Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC) is a buttercream frosting recipe that is creamy, thick, buttery, and holds its shape well. It is made from cooked egg whites, sugar, butter, and flavorings like vanilla and salt. The texture is different, resembling a light, whipped butter. The process is fairly simple and easy, with no special ingredients. To make SMBC, you can equal egg whites to sticks of butter, which equals 4 sticks (2 cups) of butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. You can also cut it to 1 cup of sugar and make it as normal before folding in the butter.
The difference between Italian MBC and Swiss BC for naked cake is that Italian MBC is made with a hot sugar syrup (240 degrees F), while Swiss BC is made over a double boiler with egg whites and sugar. SMBC has a meringue base and is made by cooking egg whites and sugar, then whipping them to create a thick meringue, and whipping in butter. This silky, creamy frosting looks great and tastes amazing, making it an excellent alternative to American buttercream. After some experimenting, the author feels they have perfected an easy Swiss meringue buttercream frosting (SMBC). When people ask about the best type of buttercream for cake decorating, they always answer Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC).
📹 How to Ice & Smooth a Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
In this video I demonstrate how I ice my cakes and smooth my buttercream when I use Swiss Meringue Buttercream. In my video I …
📹 Swiss Meringue Buttercream in 5 Easy Steps| Cake Decorating Tutorial
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Well, it’s already been a year since I made this article and I’ve come along way. I still use the same technique and it works well. So, hopefully some of the 90K+ people who have viewed this tutorial have found it at least a little helpful. I may not be the fastest, but I’m okay with that as long as I get the results I’m after.
Sorry! I was still very new at making articles when I put this together, and didn’t explain myself well. The “extra” is the bumpy parts. You put on more than you need in the beginning, so you have enough to scrape away when smoothing (it just depends on how thick of a layer of buttercream you want). Something that I’ve found helpful is to trim the CAKE a little smaller than the cake board, so there is about 1/4 inch of space all the way around. Then use the board as your guide.
@ecuaricanchula Yes! Swiss Buttercream tends to be much softer/lighter than an American style buttercream… I always let it set up hard in the frudge before covering with fondant, it is much easier to work with that way and you’ll have sharper, cleaner edges 🙂 The only drawback is you have to work quickly when smoothing because the cold cake will cause the fondant to stiffen up a little, and the temp difference can cause condensation.
So no matter how many times I try…I still end up being such a perfectionist that I take tiny layer after tiny layer off until the cake appears through..and I have to start all over again! SOOOoooo frustrating! I use fondant on top though (yes- I’m in uk) so it works out in the end. Just wish I could get my smbc to work like yours did in this vid! Well done! I’m jealous! 🙂
You have to have icing up over the edge of the cake all the way around to get a nice sharp corner. On this cake there were some areas that already had the “lip” and some that did not, so I added more icing. If you feel you don’t need to do it, then don’t… but his is how I ice my cakes and it works for me.
@3poppyseeds Actually, I don’t use a dam if I am just filling a cake with SMBC. It is soft, but the strawberry buttercream is the same consistency as what I ice the cake with… also I refrigerate my cakes between steps, so the filling layers set hard before I ice my cake- and then refrigerate again if I am covering with fondant so the buttercream is hard when i smooth the fondant. Nothing “squishes” out this way. If I was using a filling other than buttercream I would use a dam though. HTH!
I use an Ateco turntable. I can’t post links in the description box, but if you google, or search amazon it’s called “Ateco 612 Revolving Cake Stand.” It cost’s about $50 and is one of the best investments in cake decorating tools I’ve made! It has a really heavy, solid cast iron base so it doesn’t slide and turns so smoothly! In the article, I have my cake resting on a round wooden cutting board that I use instead of cake boards when making cakes at home 🙂
@MrMikeProductionz I got mine at the grocery store (Stop and Shop), but you can probably find them at Target or Walmart. The brand I got was Calphalon I believe, but Oxo and Chef Mate make them, and I’m sure some others. It’s called a bench scraper, or sometimes a pastry scraper/chopper…the Chef Mate one is called Chop n Scoop. If you have a hard time finding one, you can also use a putty knife from the hardware store!
You are very welcome, I started using SMBC a little over a year ago… while there are plenty of instructions out there for smoothing American Buttercream, very little about Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The “Hot Knife” method didn’t work for me because it discolored the buttercream… so I figured I would share with everyone what I found to be the best technique! Good Luck!
