One Recipe for Meringue Cookies and Buttercream

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Inspired by Georgia's Cakes, I made meringue cookies (a large one in the shape of a wreath) and Swiss meringue buttercream frosting by altering one Swiss meringue buttercream recipe. Super efficient way to make both decorations and frosting for your cake.

To make the exact cake that IĀ made in this video, you'll need to go to my cakeculator and choose:

Lemon Buttermilk Cake

8 inches, 2 layers

I made this a 4 layer cake by slicing each one of those layers in half to give me 4 thin layers of cake.

Step-by-Step

Meringue Topper and Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe

Prep Time
Cook Time
Total Time
Yield
40 min
1 hr 15 min
1 hr 55 min
one tray of baked meringues + 4.5 cups frosting
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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups (318g) egg whites, fresh
  • 2 1/2 cups + 2 TB (525g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 2 1/4 cups (495g) unsalted butter, softened to cool room temp
  • 1 teaspoons (4g) vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2g) salt

Instructions

  1. Prepare your double boiler. Make sure you can fit your stand mixer (or other heatproof) bowl on the top so that the bottom is exposed to steam but not directly touching the water. Bring the water beneath to a gentle boil.
  2. Weigh your bowl and write it down.
  3. To the bowl of your stand mixer (or other heatproof bowl) add egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. Mix with a spatula. It will be viscous (pretty gooey) and thick. Place on top of the double boiler and check to make sure that the steam is getting to the bottom of the bowl properly.
  4. Continuously stir with the spatula. The eggs will thin out, all the sugar will melt, and the mixture will become more opaque. Use a thermometer to make sure you reach 165. Remove from double boiler.
  5. Place the bowl in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Whisk on high speed for 10 minutes.
  6. Weigh your bowl with the meringue inside, and now subtract out the weight of you bowl. You now have the weight of the meringue. Divide that number by three and remove that amount and place it into another bowl. Leave the remaining amount in the original bowl to make buttercream in a bit.
  7. TOĀ MAKEĀ THEĀ MERINGUEĀ WREATH:
    Preheat your oven to 225F.
    Add 1/2 tsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of cornstarch, and 1/4-1/2 tsp of flavoring to your meringue.
    Place parchment on a large baking sheet and trace a circle, using the same exact pan you baked with your cake. Flip the paper over.
    Pipe a wreath design, making sure not to go over the line you've drawn.
    Place in the oven, immediately turn down the heat to 200F and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
    After baking, turn off the oven and leave the meringue in there to cool and rest for another 1 hour and 30 minutes.
  8. TOĀ MAKEĀ THEĀ BUTTERCREAM:
    Add in the butter, one TB chunk at a time. The frosting will lose volume at first, and then start to come together and look and feel little like firm freshly whipped cream, leaving tracks in the frosting.
    Add your vanilla and salt.
    You can use it immediately, store in the fridge for a couple weeks, or the freezer in an airtight container for a couple months.

šŸ’Œ Notes from Adriana

Hi! I'm Adriana.

I built this site for the curious home baker. I'm a huge science + tech nerd; you'll feel right at home if you like exploring and experimenting in the kitchen too.

Here you can build cakes with my Cakeculator and find recipes to accompany the videos from YouTube, Tiktok, and Instagram.

I have lots of things to share... I hope you have fun around here!

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