speed. Add 25 g of sugar to the egg whites and whisk them together further.125 g egg whites, 25 g sugar
- Pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream into the egg whites while whisking at high speed.
- Continue whisking at high speed for 15-20 minutes until the meringue has cooled, or transfer the meringue to a cold bowl and place it in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then transfer the meringue back to the stand mixer bowl.
- Add butter in small pieces while whisking at medium-high speed. Don’t worry if the mixture suddenly becomes runny or looks like it’s splitting—just keep whisking for up to 10 minutes after all the butter is added, and it will come together again.340 g unsalted butter
- Finally, add vanilla extract and whisk it in. The buttercream is now ready to use.2 tsp vanilla
Notes
*1 batch of my Italian meringue buttercream fills one large piping bag, enough to frost approximately 48 cupcakes or to fill and cover a cake about 20cm (8 inches) in diameter and 8 cm (3 inches) tall.