Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting is made from sugar, egg whites, and butter. Unlike American buttercream, it’s light, fluffy, and never cloying. This step-by-step tutorial includes options for vanilla, chocolate or strawberry buttercream, as well as suggestions for additional flavors. It may appear a bit daunting at first if you’ve only prepared American buttercreams, which are made from butter and confectioners’ sugar. However, if you can push yourself through those nerves and give this a try, you will never go back. Once you know this basic buttercream frosting recipe, the possible flavor combinations are endless!
I’ve shared many recipes over the years that highlight meringue buttercream frosting, such as my chocolate espresso layer cake, vanilla cupcakes, and chocolate peanut butter cake. However, since the process can be a bit involved, I figured it was time to create a step-by-step tutorial demonstrating exactly how you make it.
American buttercreams consist solely of butter and sugar, so they’re often rich, heavy, and overly sweet. Since meringue buttercreams also contain egg whites, the result is much lighter and less cloying.
Meringue Buttercream Ingredients
- Granulated white sugar
- Corn syrup (optional, but recommended)
- Egg whites
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
- For chocolate buttercream: unsweetened chocolate
- For Strawberry buttercream: Strawberry puree and fresh-squeezed orange juice
Meringue Buttercream Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Candy thermometer or digital thermometer (many people use a candy thermometer, but I just use the same digital probe thermometer for all recipes since it always gets the job done).
How to Make Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Step 1: Cook sugar syrup to the soft-ball stage
When cooking sugar syrups, the soft-ball stage occurs between a temperature range of 235 and 240 degrees F. This temperature will make sure the egg whites are safe to consume, and also help create the right meringue consistency.
How do you prevent sugar from crystallizing?
When crystallization occurs, the smooth syrup with turn grainy and can no longer be used in buttercream. It cannot be fixed, but luckily, it’s easy to start over if this happens. Take the following steps to avoid crystalized sugar:
- Start with a very clean saucepan.
- Add 1 teaspoon of corn syrup to the sugar and water. This step is optional, but it does help.
- Don’t stir the ingredients after adding them to the pot. The syrup will form on it’s own once the sugar dissolves.
- Cover the saucepan until steam develops. Once steam develops, remove the cover and add the thermometer to the pot.
Step 2: Add syrup to egg whites
While the syrup is reaching the soft-ball stage (which takes around 5 minutes), place the egg whites in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and turn the speed to high. Whip to a soft peak.
Once the syrup is ready, turn the mixer to medium-low. Slowly and carefully pour the syrup down the side of the mixer into the egg whites. You might want to wear oven mitts the first time you do this to protect your hands (I’m a fan of the Ove Glove mitts since they give me a lot of control).
Don’t add the syrup too quickly or you could wind up with scrambled eggs. This is also why the syrup is poured down the side of the bowl instead of straight into the eggs.
Once the syrup is completely incorporated, turn the speed up to high and let the meringue form a stiff peak while cooling to room temperature. This can take 15-20 minutes, so it’s a good time to do the dishes. Placing ice packs around the bowl can help speed up the process.
Step 3: Add butter and any additional ingredients
Once the meringue is at room temperature, it’s time to add butter, followed by any additional flavors. The meringue will start to thin out slightly when you begin adding butter, but it will thicken up again by the end.
This step is where the buttercream has the potential to break, which will happen if the butter and meringue are different temperatures. Buttercream breaks when the ingredients separate.
Don’t worry, because it’s very easy to fix broken buttercream. But first, there are some steps you can take to prevent this from happening.
How to prevent broken buttercream
To avoid broken buttercream (which looks curdled like cottage cheese), leave the butter out overnight so it can truly come to room temperature. Also, wait until the meringue has cooled completely to room temperature before you begin adding the butter.
We don’t always have the foresight to leave butter out overnight. If you only have a few hours, cut the butter into very small pieces so it can reach room temperature more quickly. If the buttercream happens to break, don’t panic! Simply fix it.
How to fix broken buttercream
The easiest way to fix broken buttercream is to scoop 2-3 tablespoons into a small ramekin and microwave it on HIGH power for 5-10 seconds, until it’s just melted. Next, turn the mixer on high speed and pour the melted buttercream back into the bowl to incorporate. If that doesn’t fix it, repeat the process as needed.
Here’s a video I created for eHow last year demoing how to make Italian Meringue Buttercream:
For more buttercream frosting tips, make sure to read my Buttercream Basics article!
Looking for more dessert recipes?
Love this buttercream frosting recipe? Be sure to check out my classic yellow cake, tiramisu, and Nutella cheesecake bars!
Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
For Basic Buttercream:
- 13 ounces granulated sugar (approximately 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water
- Optional: 1 teaspoon corn syrup (see notes)
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 pound unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature (left out overnight for best results)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For Chocolate Buttercream:
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature (see notes)
- Optional: a few drops of brown food coloring (I recommend gel food coloring)
For Strawberry Buttercream:
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup strawberry puree, room temperature (made from strawberries pureed in a blender)
- 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice, room temperature
- Optional: 1-2 drops red food coloring (I recommend gel food coloring)
Instructions
- Place the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium-sized saucepan (do not stir). Cover and turn the heat to high. Once the liquid begins to simmer and steam develops, remove the cover (this helps prevent crystallization). Using a digital or candy thermometer, cook the sugar to the soft boil stage, 235-245 degrees F.
- While the sugar is cooking, whisk the eggs on high in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until a soft peak has formed.
- Turn the mixer speed down to medium-low and very slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites (this will “cook” the egg whites, making them safe to consume. Don’t pour the hot syrup directly into the meringue or you’ll have scrambled egg whites.