@NappynHappy81 For a shaped cake or a cake with odd angles/edges I use a combination of a small offset spatula, and a plastic “table scraper” that is flexible enough to bend and I’ve even used just my hands, the I’ve got “hot hands” and my body temp is enough to soften the surface so I can smooth it. You could probably even use a piece of cardboard that you can bend to the shape you need 🙂
My SMBC is pretty white, once it’s mixed and before you add the vanilla, the final result is more off-white but that is more from the addition of natural vanilla extract. SMBC will never be “bright white” but it’s not too yellow. If you find it is too yellow for your liking you can add a touch of purple food color. Not enough to change it to purple, but just a touch cancels out the yellow. But, what you see in the article is just unaltered SMBC. I have my recipe linked in the description box.
@MissCiasiab And yes, beginners can do this… It does take a bit of practice to be able to quickly get a smooth cake… So it might take a beginner a bit longer… When I first started I would go around and around and around, seemingly forever! But after a few cakes you get a better feel for how much pressure to put on and what angle to hold the scraper, ect… I hope you give it a try, Good Luck!
Hi! Hmmm… I’ve never tried quilting on SMBC. I suppose you could, just keep the cake very cold, and maybe tape parchment paper to the back of the triangle you are tracing? If I was going to try it, that is what I would do.. as soon as the SMBC starts softening you will start marring the surface though.. maybe do a few lines then pop it back in the fridge, then try a few more? I know that people who use crusting buttercreams can do it, but I think most often they use a diamond impression mat.
@melissy516 Hi! I generally don’t have a problem with fondant sticking to the chilled buttercream cake… but if you are having trouble with it adhering you can try adding a little piping gel or even just a little “fresh” buttercream. I’m not sure how well water would work with a Swiss Meringue Buttercream (I’ve never tried it)… I think the high butter content would repel water making the decorations more likely to slide around….
@NappynHappy81 Also… you might rub a tiny amount of shortening on the fondant to help keep the fondant supple enough while you’re working to cover your cake, most of the shortening should absorb into the fondant after a few hours, but if you use too much you can end up with streaks, so be cautious if you try it… i really suggest The Mat though, it’s about $19 plus shipping and is one of my most valued cake decorating tools! Sweetwise has a Youtube website and article demo.
When the butter whips up it is only slightly off white, when you cream butter/sugar to make a cake, that mixture should look pretty white? You can find butter that is less yellow, the color varies by the cow’s diet. I find that my buttercream is more often discolored from the vanilla and not the butter. It’s doesn’t bother me, and I just let people know it won’t be pure white. You can also add a touch of violet food color to offset any yellow hue- just a tiny tiny bit!
@MissCiasiab I like a recipe from Ron Ben Israel, you can Google “Ron’s Sublime Vanilla Cake” to get the recipe or recently I found one by Crumb Boss Google “Crumb Boss Vanilla Cake” both recipes are great (YouTube won’t let me post the links here…)! But you could use a boxed mix if you don’t want to try a scratch recipe. I would not use a store bought icing with this smoothing technique, you need an icing with real butter in it. Give my recipe a try, it’s easier than it looks!
@NappynHappy81 Hi! I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment before… I would suggest you let you cake chill an become hard before covering it with fondant… I find Swiss Meringue Buttercream to be on the soft side and imagine you would have a very difficult time trying to smooth it when soft. Also, yes, I do still do the final smoothing technique when covering a cake with fondant. Fondant will show ever lump and bump, you can’t have smooth fondant without smooth buttercream 🙂
No, no water used. You just scrape the cold, hard buttercream to get it smooth. This will not work with a crusting or shortening based buttercream because 1- the shortening will not get hard enough to scrap against and 2-if you try to scrape the buttercream after it has crusted you will make drag marks on the surface.
I’m really amazed! The icing came out perfect! When you’re done icing the cake, do you keep the cake and the remaining icing in the refrigerator? It’s my first time making buttercream and some people told me to refrigerate it but others said I shouldn’t so now I’m confused 🙁 and also, can you add paste food coloring to buttercream? I’ve seen other articles where people add gel coloring but I can’t find that kind where I live. Thank you in advance and sorry for my english (if I made any mistakes)
@silverteacakes I bet the extra chill time will help tremendously! Yes, always put my cakes in the fridge, even with fondant… It makes it easier to work with when decorating, and much easier to transport! I’ve never had condensation cause a problem for me.. just DON’T touch the cake until the condensation evaporates otherwise you’ll get fingerprints… but I don’t live in an especially humid climate either, so that might make a difference.
