Ingredients
- 1 freeze-dried strawberries (eyeball amount)
- 1 pureed strawberries (eyeball amount)
- 3 sticks butter (room temperature, cubed)
- ½ c granulated sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 2 t vanilla extract
Directions
Combine the egg whites in sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk over a sauce pan of simmering water, mixing constantly until the temperature reaches 150F (sugar is dissolved, mix isn’t gritty).
Attach the bowl to a stand mixer and whip with the whisk attachment until the outside of the bowl is room temperature and the meringue is forming stiff glossy peaks (about 6 minutes).
With the mixer on low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time until fully incorporated. Beat until totally smooth.
At this point I add in my flavoring, first the vanilla extract. Then I eyeballed the strawberry puree and freeze-dried strawberry powder. I wanted enough so that I could really taste the strawberry flavor, but I didn’t want to run the risk of adding too much puree and ruining the consistency of the buttercream. That’s where the strawberry powder came into play. I would recommend just going slowly with each until you reach the flavor and consistency that you’d like.