Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of rich chocolate flavor with the perfect amount of sweetness! If you find regular buttercream too sweet, you’ll adore this recipe.
Texture: So beautifully smooth, creamy, and fudgy yet light.
Ease: This is definitely more advanced than regular American buttercream, but I’ve loaded tons of tips, pictures, and a how-to video into this post so you have everything you need to make this recipe successfully.
Pros: Possibly the best buttercream ever!
Cons: A little more time-consuming than American buttercream.
Would I make this again? YES.
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This Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is about to be the BEST frosting you’ve ever tasted!
If you’ve ever found frosting too sweet (especially American-style buttercream frostings), this is the recipe for you.
While it does require a little more work than traditional American buttercream frostings, I’ve laid out all my best tips and tricks below so you can nail this Swiss meringue buttercream in no time.
Not only does this buttercream taste absolutely incredible, it’s also super easy to work with. It’s an absolute delight to use to frost a cake, and it also pipes onto cupcakes beautifully. It’s a little too smooth for really intricate designs, but a simple swirl is a classic for a reason 😉
There’s seriously no frosting out there that’s as smooth and creamy with just the perfect amount of sweetness. Even people who don’t usually like frosting LOVE this stuff. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Temperature is Key in Making Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- The first step in making Swiss Meringue Buttercream is to cook egg whites + sugar over a double boiler.
- You can cook the egg whites either in the metal bowl of your stand mixer over a saucepan of simmering water, or if your bowl doesn’t fit without touching the water you can use a standard double boiler.
- We want to make sure we cook the mixture to the correct temperature, so the frosting comes together properly and to cook the eggs enough so they’re safe to consume.
- You can use either a candy thermometer that clips onto the side of the bowl, or an instant read thermometer.
- You’re looking for the sugar to dissolve completely and for the mixture to become slightly thickened and foamy.
- You want to whisk the entire time to avoid the egg whites cooking. I find a flat whisk works best for this.
- Don’t step away from the mixture while it’s on the stove!
- Then, once your egg white/sugar mixture has reached 160°F, you can move it to your stand mixer and begin whisking.
- Continue to whisk until the meringue is thick, glossy, and stiff peaks are achieved and the bowl no longer feels warm to the touch.
Adding the Butter
Cubes of butter are gradually added to the meringue, forming a beautiful silky-smooth buttercream before adding the chocolate. Make sure your bowl is completely cool to the touch before adding the butter, to prevent your butter from melting.
Don’t Panic if it Looks Curdled!
99% of the time, if your buttercream looks runny or curdled as you’re whipping it, it CAN be saved. Just keep beating away until it becomes smooth! This forces the fat to emulsify completely. If it still doesn’t come together, your butter may be too warm. Try refrigerating the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes, then continue beating until smooth.
Use High-Quality Ingredients
- This Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe relies heavily on the quality of both the chocolate and the butter. There’s a LOT of butter here.
- Use high-quality chocolate and fresh, high-quality unsalted butter for the best chocolate flavor and texture.
- Learn why I prefer unsalted butter here.
- I definitely prefer semisweet chocolate in this recipe, but feel free to use milk chocolate or bittersweet chocolate – just note that this will change the overall sweetness of the buttercream.
- I haven’t tried this recipe with white chocolate or dark chocolate.
- Note: I don’t recommend using chocolate chips here, as they contain ingredients that prevent them from melting down. Save those for baking cookie recipes!
Just Keep Beating!
Again, if your mixture becomes curdled, soupy, or too runny, don’t worry! Just keep beating until it becomes smooth. This may take several minutes. If you can’t get to this point, try refrigerating the bowl for 10 to 15 minutes, then continue to beat until smooth. If you still can’t get it to smooth out, then the egg whites may have been overcooked.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- The Best American Buttercream
- Best Cream Cheese Frosting
- Peanut Butter Frosting
- Best Chocolate Cake
- The Best Chocolate Cupcakes
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Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (133 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 sticks (340 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and at room temperature
- 12 ounces (340 grams) semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with 1-inch of gently simmering water. Whisking gently and constantly, heat mixture until sugar is dissolved and mixture is slightly thickened and foamy and registers 160°F on a candy thermometer or a digital thermometer, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully wipe the bottom of the bowl dry.
- Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and begin to whip, until the meringue is thick, glossy, and stiff peaks are achieved. The bottom of the bowl must no longer feel warm to the touch. This should take about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Switch over to paddle attachment and, with mixer on low speed, add the butter cubes, one at a time, until incorporated. Continue beating until it has reached a silky smooth texture. This may take several minutes.
- If the buttercream curdles, simply keep mixing and it will come back together and be smooth. If the buttercream is too thin and runny, refrigerate for about 15 minutes before continuing mixing with the paddle attachment until it comes together.
- Add cooled chocolate and vanilla and mix until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light, fluffy, and well combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
Make Ahead:
- Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months*. Let come to room temperature and beat on low with the paddle attachment, until creamy, before using. If frosting appears runny or curdled, microwave about 1/4 cup for 5-10 seconds, then mix back into bowl and beat on medium-high until smooth.
