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If you’re baking a spring flavored cake with florals, citrus, or fruit, this light honey Swiss meringue buttercream is the perfect frosting. It’s silky, smooth, and has a not too sweet honey profile.
This recipe is an adaptation of my Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but I’ve swapped half of the sugar for honey. Since honey is partly water, I decided to only use half the weight to maintain the structure of the frosting. To amp up the honey flavor, I mixed in additional honey once the frosting came together. I suggest tasting and adding in the extra honey to the level you prefer.
Key Ingredients & Test Notes
- Egg Whites: Use fresh, room temperature egg whites for a stable meringue base. Save the yolks for making a lemon curd or banana crémeux.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar is heated with the egg whites over a double broiler, then whipped to make the meringue for the frosting.
- Honey: The type of honey you choose will affect the final flavor of the frosting. Darker honey is stronger and some versions have additional floral notes. Play around and see which type of honey you like best. Just make sure it’s real honey and not from a plastic squeeze tube!
- Unsalted Butter: I prefer to use European style butter with 82% butterfat. It’s softer at room temperature, has less water than American style butter and blends smoothly into the meringue.
How to Make Honey Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Hand whisk together the honey, granulated sugar, and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place on a double broiler, while stirring, heat to 160℉ (72℃).
- Transfer bowl to stand mixer, fitted with whisk attachment and beat on high.
- Mix until stiff peaks form and the bottom of the bowl feels close to room temperature.
- With the mixer on medium-high speed, add in the butter a chunk at a time. It may start to look broken, but keep mixing and it will come together into a frosting texture.
- When the butter is fully emulsified, mix in the vanilla and additional honey on medium-low speed.
- Switch to low speed, mixing until glossy smooth with fewer air bubbles. Now it’s ready to use!
Jenn’s Tips
- Buttercream Too Cold: If the mixture does not come together with the addition of the butter and stays curdled after 5 to 10 minutes, warm it slightly by place the mixing bowl back onto the double broiler. Heat just long enough for the edges of the meringue to warm up before continuing to mix it.
- Another option is to use a blow torch or heat gun gently on the mixing bowl for a few seconds.
- Using softened butter will usually prevent this from happening.
- Buttercream Too Warm: Place the bowl of buttercream in the fridge for 10 minutes. Do this if it hasn’t turned to frosting once all of the butter has been added and you’ve been whipping on high speed for at least 5 minutes. Chill the buttercream and then whip again until smooth.
Storing Buttercream
Store in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or transfer to a sealable plastic food storage bag. Keep at room temperature for up to two days or place in the fridge for up to two weeks. Chilled buttercream will need to come to room temperature and be whipped again to fluff before using.
★★★★★ Please leave a star rating and review below if you make this recipe! THANK YOU!!
Honey Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Silky smooth Swiss meringue buttercream frosting with a lovely light flavor of honey, that's not too sweet.
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Equipment
- medium saucepan
Ingredients
Honey Buttercream
- 180 grams (6 large) egg whites
- 150 grams (½ cup – 1 Tbsp) honey
- 150 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 450 grams (2 cups) unsalted standard butter or European style butter, softened, cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
Mix-In
- 42 grams (2 Tbsp) honey
Instructions
Prep Bowl
- Wipe down bowl of stand mixer, whisk attachment and paddle attachment with lemon juice. This will remove any grease or residue on your equipment that might prevent the meringue from properly whipping.
Honey Buttercream
- Weigh out the egg whites, honey, and granulated sugar into the bowl for the stand mixer. Whisk together by hand to evenly distribute into a liquid mixture.180 grams egg whites, 150 grams honey, 150 grams granulated sugar
- Place a medium saucepan filled about 1-inch deep with water on medium heat and bring to a simmer.
- Set the metal mixing bowl on top of the pot to create a double broiler. Whisk constantly and gently until the mixture reaches 160℉ (72℃) on a probe thermometer.
- Remove the bowl from the pot, wipe of the bottom with a towel and place in the stand mixer. With the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed until frothy, then increase to high. Mix until glossy stiff peaks are formed.
- The bowl should now be about room temperature, maybe just slightly warm at the center of the bottom. If the bowl is still hot, let it cool some before adding in the butter.
- Once the mixture reaches stiff peaks, switch to medium speed and add in the softened butter cubes a couple at a time until fully mixed in. I mix the butter in with the whisk attachment, but you can swap over to the paddle attachment for this as well.450 grams unsalted standard butter or European style butter
- When half of the butter has been added in, give the sides and bottom of the bowl a scrape with a rubber spatula. Continue mixing in the rest of the butter. It might be curdled or chunky, but that’s ok. Keep on mixing and be patient. It will take a moment to fully emulsify and magically turn into frosting
- Now that it looks smooth, add in the vanilla and extra honey for a few spins. Taste and adjust. If it's too sweet, toss in a pinch of fine sea salt.1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract, 42 grams honey
- For an extra super silky, shiny, smooth buttercream turn the speed down to low. Keep mixing with the paddle attachment until you like the texture. This could be 8-15 minutes.
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