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Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

February 3, 2017 by Dan 32 Comments

Swiss Meringue Buttercream is the perfect base buttercream for highlighting delicate flavors like strawberry. I love the smooth, melt in your mouth quality of this buttercream. It is light and flavorful and reminds me of my favorite strawberry ice cream. I enjoy this buttercream on cupcakes as well as layer cakes. Layer this buttercream between my signature Devils Food Cake and Vanilla Buttermilk Cake and you’ve got yourself a banging Neapolitan layer cake! Checkout the video below for full instructions.


5 from 1 reviews
Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
 
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Dan: Dan
Ingredients
  • 10 ounces fresh or frozen strawberries, cleaned and hulled
  • 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2-3 teaspoons Grand Marnier, optional
  • 8 ounces egg whites
  • 16 ounces granulated white sugar
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 20 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanila extract
Instructions
  1. Place the strawberries, 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar, cold water and lemon juice in a medium sized saucepan
  2. Bring to a slow boil, then reduce to a simmer, breaking up the strawberries with a spoon as they soften. Allow the strawberries to simmer for about 15 minutes or until their sauce has thickened
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier, if desired
  4. Transfer the strawberries to a measuring cup or small bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes
  5. Puree the strawberries using a hand blender or small food processor. You can also simply pass the strawberry sauce through a sieve to remove any chunks or seeds
  6. Allow the strawberry sauce to cool
  7. Begin your Swiss meringue
  8. Fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer on the stove
  9. In a medium metal bowl, combine the egg whites and granulated sugar
  10. Place the bowl of egg whites and sugar over the simmering water, and whisk every minute or so until all of the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 160* F on a thermometer
  11. Check that the sugar is dissolved by rubbing some of the egg whites between your fingers; you should feel no grains of sugar remaining
  12. Transfer the hot meringue to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment and whip on medium high speed until the mixture has tripled in volume and the bowl is cool to the touch. This could take up to 20 minutes
  13. While the meringue is whipping, add 2 pinches of salt
  14. Once the meringue is cool, add the softened butter, 1 stick at a time and whip on high. Lower the speed a bit as you add each portion of butter then raise the speed to blend it smooth
  15. Scrape down your bowl then add the vanilla extract
  16. Continue to whip the buttercream until it is smooth and creamy. If it looks wet or runny, continue whipping on high speed until it looks like whipped cream
  17. At this point you can add in about half of your reserved strawberry puree
  18. Blend on high for another 3-5 minutes until the mixture is smooth. You can adjust the strawberry flavor by adding more or less strawberry puree
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Filed Under: Cakes

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Comments

  1. Leeza says

    April 17, 2017 at 2:40 am

    Quick question, how many eggs would 8 oz of egg whites be?

    Reply
  2. Dan says

    April 18, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    HI Leeza- 8 ounces egg whites would be about 7-8 egg whites.
    Enjoy!

    Reply
  3. Marco A Pacheco says

    May 25, 2017 at 1:14 am

    The 20oz of Butter is by volume correct? or is it 20oz by weight ?

    Reply
    • Dan says

      June 1, 2017 at 2:23 am

      Hi Marco,
      It is 20 ounces by weight. Enjoy!
      -Dan

      Reply
  4. Katherine Schutt says

    May 17, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Can I do this with raspberries?

    Reply
    • Dan says

      May 17, 2018 at 3:20 pm

      Yes you can!

      Reply
  5. Candace says

    May 28, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    What would be the alternate if you want to use strawberry jam?

    Reply
    • Dan says

      June 17, 2018 at 11:35 pm

      Yes- I would add 1/2 cup strawberry jam per 1 lb butter. Whip that in and taste- you can always add more jam.
      Enjoy!
      -Dan

      Reply
  6. Caroline says

    June 26, 2018 at 4:16 pm

    Hello,
    Thanks for the recipe.

    If I want to half the recipe do I simply half the ingredients?

    Thanks,
    Caroline

    Reply
    • Dan says

      June 27, 2018 at 8:57 pm

      Yes absolutely!

      Reply
  7. Susan Turner says

    July 13, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    Thank you for sharing your recipes, I have always used another Italian merangue recipe however yours seem a lot stiffer so I will give this ago. Love your website, you are now in my favourites folder!

    Reply
    • Dan says

      July 19, 2018 at 1:40 pm

      Hi Susan! Im glad we made it to your favorites!!! Happy Baking! -Dan

      Reply
  8. Brooke Law says

    July 30, 2018 at 5:29 am

    This was my first attempt at making a swiss meringue buttercream and it was amazing. So smooth and creamy and silky. Definitely my go to recipe from now on for icing. Just one question, could you do the whole recipe with the paddle attachment? My whisk attachment is broken so I used a hand electic mixer to whip the eggs and cool them down. I didn’t want to waste my ingredients testing it out.

