Swiss Buttercream (and variations)

By stancec44

(from Brave Tart):Swiss meringue purists may get a little stressed to see me using a little less sugar in this recipe, but I’ve done it like this for the last five years and so far, so good.

Ingredients

• 10 oz egg whites (it’s okay to go a little over)
• 10 oz sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• the scrapings from 1 vanilla bean
• 2 pounds unsalted butter, cut into 2” chunks, room temperature

Details

Servings 10
Adapted from bravetart.com

Preparation

Step 1

Combine the egg whites, sugar, salt, and vanilla bean together in an clean bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of water and turn the heat on medium low. You don’t need the water to even simmer, you just want it hot enough to steam, since steam is what’s actually going to heat the whites.

Whisk frequently to prevent an egg white omelet forming on the sides, but continual mixing isn’t necessary. Aim to get the mixture to at least a 145° for food safety reasons, but reaching 150° would make for a nice margin of error. If your egg whites are at room temperature, this won’t take very long, maybe just a few minutes. Whites straight from the fridge will take longer.

When the mixture is sufficiently hot, remove from the heat and whip on medium high speed until the mixture has doubled in volume and turned snowy white. Continue whipping until the meringue is cool. Use your hands to feel the bowl itself, rather than simply testing the temperature of the meringue. You want it to feel perfectly cool to the touch with no trace of warmth. Note: if you are using a glass or ceramic bowl, even if the meringue has cooled, the bowl itself may still be quite warm and continue conducting heat into the buttercream over time. If you are using a glass or ceramic bowl, transfer the meringue to a new bowl before proceeding or continue mixing until the bowl itself is cool.

Turn the mixer down to medium-low and begin adding in the butter, one chunk at a time. If you didn’t let your meringue cool enough, this is when you’ll really regret it. By the time you’ve added all the butter, you may need to scrape down the bowl to fully incorporate any butter or meringue that’s stuck at the sides.

Finally, splash in some vanilla extract or what have you. Just keep adding a 1/4 teaspoon at a time until it suits your tastes.

The buttercream freezes beautifully. I always have a few containers in my fridge to pull out when I want to make macarons or layer cake.

VARIATIONS:
Cream Cheese Variation

Replace half the butter with one pound of cream cheese that’s warmed to room temperature. At the very end, whip in the juice of 1 lemon. This gives the buttercream a gentle tang, not an overtly lemon flavor.

Peanut Butter Variation

For this variation, omit the salt in the recipe. Commercial peanut butters are salted, making additional salt unnecessary. This is obscene, but I’ve added up to 32 ounces of peanut butter to this recipe (obviously that makes a ton, but I often do so for wedding cakes, etc). Really, you can add as much or as little peanut butter as you like. After you’ve beat in the butter, add in creamy peanut butter a few ounces at a time, until the buttercream has a suitably peanutty flavor. It’s hard to over do it, in my opinion.

Green Tea Variation

Add between 1-2 Tbsp matcha with the butter. Matcha has a naturally bitter flavor, so how much you add will depend largely on how much you enjoy the contrast between the bitter green tea buttercream and the sweetness of the cake. Add a little at a time until it’s just to your liking.

For a phenomenal on-line tea source visit Essencha. They sell a mind blowing matcha sawa, which is what I use for all my matcha recipes.

Anyone in the Lexington area can buy matcha at Dong Yang Market off Clay’s Mill. Yes, I know it’s a Korean market, but they sell a good quality Japanese brand in a small container.

Milk Chocolate Variation

Yes, my recipe for milk chocolate buttercream calls for dark chocolate. Milk chocolate just doesn’t pack enough chocolate-y punch, so I supplement with a little dark chocolate. The end result though, is sweet and mellow. I used it for my brother's birthday cake. You’ll need:

8 ounces milk chocolate, cut into small chunks
5 ounces dark chocolate, likewise cut up

While the egg white/sugar mixture is whipping up and cooling down, melt the chopped chocolate in the microwave, stirring with a spatula every thirty seconds to prevent scorching. When the chocolate is about 90% melted, you can stop microwaving and just stir continually until it melts completely.

After the meringue has cooled and you’ve added all the butter, turn the speed down to low and pour in all of the melted chocolate at once. Try and move quickly, the melted chocolate can chip up against the sides of the bowl. Once you’ve added all the chocolate, turn the speed up to medium-high for a few seconds and whip until the color is uniform.

Dark Chocolate and Cinnamon Variation

Especially nice with the Chai Cocoa Cupcakes mentioned in Sweet Cuppin' Cakes. Follow the Milk Chocolate variation, using all dark chocolate. After the chocolate is incorporated, mix in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. After that, keep adding cinnamon a half teaspoon at a time, to get it where you like it. I like around a full tablespoon, but for some that is way too much.


Caramel Variation

Before making the buttercream, you’ll need to make one batch of caramel, about 16 ounces. You can actually add quite a bit more more, up to 25 ounces. But 16’s a good place to start.

Cool the caramel to room temperature. Follow the standard buttercream recipe exactly. After you’ve whipped in the butter, turn the speed of the mixer down to low and drizzle in all of the caramel. Let it continue to whip until it’s fully incorporated, adjust salt and vanilla to taste.