Whether you’re frosting a homemade batch of cupcakes or creating a gorgeous Layer Cake, this Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream brings a luxuriously silky texture to all your baking. With just five simple ingredients (and my step-by-step guide), you’ll get the best frosting for cake decorating, with incredible smoothness and flavour.
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Once you try this chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, you’ll never go back to regular frosting. It’s light, silky, perfectly chocolatey, and the best buttercream for cake decorating, which is why I always use it to decorate my celebration cakes. It's stable, pipes beautifully and has an incredible mouthfeel (not gritty, like many basic buttercreams).
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- I love this Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe!
- Substitutions & Variations
- Equipment
- How To Store Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Top Tip
- FAQ
- Use Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Here:
- Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Silky-smooth and easy to spread or pipe.
- Light, not overly sweet, with real chocolate flavour.
- Stable in warmer conditions, thanks to it's meringue base.
- It's enough to cover a 3 layer cake or 2 dozen cupcakes!
Recipe Ingredients
- Egg whites: whipped into a glossy meringue for that airy, smooth texture.
- Caster sugar: dissolves into the whites, sweetening and stabilising the meringue.
- Unsalted butter: adds richness and creates the creamy finish.
- Dark chocolate: use good-quality eating chocolate for the best flavour and finish.
- Vanilla: enhances the chocolate.
How to Make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Step 1: In the bowl of your stand mixer, add egg whites and caster sugar. Place it over a saucepan of simmering water and heat until it reaches 63-65°C or 150°F (stirring occasionally).
- Step 2: Transfer the bowl to your stand mixer and whisk on medium-high until stiff peaks form and the temperature drops to 35°C (95 °F)
- Step 3: Gradually add cubes of soft butter (at 18°C/65 °F), then whisk on high for 5 minutes. The mixture will look curdled for a while, but will whisk smooth.
- Step 4: Add cooled chocolate to the buttercream, along with vanilla extract, then use the paddle attachment and beat on low for 3 minutes, to remove air bubbles.
Hint: A digital thermometer is a game-changer! The meringue should around 35°C/95 °F before adding the butter. Butter should be soft, but not runny -around 18°C/65 °F is ideal. Get this wrong and you’ll risk separation.
I love this Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe!
So Smooth and chocolatey, without being sickly sweet"
Substitutions & Variations
White chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream: Swap dark for white chocolate.
Nutella or Biscoff Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Leave out the chocolate, but stir in a spoonful of Nutella or Biscoff for a flavour twist.
Colouring your Swiss Meringue Buttercream: If you want your chocolate buttercream a darker colour, add a dark brown oil-based food colour (liquid colour can split this butter-rich frosting).
Using a Thermomix? see recipe notes for my Swiss meringue buttercream thermomix version (it gives perfect heat control).
Equipment
Here's what I use and recommend:
Heat-proof mixing bowl that can sit over a pot of simmering water (I use the one from my stand mixer)
Stand mixer (with whisk and paddle attachments)
Digital thermometer or Infrared Thermometer
How To Store Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Room temperature: Covered, up to 2 days.
Fridge: Up to 2 weeks; bring to room temp and re-beat before using.
Freezer: Up to 3 months; thaw fully, then re-beat to restore texture.
Top Tip
When you’ve stored this in the fridge, let it come to room temp, take a small scoop and warm it briefly (microwave ~10 s) until pudding-soft, mix that back into the rest and re-beat with paddle. That revives the texture beautifully.
FAQ
Yes! Store in an airtight container or snaplock bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temp then re-beat until smooth.
Yes, always use an oil-based concentrated food colour (I use Colour Mill) and add it at the very end.
Absolutely. You can make the buttercream the day before, keep it covered in the fridge, then re-beat it before frosting your cakes or cupcakes.
The most common reason is temperature: butter was too warm or meringue was still warm when butter is added. Make sure everything is cooled correctly by using a thermometer.
Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 350 grams caster sugar
- 170 grams egg whites around 5 eggs
- 500 grams unsalted butter cubed, at room temperature/18℃
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 125 grams dark chocolate melted and cooled to 34℃
Instructions
- bring a small amount of water in a small saucepan to a simmer, to create a double boiler
- place the caster sugar and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer
- put the mixer bowl on top of the saucepan of simmering water and whisk until the sugar has dissolved (if using a thermometer, it will be around 63-65°C). This will take 1-2 minutes
- transfer the bowl to a stand mixer, then using the whisk attachment, whisk on medium-high until stiff peaks form (3-5 minutes) and meringue temperature comes down to 35℃
- gradually add the butter cubes, mixing well between each addition
- continue to whisk on high for around 5 minutes. The mixture will look curdled and pretty awful and you'll think you need to throw it out, but keep going - it will eventually become silky and smooth
- Add vanilla extract and chocolate, then mix on low using the paddle attachment, for 3 minutes. Mixture will now be ready to use.
Notes
- I use my Thermomix to heat the egg whites and sugar only, then whisk the meringue in my stand mixer.
- To heat the egg whites and sugar, place into Thermomix bowl and set to 3mins/75℃/speed 2
- Now add mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer and continue with whisking the meringue to 35℃
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Sandra says
This has become a family favourite.