You don’t necessarily need to use clear vanilla unless you need a white-white icing, in which case you would probably want to use shortening also for a “pure” white color. Unless I need that pure white color I always use a quality pure vanilla extract in my recipes. I think it produces a better and less artificial flavor. For the cake in this article my icing had pure vanilla extract and I don’t think it looks brown… maybe a little off-white, but I just let clients know to expect that.
As long as the cake is cold, it’s pretty easy! Just get a spatula under the cake board and lift it so you can get your fingers under it. Then when you stack it, or transfer it to another board, just use your spatula again, to gently lower it. If you cover your cake with fondant it’s even easier, once the fondant has set up and as long as the cake is cold, the cake is pretty sturdy, you can just about lift it with your hands to place it (in fact with smaller cakes I do!).
While the buttercream you scrape off doesn’t become in-edible, the friction of the scraping melts the butter and will cause it to 1) discolor, turn more yellow for uncolored buttercream or in the case where color was added it will get darker and 2) the liquid in the butter will separate out causing the buttercream to become weepy. You can still eat the buttercream, it just becomes unsightly. You can store SMBC at room temp for 1-2 days, but I recommend refrigerating it, where it can last 1-2 wks
It is more difficult to use this technique on colored smbc. The friction from scraping the buttercream is enough to melt the butter in the buttercream, this makes is darker and will cause the streaks (even in uncolored smbc this can happen). That is why I scrape the excess smbc off of my utensils so often. The scrapings will be a different color. I’m afraid I don’t have any better suggestions for smoothing colored smbc, just try to keep it as cold as possible. I’m sorry this didn’t work for you.
Hi! I think if you used an all butter American BC you could probably use this method. I’m not sure how it would work with an all shortening, or butter shortening combo… perhaps if you put it in the freezer instead of the fridge, you really want the icing solid before you start scraping. I’m not sure about 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening in SMBC, but Crumb Boss has a Swiss Buttercream that has shortening in it. I don’t care for the shortening in my buttercream though, I swear I can taste it.
I tend to only do a “crumb coat” if I have a crumbly/chocolate cake and/or if I’m making a cake with a buttercream finish. A crumb coat would be a thinner coat of icing you put on the cake to trap any crumbs so they don’t get in your finished layer of icing. If you want to crumb coat, you would do it exactly as described. SMBC is probably not stiff enough to make flowers with. Yes, SMBC can sit out for 1-2 days, as long as it is not too warm. I prefer to keep my cakes in the fridge, though!
Hi! I do always store my cakes in the refrigerator, but it’s not necessary. I do it to because I find it easier to decorate and transport a cold/solid cake. But the icing is okay at room temperature for a day or to. You can store unused icing covered on the counter or in the refrigerator. If you do keep it chilled, just make sure you take it out well in advance of when you need it so it can thaw completely. Then re-beat w/ the paddle until it’s back to it’s correct consistency 🙂
@NappynHappy81 I use “The Mat” by Sweetwise (shop {dot) sweetwise {dot} com). With this tool you don’t use any cornstarch or powdered sugar, which speed up the drying of the top layer of fondant leading to elephant skin. And also work quickly! I always make sure to work quickly and adhere the fondant at the top edge first, because that’s the area I tend to find it tears. If you don’t use The Mat, then use the least amount of ‘dust’ possible and work as quickly as possible.
I am still tweaking my vanilla/yellow cake recipe… not sure if I’m ready to give it out yet. BUT, if you search Warren Brown’s “Yellow Butter Cake.” It is an EXCELLENT recipe. He has the recipe on YouTube. It’s also in his book “Cake Love” which is a great source of scratch cake recipes. His yellow cake recipe is still my “go to” recipe, while I’m experimenting with my own 🙂 And, you can color the frosting, with no ill effect. I recommend oil based candy colors, but any coloring will work.
