Connors Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

250g Butter (You can use half salted and half unsalted to cut down the sweetness)

2 tbsp Meringue Powder

3 tbsp warm water

400g Icing Sugar

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Pinch of salt

To convert to Chocolate 100g Melted Chocolate 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

Method

Place your butter into a microwave-safe bowl and heat for around a minute in bursts, until it is melted but still shows some lumps of butter (the temperature of the butter MUST not go above 30C as this will cause the butter to split).

Mix the meringue powder and warm water in a bowl and allow to stand few a few minutes to hydrate.

Give the butter a mix with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment to remove lumps.

Add the meringue mix to the butter and whisk on high for about 6 minutes, you are looking for a “hollandaise sauce” consistency.

Add in the icing sugar, salt and vanilla and whisk again to get the meringue buttercream consistency. Give this a smooth out with a spatula to see just how silky this buttercream is. To make this Chocolate add the cocoa powder to melted chocolate to form a paste then mix this into the finished buttercream.