Recipe Notes
This post was originally published in 2018 and has been updated with additional tips and information. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Hello Tessa, is it ok to double this recipe?
Sure!
I have been baking for many many years and this frosting is THE BEST I have ever used. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Love love love it!
I really loved this frosting. I just have a question about the consistency. When I just made the frosting it was really silky, light and smooth. However, after a while the frosting became more dense and hardend. Is there any way I can make sure the consistency will remain smooth and silky for a longer period?
Hi Maxine! We are so glad to hear that you enjoy this frosting! Most of the time, if you simply pop the buttercream back on the mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on the lowest speed for a couple minutes, this will help the frosting maintain its beautiful silky-smooth consistency. Swiss meringue buttercream can be temperature-sensitive, so it could just be that the ambient temperature in your kitchen was a little chilly, and the butter firmed up a touch as the buttercream sat. If this is the issue, take a couple tablespoons of frosting, place in a small bowl and heat a little in the microwave (if it melts that’s okay – that’s why we take such a small amount). Mix the warmed frosting back into the remainder of the batch and mix on low until fully incorporated. This will help raise the temperature of the remainder of the batch and restore the silkiness, without running the risk of overheating and ruining the whole lot! I hope that helps! 🙂
My oven crapped out on me today with stressed me out. Naturally I had to make something to de-stress and came back to this recipe which I have been dying to try. This has officially become my new favorite frosting recipe. It’s so smooth and delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Love the moist and tender cakes! The cream is smooth and piped beautifully but it’s a tad too sweet for my family. I don’t want to change the cake texture so I’m not gonna decrease the sugar in it but what’s the max amount of icing sugar I can cut down before the cream turns to a soupy mess?
Hi Debbie! I see your follow-up comment that you meant to post this on the Best Chocolate Cupcakes, as it’s referencing the frosting that goes with those 🙂 I would actually recommend trying out this frosting recipe, as I find Swiss Meringue Buttercreams to be less sweeet typically – and this recipe is incredible. If you wish to play with the sweetness level of the other frosting recipe, I would recommend instead upping the salt in the recipe, and trying a dark or even bittersweet/unsweetened chocolate instead, to lower the sweetness without messing with the frosting consistency. I hope that helps! 🙂
Do you hav3 a recipe for strawberry SMB?
Your chocolate SMB here is fabulous!
Hi Kathleen! So glad to hear that you enjoyed this buttercream! Here is the recipe for Tessa’s Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and scroll up a little above the recipe for all Tessa’s flavor combos, including strawberry 🙂 Enjoy!
I love that your informative, but sometimes I just want to get straight to the recipe.❤️
Hi Minerva! Thanks so much for your feedback. There is a little button, right below the title of each recipe, that says ‘Jump to Recipe’. You can click that to skip everything else on the page and land right at the top of the actual recipe. I never recommend doing that on Tessa’s recipes, however; there is SO much useful, valuable information that will be so helpful while making any recipe – especially something as tricky as Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
Did you use dark chocolate?
Hi Ines! As stated in the recipe, we used semi-sweet for this recipe. Check out all Tessa’s expert tips and tricks in the pink tip box, above the recipe, so you’re a total expert before you even start 😉
Hiya,
Could i add orange extract to this recipe to make it chocolate orange SMBC?
Thanks
Sam
Hi Sam! Absolutely! Start with just a little (even a 1/4 teaspoon – that stuff is strong!) and mix it in and taste. Keep mixing just a 1/4 teaspoon in at a time, until it tastes perfect to you! Enjoy 🙂
Hi tessa. Hoe u are well. I am doing something very wrong. The chocolate smbc is just divine.
I use the same recipe for white smbc and it curdles. No matter how much I beat it (I have a hand beater). If I reheat it on the boiling water it gets better, smooth but runny. As soon as it start getting colder the curdling starts and leaves a liquid like whey. But when I add the melted chocolate in it it gets together.
I have tried microwaving it and then but no luck.
Help
Hi Fatema! I’m pretty sure I understood your question correctly. So this recipe works great for you as a chocolate SMBC, right? But you’re having issues removing the chocolate and making this into a vanilla SMBC, correct? If that’s the case, this recipe was actually specifically designed to be used as a chocolate SMBC – the amount of chocolate that is added to this specific recipe is quite a lot, and it does add extra fat from the cocoa butter of the melted chocolate, and structure, so we don’t need quite as many egg whites. It also has more sugar in the ratio compared to our classic SMBC recipe.
Due to that, I would not recommend using this recipe as a vanilla SMBC recipe. Instead, try using our classic SMBC recipe, which also includes flavor customizations above the recipe. If I misunderstood your question, please let me know, and I’ll help troubleshoot further, but hopefully this helps!
Can you send use quality choc chips for melting
Hi Mollie! We don’t normally recommend chocolate chips in place of baking chocolate because they have added ingredients that help them maintain their chip shape when exposed to heat, and they won’t melt down as smoothly as a chopped baking bar. If you’re in a pinch, feel free to give them a try, but just know the results may vary a bit. Please let us know how it goes!