Homemade Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting Recipe: made with fresh strawberries this Swiss meringue frosting is smooth, sweet, and delicious.
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Strawberry icing is such a perfect finishing touch to any cake or cupcake. Cake is delicious, but it's the frosting that makes it everyone's favorite treat. This strawberry icing recipe is a real favorite. With fresh strawberries in the frosting, it packs lots of sweet flavor and its simple ingredients allow you to whip it up in no time with things you likely already have on hand. This frosting is light, creamy and pink and the most perfect strawberry icing. It's excellent for topping a cake or cupcakes.
Swiss Meringue
This Swiss meringue is made with cooked egg whites, granulated sugar, butter, and usually an additional flavoring like vanilla extract.
Swiss meringue is more stable than a traditional buttercream. It will hold up better in the heat, if necessary. It is also silky smooth. Unlike butter cream it doesn't form a crust or dry out in the air. And all these qualities make it a favorite of bakers. But it's not difficult to make at home.
Swiss meringue buttercream also doesn't use any confectioners sugar and is instead sweetened with granulated sugar that is whipped into the egg whites to make a meringue.
Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
This Swiss meringue is made with real strawberries. This ensures that the buttercream has a fresh strawberry flavor that doesn't taste artificial. The strawberries are made into a chunky puree and then added to the the frosting. The ripe strawberries add a beautiful pink color to the frosting, and a great strawberry taste. This fresh strawberry frosting is the perfect choice for any strawberry lover and one of the best ways to showcase delicious strawberries picked during strawberry season!
Tips for Making Perfect Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Getting your Swiss meringue the right temperature before adding the butter
One thing that is difficult about making Swiss meringue buttercream, is getting the whipped egg white and sugar meringue cool enough to add in the butter. It is crucial that this mixture is cool enough to not melt the butter, as if it is too hot your buttercream may separate with the addition of your butter.
Sometimes, I will put my meringue mixture in the fridge or in a large bowl of cold ice to ensure that it is cool enough to continue working with. The meringue is then whipped with a stand mixer on medium speed to incorporate the butter and fresh strawberry puree into this easy strawberry buttercream.
- Strain the strawberries for a perfectly smooth Swiss meringue
We love the small chunks of real strawberry in this strawberry Swiss meringue but if you're using this for something where you want it to be perfect smooth and you don't want chunks of strawberries in your frosting, you can run your strawberry purée through a fine mesh sieve before adding it to the frosting to remove any chunks or seeds.
- Switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment at the end
In order to make your frosting as smooth as possible, I recommend switching from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment or your mixer for the last few minutes of mixing to work out any large pockets of air incorporated during the whipping.
Storage
Store any leftover Swiss meringue buttercream in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
This perfect pink frosting is a delicious topping to all sorts of cakes. There are lots of different ways you can use this homemade strawberry buttercream. It's especially perfect with strawberry cake or strawberry cupcakes. It's also delicious combined with vanilla cake or cupcakes. This strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream is perfect frosting a chocolate cake or chocolate cupcakes. The combination of the two is perfect, like a chocolate covered strawberry in chocolate strawberry cake form. Try it on all of your favorite cakes and you're in for a sweet treat!
Recipe
Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups fresh strawberries
- 4 egg whites
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1½ cups unsalted butter cut into tablespoons, at room temperature
Instructions
- To make the strawberry Swiss meringue puree the strawberries in a food processor, leaving some small chunks; set aside.
- Combine the egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of a stand mixer over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
- Place the bowl in the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix until stiff peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Once all the butter has been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and switch to the paddle attachment; continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are gone, about 2 minutes.
- Add the strawberry puree and beat until combined. Use to frost a 2 layer 8-inch cake or 24 cupcakes.
Nutrition
With a great homemade strawberry swiss meringue buttercream recipe, life really is a party!
More Strawberry Recipe Inspiration
You might also like our Strawberry and Rhubarb Ice Cream recipe here.
Also check our out Donut Strawberry Shortcake recipe here.
You might also like our Strawberry Cobbler in a Mason Jar recipe here.
Lucy says
These look delicious D...thank you for sharing. Your photography is looking great ! xo