Vegan Italian Meringue Buttercream
Vegan Italian Meringue Buttercream. This is the silkiest, creamiest, most delicious and light vegan frosting you can ever imagine. In addition to the fact that it is not too sweet and it is dairy-free! It works great for filling and decorating cakes or cupcakes.
What is an Italian meringue?
Originally, it’s the meringue that is made with egg whites and "cooked" with a very hot sugar syrup. In this case the aquafaba will work as our "egg whites".
What ingredients does this vegan italian meringue buttercream have?
The key ingredients for making this buttercream are a syrup made from sugar and water, unsalted aquafaba (the liquid resulting from cooking chickpeas or the brine in canned chickpeas), margarine or vegan butter, and vanilla extract.
How do I get aquafaba?
Aquafaba is the liquid resulting from cooking chickpeas. You can make it yourself or use the liquid from canned chickpeas (as long as they are salt-free).
Personally, I like to cook my own chickpeas and get my aquafaba, which I repeat, is the water, broth, or liquid from cooking chickpeas.
The point here is that when you cook the chickpeas, it needs to be in the right proportions so that the aquafaba doesn’t end up too runny. It should have a slightly thick and slightly slimy consistency. So, if your aquafaba is very liquid, you can reduce it to low-medium heat, until it reaches the previously indicated consistency.
What happens if I don't have a thermometer to measure the temperature of the syrup?
I don’t recommend making the syrup without a thermometer. It is extremely necessary that you measure the temperature so that it reaches the right point to obtain a successful result.
Can I add food coloring to the vegan italian meringue buttercream?
Of course, just make sure you add it at the end and use a gel food coloring, as liquids can affect the consistency of the buttercream.
What else do I need to know before making this vegan italian meringue buttercream?
Have all your ingredients ready, it is a recipe that requires you to be paying attention to the preparation of the meringue and the sugar syrup.
Be VERY catious with the syrup, because you can burn yourself if you don't handle it carefully.
My vegan italian meringue buttercream split or curdled after adding the butter or food coloring, what do I do?
If your frosting started to separate after incorporating the margarine or vegan butter, do not worry, it is normal for the butter to react this way when it gets in contact with liquids coming from water, such as aquafaba, especially if your butter was very cold. Just keep beating and little by little it will take on a creamy consistency.
If your frosting keeps splitting or you see large chunks of butter, microwave or bain-marie for a couple of seconds, or use a hair dryer to VERY slightly heat the bowl (heat it for 4 seconds, whisk, then heat it another 4 seconds, beat again, and so on until the butter has been integrated into the buttercream).
Keep beating until it slowly begins to emulsify and once it reaches room temperature, it will return to its creamy texture. If the frosting split when you added the food coloring, let it cool in the refrigerator. Once it has hardened a bit, beat again until creamy. And if this doesn't work, apply the previous technique of heating a bit of the buttercream.
Vegan Italian Meringue Buttercream
INGREDIENTS
Sugar syrup
- 195 g sugar
- 83 g water, 83ml
Meringue
- 90 g aquafaba, room temperature
- 300 g margarine or vegan butter, in small cubes at room temperature
- ½ - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, adjust to taste
- Pinch of salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add the sugar and water to a small pot. Bring to medium-low heat and let it boil until it reaches 116ºC-118ºC (without mixing it, just don't touch anything in the pot once it's heating up).
- Meanwhile the syrup reaches the marked temperature, beat the aquafaba until stiff peaks form when you lift the whisk off the mixer. Another way to know if your meringue is at the right point is when turning the bowl, the whipped aquafaba remains still.
- If the syrup is not yet ready, just before you add it to the meringue, keep beating on low speed so that the foaminess does not go down.
- Once the syrup has reached the indicated temperature, pour the hot syrup in a slow, steady stream directly over the aquafaba. Make sure not to touch the sides of the bowl or the whisk as it will harden and stick to them.
- Once you've incorporated all the syrup, add the butter cubes one at a time, making sure that before you add the next cube, the previous one is completely mixed in. At this point the consistency will be very liquid due to the hotness of the syrup, but as it loses temperature, it will acquire a better texture.
- Add the vanilla, salt and continue beating for 8-10 minutes until it reaches room temperature. At this point the buttercream should look very creamy and fluffy.
- Use to decorate cakes, cupcakes or to fill any other dessert.
Gabby says
I’d love to try this recipe but I feel like your temperature range for the syrup is too vague… that’s a big difference from 116degrees to 180. What temp exactly have you had the most luck with? Thank you!
Annie says
Hi Gabby! I apologize!! You're absolutely right, that was a typo. It's now fixed to 116-118ºC. Thank you so much for pointing it out! And I always go for 117ºC 😉
Linda Stitt says
Is aquafaba really the juice off of chic peas?
Annie says
Yes, that's correct! If you're cooking chickpeas at home, ensure you use the right ratio of water to chickpeas for optimal whipping. Alternatively, if you're using canned chickpeas, you can utilize the liquid directly, which should whip up beautifully.