Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This wonderfully delicious light and silky buttercream frosting is the spectacular finish your cakes and cupcakes deserve. It’s truly bakery-quality. And as such, it does require more time than a traditional buttercream frosting, but like many good things—we think you’ll find it’s worth the wait. Besides, the Betty Crocker Kitchens pastry chef who created this recipe has written step-by-step instructions and tips to help you through every stage of the process. Here’s what you should know before you dive in: First, you do actually need to cook your eggs and sugar over a pan of simmering water in a double boiler (to avoid burning) to a temperature of 160°F for food safety reasons—eggs are considered fully cooked at this temperature. Second, adding the softened butter one piece at a time, allows the egg whites-sugar mixture to combine properly, and this is what creates the silky texture that makes this recipe so irresistible. Third, it won’t look like frosting until nearly the end. Seriously, it will look like soft, white meringue until the butter is fully incorporated—this might not happen until the very last piece of butter has been incorporated. Then, all of a sudden, it’ll turn into frosting. So, the final thing to keep in mind, the most important thing, is: Don’t panic. Just follow the recipe, and if you run into any trouble, check out the Expert Tips section below.