    Reply
    • Dan says

      August 20, 2018 at 4:03 pm

      Hi Brooke!
      I’ve never tried the whole recipe with the paddle. I think using a hand mixer to whip the whites is a good call- then at that point you could switch to a stand mixer/paddle to incorporate the butter.
      Enjoy!
      Dan

      Reply
  9. Ivry says

    September 3, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    About how many cupcakes will this frost? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Dan says

      September 9, 2018 at 1:30 pm

      Hi Ivry- This recipe will frost about 24 cupcakes.
      Happy Baking!
      Dan

      Reply
  10. Janey Oliphint Flanagan says

    April 9, 2019 at 10:52 pm

    This buttercream meringue turned out perfectly. I’ve never made buttercream in the swiss meringue style before, so I was a little nervous about getting it just right. It was very easy, although it took some patience to get the volume I wanted! I’ll never go back to regular buttercream!!! Thanks so much.

    Reply
    • Dan says

      May 25, 2019 at 5:36 pm

      Im so glad you enjoyed it Janey!

      Reply
  11. Judy Oh says

    June 11, 2019 at 3:11 am

    Thank you for sharing your recipe! I have two questions. Can you answer? I already made my Swiss meringue buttercream and put it in refrigerator. Can I add either purée or strawberry jam after defrost? And can I use it for cake filling? Do you think it is too smooth to spread between cake layers? Thank you for your time. ^^

    Reply
    • Dan says

      June 11, 2019 at 12:40 pm

      Hi Judy! Yes you can add room temp strawberry jam to room temp swiss buttercream. Whip it until it is light and fluffy. You can use it as a cake filling. I’d start with a 1/4 cup strawberry product per pound of buttercream and add more as you like.

      Reply
  12. Kelsey says

    July 29, 2019 at 8:44 pm

    If I put this in an air tight container, could it be frozen?

    Reply
    • Dan says

      July 30, 2019 at 1:11 am

      Hi Kelsey! Yes, you can freeze it for up to one month. Just bring it back to room temp and re-whip it before using. Enjoy- Dan

      Reply
  13. Kristin Stash says

    August 2, 2019 at 5:31 pm

    Will this be enough to ice a 3 layer 9 in cake, or should I double it?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Dan says

      August 2, 2019 at 6:11 pm

      It should be enough for filling and frosting a 9″ layer cake! Enjoy- Dan

      Reply
  14. Pam says

    October 21, 2019 at 8:23 am

    After making this Strawberry SMB can it be frozen without any problems when thawing due to the puree in the buttercream?

    Thank you

    Reply
    • Dan says

      October 27, 2019 at 1:43 pm

      Hi Pam,
      You can certainly freeze after making. Just rewhip the buttercream until smooth before using. Happy Baking!

      Reply
  15. Elle says

    January 21, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    Hi Dan!

    Thanks for the recipe and video. Two questions:
    – If I were to add freeze-dried strawberries (ground down into a powder), in addition to the sauce for a stronger strawberry flavor, do you think it would dry out the recipe/at what stage would you recommend I add the powder (into the sauce or into the buttercream directly)?
    – About how many cupcakes could be frosted with this recipe?

    Thank you!
    Elle

    Reply
    • Dan says

      January 23, 2020 at 2:49 am

      Hi Elle! This recipe will frost about 24 cupcakes depending on how heavily they are frosted.
      You can certainly try adding strawberry powder. I would add it in right after adding the puree. You may want to add some cool water to the strawberry powder to make a slurry first, before adding it to the buttercream. This should help hydrate the powder and prevent it from clumping or forming flecks in the buttercream. Let us know how it goes!

      Reply
  16. Nichole says

    February 5, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    This looks amazing! Do you ever use egg whites from a carton or do you prefer them fresh?

    Reply
    • Dan says

      March 24, 2021 at 1:36 pm

      Thanks Nichole! I have used both types of egg whites, whatever is on hand works!

      Reply
  17. ellie says

    March 7, 2021 at 3:18 am

    hi I need enough for 3cakes layers that are 9 inches will it be enough to frost inbetween the cakes on the outside and top i also want to crumb coat it so it will have to go over it twice if it’s not enough can i just double the recipe or will i need to make changes

    Reply
    • Dan says

      March 7, 2021 at 1:32 pm

      Hi Ellie! When in doubt I always go for more buttercream. If you have any leftover you can always freeze it until next use. You can easily double this recipe in a 5 quart mixer without having to make any changes. Happy Baking!!!

      Reply

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