Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This is a very stable swiss meringue buttercream. It is absolutely suitable for a hot country like Singapore (where i live in). It pipes up very well and uses only 3 ingredients. Simple to make and goes well with most cakes/cupcakes. It tastes buttery (It's buttercream!) and not too sweet ~ perfect for my taste. It's a keeper!

Ingredients:

105 grams egg white (3 regular 55 grams eggs)
135 grams white granulated sugar
227 grams unsalted butter, soft but still cold, cut into small equal size of cubes

You will also need:

A cold bath (big bowl with ice cubes and 2cm water)

A double broiler

Note: To separate egg whites cleanly, the best way i find is to use the hand separation method instead of passing the yolk from one half shell to another when cracking it. It will be best if you have a thermometer to make this, but it is not compulsory.

1. Boil some water to set up a double broiler. 

2. Remove the butter from the fridge and cut into small cubes (approximately 1 inch - don't have to precise, it is not important).

3. Prepare a big bowl with a few ice cubes with about 2cm of cold water and set aside. 

4. Transfer the egg whites and sugar into a metal bowl and set it over the double broiler (The original recipe called for adding the sugar in 3 batches but i forgot and added everything and it worked anyway). Keep whisking as soon as you set it over the broiler. 

If you have a thermometer, let the mixture come to 46 degree Celsius (115 degree Fahrenheit), then remove it from the heat. At this temperature the sugar would have dissolved. Otherwise, you can use your fingers to check that the sugar dissolved (when it is not gritty), then remove from the heat. It is not that hot that it would burn your fingers, so no worries. 

5. Remove from heat, then using a hand beater, beat at high speed till stiff peak forms (shown below). When you reached this stage, put the bowl into the ice bath that you prepared earlier. 

6. Then, with the mixer at low speed, mix in the butter piece by piece, adding the next one only after the previous one is completely incorporated.

7. When you have almost mixed in all the butter, the mixture will start to curdle. Just finish adding the butter (if you haven't) then switch to a spatula to continue to fold and stir the mixture till it is satiny and smooth. I folded it for about 8 to 10 minutes till i was satisfied with its "smoothness".

This recipe was taken from the Nasi Lemak Lover's Blog. It mentioned that if your buttercream curdles you are safe. i suppose that's something to take note of!

Frost it as you like on cupcakes. If you have 3 egg yolks left over from this, you can make a half portion of my cream brulee or pastry cream (that can be used in fruit tarts, eclairs etc).

Enjoy :)