Posted on by Lia Fireheart

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

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Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 1 cup or 8 oz of egg whites from about 8 eggs

  • 1 3/4 cups or 12 oz sugar

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

  • 5 sticks of butter, room temperature

  • 8 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions

  • Fill a 3-quart pot with 1 1/2 inches of water and place over medium-low heat.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites, sugar, salt and cream of tartar. Place over steamy water, stirring and scraping constantly with a spatula until thin, foamy and 175 degrees on a digital thermometer, about 10 minutes.
  • Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high until glossy, thick and quadrupled in volume, about 5 minutes.
  • Reduce speed to medium and continue whipping until the bowl feels cool to the touch.
  • Add butter a tablespoon at a time, waiting about 5 seconds between each addition. As the frosting comes together, you can add a little more of the butter at a time. Once the butter is all incorporated, add the melted and cooled chocolate.

Notes

The temperature of the ingredients is very very important. The butter MUST be room temperature and the eggs MUST cool completely prior to incorporating the butter or it will be a mess. And the chocolate has to be warm enough to be melted but not warm enough to melt the butter. Also there may be a stage when the whole thing looks curdled and weird and awful. Just keep whipping and it will come back together. One of the reasons the too-sweet frosting is popular is it’s easy: just powdered sugar and butter. This one has a bit of a learning curve.