Vanilla Cupcakes With Vanilla Swizz Meringue Buttercream

I had to make this buttercream THREE times, not once, not twice but threeeeee times. I will admit I was pretty knackered when  it came to making it and my baking brain wasn't at full speed. I had invited all the family for high tea and had been baking for literally the whole day so I'm not sure if it was tiredness or this buttercream is just a pain to get right. I have seen it made numerous occasions, Anna Olson and Ina seem to do it at their ease, so I'm putting the first two failed attempts down to tiredness.

In the end, when I was finally happy with the results it turned out to be a pretty nice buttercream. Is it going to knock cream cheese frosting as my No.1? No but its fluffy and satiny and a great buttercream to decorate with. I will definitely be giving it a go again........hopefully I'll get it on my first attempt this time! I used my favourite Vanilla Bean Cupcake recipe and topped them with mini eggs which I loooove,far too easy to eat!

 

Recipe for Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

 

Ingredients

• 225g caster sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 300g unsalted butter,room temp
• 1-2 drops vanilla extract

Instructions

 

1. Using a large heat proof bowl, place the sugar, salt and egg whites and place over a pan of simmering water making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar, you’ll know when the sugar has dissolved as the mixture won’t be gritty.It will be smooth and runny.
2. When the mixture is smooth, using a hand held electric mixer, whisk on high speed until you have a thick meringue. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and continue to whisk on low speed until the meringue has cooled to room temperature,you can check this by feeling the outside of the bowl.
3. Add your butter in chunks one at a time and continue whisking. Don't worry if it looks scrambled, it will eventually become smooth. Add your vanilla extract and food colouring if you wish.Whisk until you have a smooth and silky buttercream.

For some reason I could never get to the meringue stage on my first two attempts, maybe it was the bowl or my sugar wasn't dissolved properly but hopefully ill be back with better news on my next attempt. I'm thinking some pureed strawberries would be amazeballs in this.

Hope you have better luck than me and get it bang on first go!

Shirley x