Swiss Vanilla Meringue Buttercream Frosting (Paleo)

This whipped vanilla frosting is delicious and you could never tell that it is dairy free! It is a tad time consuming, but you can make it in bulk and freeze the extra for later use. I recommend reading the entire recipe before starting.

Ingredients:

3 egg white

1/2 cup maple syr

1 cup palm shortening or grass fed UNSALTED butter (salted butter does not taste good in this recipe). You could also do a combination of 3/4 palm shortening and 1/4 ghee

2 TBS of arrowroot powder AS NEEDED (you may not need this if your frosting is thick enough on its own)

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

Let's Get Cooking:

Fill a sauce pan with water. Place a glass bowl over the sauce pan so the water is about 2 inches from the bottom of the bowl (see picture).

Turn the water to medium-high heat. Pour 2 egg whites and 1/2 cup of maple syrup in the bowl and whisk. Continue to whisk until the egg white mixture reaches 160 F. This is important to make sure the egg whites are fully cooked and don't make anyone sick! It is also important to whisk the egg white mixture by hand over the heat the entire time in order to prevent any of the egg from cooking. This tastes around 5 min total, but longer/shorter depending on how long it takes the mixture to reach 160 F.

Once it is cooked to 160 F, pour the egg mixture into your mixing bowl and mix on medium/high until a meringue is formed. This takes me approx. 10 min with a handheld mixer.

Mix in the 1 cup of butter shortening/ghee1/2 a cup at a time. If using butter, it should be room temperature. I typically leave mine out all day before beginning. At first your frosting will lump up and resemble cottage cheese. Keep mixing! Mix on high for about 5 min. If it does not turn into a thick frosting, scoop out 1 cup of the mixture and microwave for 10 seconds and then return to the bowl and mix on high and it will quickly form a frosting. Add in 1-2 TBS arrowroot powder for extra thickness.

Frost your favorite cake or make homemade oreo whoopie cookies with it!

Store in the refrigerator or freezer if you don't use it all. I suggest doubling the recipe for a full cake! :)

Becasue the frosting contains egg whites, I always keep the cake refrigerated. However, the frosting has no trouble holding up perfectly at room temperature!

Bon appetite! -Analisa