…and yes, you can use paste or gel colors (or even the liquid drops if you had to). Because of the fat content w/ the butter the water based gel colors don’t blend completely. I recommend using oil based candy colors and they will mix in better and lead to less streaking when smoothing. I’m not familiar with paste colors, but I imagine they’d work at least as well as the gel colors, if not better! Good luck! And your English is perfect 🙂
Hi Renee, thank you for such an informative article. How do you get your swiss meringue buttercream to stay so white after scrapping with the bench scraper? Whenever i tried scrapping with a bench scarper it becomes yellowish and there are blotches of yellow. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Just slide a spatula under and lift! I always have my cakes on a separate board when I’m working with them. The wooden board you see in the article is actually a round cutting board I use for cakes. Just pop the cake in the fridge until it is good and cold, and the icing is hard. Then take it out, run a sharp knife around the bottom, if necessary, to release the cake, slide your spatula under and lift!
@lemontea128 Actually, it’s the Ateco 12″ turn table (I think they call it a revolving cake stand) it was about $45 from Amazon and I love it! It turns so smoothly and has a nice heavy/sturdy base, and raises the cake up for me… What you see on top, is a 12″ wooden cutting board that I use a lot, instead of a cake board, when I make cakes for my family or practice… I just use a small piece of non-skid shelf liner under it so it doesn’t slide on my turn table 🙂
It takes effort and practice to make sure that your bench scraper is being held completely perpendicular to the cake board. If you see my bench scraper has a loop as the handle part. To make sure I’m holding it level, I will rest it on the table top or cake board and try to lock my arm into place when I lift it to make sure it isn’t at an angle. I’m tempted to dismantle a level so I can tape that little bubble thing to my scraper! Sorry, I don’t have any great advice, just practice 🙁
I usually put my cakes back in the refrigerator. I find a cold cake easier to work with when decorating and much sturdier for transport. Some condensation may form as the cake come to room temperature for serving, but shouldn’t damage the cake. As long as you don’t touch the surface the condensation will just dry up. However, you don’t HAVE to refrigerate the cake, just make sure the fondant sets a bit and be very careful when decorating (the buttercream underneath will be soft).
You are welcome! I use an Ateco turntable… I love it because it’s cast iron and really heavy and turns so smoothly. I bought mine off of Amazon for about $45… pricier than the Wilton ones, but there’s not comparison as far as quality! I can’t post a link in the comments, but if you search “Ateco 12″ Metal Revolving Cake Stand” that’s what I have. In this article you can see the wooden cutting board I use a lot of times instead of a cake board….
@silverteacakes Hi! My best guess is that the SMBC got a little soft while you were smoothing the fondant and got pushed around creating the dents… I always make sure that the icing is solid before covering it with fondant, so yes, after smoothing, I pop it back in the fridge… I take it out, right after I’ve rolled out my fondant, so it doesn’t have time to get soft. I find it easier to work with a cold cake…
I was wondering, if in the final smoothing step, after refrigeration, you could try the paper towel method. It’s something you can do with regular butter cream, where you let it crust over and then use a Viva paper towel to smooth it out. You just lay the towel on it and gently smooth over it with your hands and it will knock down small imperfections and make it near perfect. But would this work with this type of frosting since it doesn’t crust?
Hi Renee! Thanks for the awesome article! I was wondering…for a stacked buttercream cake with multiple tiers, how can you avoid the cake board edges showing along the bottom but still make it so that you can move the tier after frosting the tier? With fondant, the fondant covers up the line from the board, but I’m not sure how to avoid it with buttercream. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing I really enjoyed that I got a different perspective and I really enjoy the way that you do it. how about getting any of your recipes like the recipe for your Swiss meringue buttercream have at a chocolate cake recipe or vanilla cake recipeI’d love to see what you have to offer and give it a try thank you for sharing and keep on caking.
hello can you tell me what size is the cake board? you mention your cake is an 8″ but your cake board looks a little smaller. the reason why I am asking is because I use the same size cake boards as my cakes but I get a bigger gap between the cake and the board. and I see your 8″ cake the exact same size as your cake board. (sorry) I hope I am not confusing you thanks
Hi…No matter what I do, the sides of my cake are always tapered. It’s like I’m constantly taking more icing from the top than the bottom no matter how I hold the bench scraper. Is your bench scraper taking icing off the entire length of the sides or do you hold it higher or lower depending where you think icing needs to be taken off? I’m tired of having jacked up sides…Any suggestions or tips will help me tremendously.
