World’s Best Swiss Buttercream

By carvalhohm

This recipe for the World’s Best Swiss Buttercream makes enough icing to ice thirty cupcakes or one large sheet pan cake. This recipe includes Crisco or Sweetex shortening for the best icing with the best mouthfeel and flavor. This recipe can be dyed to your liking with gel paste food coloring because this recipe is a high-fat recipe and needs the best ingredients to perfect it.

Ingredients

• 6 fresh large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 cup Crisco shortening
• 2 cups unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 20mins
Adapted from woodlandbakeryblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Over a double boiler, in a large metal bowl whisk together the granulated sugar and the egg whites stirring constantly until the mixture reaches approximately 115°F and the sugar grains have dissolved and are no longer gritty to the touch.

Pour this mixture into the metal bowl of your Kitchen Aid Mixer with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until it is thick, glossy, and white in color. The peaks should be very firm.

In the meantime, you can sift your confectioners' sugar, and once you have achieved stiff-peaked meringue, add the confectioners' sugar all at once with the mixer on very low speed to avoid having a snow shower of sugar all over your kitchen.

Once all of the sugar has been incorporated you can turn the mixer speed to medium-high until it is all nicely mixed in.

Be sure your butter and shortening are at room temperature and they are the same consistency. Add it in about 2 to 3 additions, but add them as quickly as possible.

To add colors to this buttercream, I recommend using gel paste colors like Americolor or Chefmaster or an oil-based color is great too since this is a high-fat recipe.

The gel paste color should be added at the end after you have achieved the best buttercream. After you get to the point of done, you will then switch to the paddle attachment and add the food coloring.

You may color the whole batch or divide it up and color smaller portions at a time.

Gel paste colors are the best since a little goes a long way and they do not add extra liquid to the recipe like food colors do.

Turn the speed up to high and let it mix smooth. Add the vanilla extract at the end, and you are done.

NOTES:
This recipe can be stored for 4 days at room temperature, 2 weeks fridge, or 2 months freezer.

It's fine to store the recipe in the fridge or freezer, but just know that you will now have to bring it back to room temperature before using. Take it out hours before you need it, and let it get to room temp, then you will put it back on the mixer and with the paddle attachment on low- medium and let it mix, it will look as if it is broken, and curdled, don’t be alarmed this is normal, it will come back together eventually, you can turn the speed up to medium-high and it will mix out smooth.

Sweetex, it is a high ratio vegetable shortening that is the best for making Icings with no greasy mouth feel that many complain about when using the Crisco. If you can find a high ratio shortening I will always recommend using that instead of Crisco, but for those of you who cannot find it, Crisco works just fine.

Many people will disagree with me here, that they would never use Crisco in anything other than a pie crust. You may, of course, leave out the shortening altogether and use all butter, but I have had mixed reviews on that as well.