For my sister’s birthday, something chocolate was required. A chocolate cake with Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream. My mother prepared her other favorite, a Tres Leches Cake, as well as a fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings. She is well loved and last Friday, very well fed.
To make the buttercream, I added 3 small jars of Nutella to a Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe I found online. (I have since tried it with the Jif hazelnut chocolate spread and its thicker texture works better in the frosting.) I have made meringue buttercreams before, but I now realize they were Italian style rather than Swiss. In this recipe the egg whites are heated before beating.
In the Italian version, a hot syrup is added to the fluffy whites. This method seems to yield a frosting that holds up better at room temperature. The Swiss was a little to soft to work with, hence the unusual piping pattern around the bottom of the cake.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she connects readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the USF. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
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