- Once the syrup is completely incorporated, turn the speed to high. The meringue will continue to form a stiff peak as it cools down. Mix on high until the meringue comes to room temperature, approximately 15-20 minutes.
- Once at room temperature, slowly begin incorporating the soft butter on medium speed. Once all of the butter has been added, turn the mixer speed up to medium-high and slowly add the vanilla and any additional flavors (see variations).
- If not using immediately, store the buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before using. Briefly whisk or place back in the stand mixer with the whisk attachment to make sure it’s nice and fluffy before frosting. Buttercream can also be frozen for up to 3 months (I like using gallon sized freezer bags).
Notes
- Other fruit purees or nectars! Don't use anything sweetened.
- Liqueurs (Grand Marnier, Irish Cream, Coffee Liqueur, etc)
- Rum or brandy
- Espresso or coffee
- Malted milk
- Spices or extracts (cinnamon, cardamom)
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
Sarah Fennel says
Now that just looks PERFECT!
Mary Ann | The Beach House Kitchen says
Such a great post Jennifer! I love the step by step photos and instructions!
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
Is it wrong that I wanna just eat the whole bowl?!
2pots2cook says
With you all the way :-) Thank you !
Carolyn says
Such a great tutorial!
Cookin Canuck says
This is so helpful! Italian meringue buttercream can be a little tricky and these tips are perfect.
Matt Robinson says
You do the best tutorials! Wish I was brave enough to try this.
Jennifer Blake says
So many options with this frosting! Love how you’ve included common pitfalls and what to do to fix them.
Lindsay says
oh thank you! I needed these tips. Perfect for any celebration! YUM! now to make cake. haha
Alix @A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says
This meringue buttercream frosting looks delightful! I absolutely LOVE meringue buttercream and can’t wait to make yours!
Hala says
Hello. I have a question: If the butter was left out overnight it will be totally melting no?. In all posts I have read regarding meringue buttercream and the recipe I use, it is recommended that the butter be cold yet soft a bit to touch so what I do is I take my butter out until it’s a bit soft then returning back to the fridge for like 5 min to get them cold again.
Are you sure it will be just fine using butter left out overnight? because I want to try it soon.
Thank you for sharing this post.
Hala
Jennifer Farley says
Hi Hala! Great questions. If your home is at room temperature, the butter will be firmly at room temperature in the morning. It won’t be totally melting unless it’s left in a very warm environment (I wouldn’t leave it outside overnight on a hot summer night).
It’s actually fine to leave butter (and eggs!) out of the refrigerator overnight; I had no idea until I worked in restaurants and saw this as a regular practice.
If you’re not comfortable with this, you can certainly try a “cold yet a bit soft to touch” method. As I mentioned, the buttercream has a much higher likelihood of breaking if the ingredients are not all completely at room temperature, but that’s ok! Don’t panic. Just follow my instructions for fixing it :)
Carmen L. says
Great recipe! Thank you very much!!!
Kathryn says
Hi, just trying your recipe. I had great thickness before adding the butter and now it is runny. Was my butter too soft? Did I add it too quickly? Can you offer any suggestions? Thanks
Jennifer Farley says
Hi Kathryn, a couple things come to mind. When you first add the butter, the meringue will usually deflate a bit from the added weight. But once all of the butter is added, the bulk alone should puff up the buttercream to a point where it’s thick enough to frost baked goods. Was the meringue completely at room temperature when you added the butter? That would be a more likely culprit since it could melt the butter. The other possibility is if you microwaved the butter and it was actually melted as opposed to room temperature. Adding the butter too quickly is more likely to cause the buttercream to break than deflate.
If you beat the buttercream on the highest speed for a few minutes, you might be able to whip enough air back into it so that it thickens up on its own. Or, you can try chilling it and then bringing it back to room temperature, which I do all the time with leftovers. Cover and refrigerate the bowl, either for a few hours or overnight, then set it out on the counter until most of the chill is gone (it’s ok if it’s slightly cool; the stand mixer should finish bringing it to room temperature). Put it back in the mixer, start on a lower speed to break things up and then slowly turn the speed up toward high.
Let me know how it goes!
Kathryn says
Thanks for the suggestions. I did end of mixing it longer and some thickness came back. It was not really as thick as I like, so I put it in the fridge overnight. Then I did what you suggested, in the morning I sat it out and let it get to room temp and then beat again. It was better. I don’t know where I went wrong. The egg mixture was cool when I added the butter. Anyway, It worked out in the end, my cake is frosted for the birthday party tonight. Thanks for taking the time to respond. -Kathryn
Bella says
Hi. My buttercream end up too runny when i add butter. Can it be fixed?
Jennifer Farley says
Hi Bella! It definitely can. It’s always a little hard for me to tell when I’m not there, but if the ingredient ratios are correct, the most likely cause is that the ingredients are too warm. Try placing the bowl in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, then mixing it on high speed. If it’s still soft, repeat that process for 5 or 10 minutes.
Linda says
Just made this frosting, used 3 sticks of butter instead of 4 and it was still fantastic. Just a heads up for people who’s frosting is runny. My guess is that your adding the butter in before the meringue is cool enough. I take the temperature of my meringue and when it gets near 80 degrees, thats the time to slowly add your pieces of butter. It can take quite awhile to get to 80. For me, its sometimes over half an hour. I wrap ice cubes in a towel and wrap it around the mixing bowl. I’ve never had runny italian frosting doing it this way. Hope this is helpful.