Hi! This is wonderful, thank you! I have a question: how do you remove the cake from the turntable after? I have typically used cake boards that are 1-2 inches diameter bigger than my cakes so that I can handle them after frosting, but with that method I have found it difficult to keep my bench scraper perfectly level to the turntable (since the cake board is in the way if that makes sense). But with a cake board that is smaller I’m wondering how you handle the cake when done without damaging it? Thanks so much!
very informative thank you so much! I love working with SMBC but am also new to the cake world. The other day I actually made the mistake of scraping the chilled buttercream off (in frustration) and adding it back to the bowl of buttercream, and i had parts of discoloured buttercream when I applied it back onto the cake – now i know why! I also always struggle getting the top of my cakes perfectly smooth, next time i will try what you did!
I recently made SMBC for my son’s cake and I LOVE it! I smoothed it on the cake and placed in fridge for 1/2 hour. I covered my cake with chocolate MMF and the SMBC thawed quickly. I had dents and pockets in my fondant. 🙁 Where did I go wrong? Maybe I did not leave the cake in the fridge long enough to harden the SMBC. After smoothing the cake, should I place back in the fridge to harden again before covering with fondant? Thanks in advance for your assistance on this. Silverteacakes
@HappyCakesBakes You are correct. I left my cake out while rolling out my fondant. I did not think to have my fondant ready before pulling the cake out of the fridge. Also, I don’t think 30 minutes was long enough to chill in the fridge. Your article says to leave it for an hour. I will do this next time. One more question, once you cover the cake with fondant and it’s nice and smooth, do you place it back in the fridge? What about condensation? Will you have a gooey mess?
So I watched your article over and over since it is the most informative on how to make the icing beautiful. I finally tried it on my first cake with Swiss meringue buttercream, which was a mimic of your amazing my little pony cake, btw. Hope you don’t mind. 🙂 It turned out really pretty but not perfect. My purple icing was a bit darker, and when I used the scraper I think the icing broke here and there on the outside due to the friction. I ended up with dark purple blotches, which my friend thought was “marbling” thank goodness. I was like, yeah sure that’s what it is. But I don’t want that to happen again. Have you ever had that happen? If so, do you have tips for the next time I try it? Thank you! I love your cakes!
@HappyCakesBakes Thanks for the quick replies. I do appreciate your help and time. I do live in a very humid climate (South Florida). I will do a practice cake with all the advice you have given me. I don’t plan to put my cakes out in the heat so I would imagine the condensation should not be an issue. I have read so much about fondant covered cakes going from the fridge to the heat and the fondant ruins the outside of the cake. I don’t want to learn the hard way. 🙂 Thank u.
Hi Renee nice tutorial, it`s perfect for me right now. I have to make a three tiered wedding cake filled with mousse and covered with fondant, and i have some questions! Does this works for tiered cakes? do you think the buttercream will be fine for two days if i refrigerate the cake decorated? and finally and even worse, the cake is going to travel for around 2 hours, please tell me this buttercream method is going to work if i use a really good support for mi tiers! Thanks for your help
I’m a baker and I’m using her method to ice my cakes and it works so well. those lips are really necessary to have flat surface on top of your cake. otherwise the top center will be slightly higher than the sides due to lack of icing there (and it will happen to amateur bakers like me). extra icing will help level it up perfectly. thanks HappyCakeBakes for this tutorial. it’s easier than other tutorials I’ve learned before.
Thank you so much for answering me! But I used the buttercream just right after I made it, I left the merengue in the mixer for a proximity 10 min. Just to get the air bubbles out and I started adding the butter when it became creamy, shine and cold, so you think the problem was that when I added the butter maybe the mixer was to fast and I got the bubbles from there ??
The frosting that you put on..would that be considered the crumb coat? After an hour I would put another layer on and smooth..would I put it in the fridge again to cool a second time before decorating? Can I use this frosting to make flowers? If I make a cake 1-2 days in advance can I let it sit on the counter in a cake carrier or does it need to be in the fridge until party? New to this cake making world 🙂 Your article was great, I will have on while I make my cake…haha!
Nice article:) would you mind sharing your swiss buttercream recipe? Looks good in icong your cale.. You make it so simple but for beginners like me this is so hard:(.. Is your buttercream good for hot humid areas coz i live in the philippines and its so hard to stanilize the frosting, hope you could reply tnx and God Bless
Great article and I will be checking out your blog more often. I too was wondering about your turntable. I have a few from Wilton, ok but not what I like. Thanks for the tip. I was wondering about filling your cake with the strawberry SMBC, did you make a dam, like we do with regular BC? With the softness of the SMBC, it seems like it would not hold up.