Whether French, Italian or Swiss, meringue buttercreams are a dream to work with— they take on flavor and color well, stand up to storage in the fridge or freezer and achieve a velvety texture like no other frosting can… under the right circumstances, that is.
Meringue buttercreams are intimidating to many cakemakers. Take a look into the Cake Central forums and you’ll see read horror stories of mixers full of a curdled mess. But do not be discouraged! With the right tools, ingredients and troubleshooting methods you’ll fall in love with meringue buttercream too.
What is meringue buttercream? A meringue buttercream is an emulsion of fat and liquid. (For more on buttercream emulsion, check out “Science of Baking” in Volume 4, Issue 1 of Cake Central Magazine.) I’ll leave the technical stuff to the scientists. All you need to know for now is that water and oil don’t mix unless you force them together, as in a delicious vanilla Italian meringue buttercream.
Why does buttercream break? The first potential issue is inconsistent temperature. Both your egg/sugar mixture and your butter must be at the same temperature, and I have found that just slightly warmer than room temperature works best for me. Another issue might be excess liquid. Unwanted liquid can result either from failing to cook your sugar syrup to 238° F (for Italian meringue) or from the addition of fruit or other moist flavorings.
How do you know your buttercream is “broken”? Trust me, you’ll know. If your buttercream breaks, the fat and liquid won’t emulsify, and you’ll be left with a bowl of fat globules that look like cottage cheese with soupy liquid in the bottom. Did I paint a picture of how gross this is? It’s gross. But don’t despair. It can be fixed!
The best cure is prevention. The best plan is to avoid a broken buttercream in the first place. You can do this by using a trusted and tested recipe and following the directions meticulously. This means reading through the recipe from start to finish before you even crack the first egg. Be sure to cook your syrup to 238° F, and add fruit and flavorings a little at a time. Avoid adding a lot of moisture, such as fruit juice. Instead, use extracts, oils or compounds.
The Fix. Broken buttercream happens to the best of us, even when you’ve made the same buttercream 1000 times. Here’s how to get yourself back on track:
Step 1: Try mixing it a little longer and see if it comes together on its own.
Step 2: If it doesn’t come together with additional mixing, scoop out a cup of curdled mixture and microwave 5 to 10 seconds, until melted but not hot.
Step 3: Pour melted buttercream into the mixer while on medium speed and whip until combined. This works everytime.
Alternatively, for those braver souls, you can whip on medium speed with a torch against the side of the bowl, until the outside edge of your buttercream is slightly melted. Then whip until combined.
Don’t give up. I can’t overstate the benefits of using a meringue buttercream, and I encourage you to give it a try. Check out these helpful resources to get started:
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe – SMBC
How to Ice & Smooth a Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Your details have persuaded me to give SMBC a 2nd try. Never heard about the heating of a bit of SMBC & adding it back to re-blend. Thanks!!
I love using swiss meringue buttercream...but i can seem to color it...like if the gel coloring doesn't incorporate well to the smbc...is there something i'm doing wrong? Should i use powdered food coloring instead? Thank for all your advice :)
Also, try using a blow dryer gently to the outside of the bowl until it starts to come together.
Gel coloring is water based. It doesn't adhere well to the high-fat content. Stick with lighter buttercream colors when tinting or try using an oil-coloring, like those used for melting chocolates.
thank you NJsugarmama! I'll try some oil coloring instead :)
Please help, I can't get past heating the egg whites and sugar. They turn into scrambled eggs. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for the directions on fixing broken buttercream - worked like a charm. Pretty sure I squealed like a child when it came back together!!!! thank you so much!
You indicate egg whites should be cooked to 238 but the video you link to says 160. thats quite a difference!?
And the ads at the bottom of the video are impossible to close so cant see the written instructions....
Dara1974. You have to keep mixing with a wisk as you are heating your egg whites and sugar, if not........scrambled eggs!
@bern25, the sugar syrup in IMBC gets cooked to 238 degrees F, not the eggs. In a SMBC, you heat the eggs and sugar together to 160 degrees. Although they use the same ingredients, the Italian and Swiss methods are very different. Be sure you thoroughly read through the recipe before beginning and prepare your mise en place with meticulous detail.
It does not work for IMBC but works like a charm for SMBC
OMG.!! Just this morning I had to ice cupcakes to take to work. My btrcrm was in the freezer and I put it in the microwave to soften up so I could beat it back into it's lovelyness ;)!! ..............I left it in a couple of seconds toooooooooooooooo long! I tried to beating it and nothing happened it just thickened into something less soupy. I put it back into the freezer, beat back into the lovelyness it once was, iced those cupcakes and the client was oh so very happy.
For the first time I made a broken buttercream. It was one of the worse times of making an icing. I tried fixing it twice but it stayed like a curdled soup. I left the icing in the fridge overnight cause I didn't have time to repair it then. Next morning took it out and left it to come to room temperature. I tried to separate the liquid oozing out from the icing and gathered all the solid. There's no air left in the meringue but I wasn't worried about that - my concern is to get a smooth texture again so I can apply it to my cake. I tried to whip the icing back together and Oala! After just 2-3 minutes of mixing, it turned out to a very smooth icing. As if nothing happened. Of course it doesn't have the previous volume it had before. But the taste is there and most important is the fact that you can still serve it: nice and smooth and very glossy.
I'm with Strawberry59! Happened to me today for the first time. I tossed the first batch then used a different recipe and it happened again. Bad Day? > think so< I was ready to give it up when I found Leanne's words of wisdom on how to fix the broken Italian buttercream. It had been sitting in the refridge for about 5 mins... After reading the above brilliant technique, I decided to just put it back on the mixer and let it whirl longer and it CAME TOGETHER! aaahhhhhhh! So Happy again! Talk about going from sorrow to joy in about 3 mins! (I was ready to try the microwave idea too but didn't have to) - Italian buttercream is truly a favorite of mine and worth learning how to fix it when I'm having a bad day! Back to building the cake as planned.
Hi all! I'm Elizabeth and last night my ISMC broke on me and I cried my eyes out. My husband was looking at me like I was crazy. Thank you for the advice above. I had to end up going back to my ABC which I find it WAAAAAY too sweet. I also think it was late and felt rushed. Next time I'm going to take it slooooooow.
Saved my ass last night. I made the SBC the night before and didn't let it warm up enoughbefore rebeating and it broke. A couple cups for 30 sec in the microwave and 5 min. beating and good as new. , thank you.