Vanilla Bean Cake x Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I love instagram. I really do. It's one place where great photographers are able to wow us (the amateurs) with their breathtakingly awesome photos. I, especially, are following quite a number of bakers who photographed their baked goods damn well. Arghh.

So, I finally decided to try decorating my cake the way TKG or CantekSekali would decorate their cakes. Man, it was difficult but I had fun trying their designs weyyy. Inside is three layer vanilla cakes that were too sweet for my liking. I found the recipe on the internet, just thought I should give it a try but mehh, I don't really like mainly because it was too sweet but apparently, my baby sister liked it. Weird. 

I figured that I wouldn't share the recipe, not until I found a perfect one. Promise!

My swiss meringue buttercream didn't turn out really well but it was still usable for steady piping. I guess I probably didn't whip it long enough. Too much excitement and eagerness to decorate the cake I guess. Ha ha.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

1/2 cup egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup butter

1. Heat a pot of water. Using the double boiler method, whip 1/2 cup egg whites with 1 cup of sugar till the sugar melt and feels warm when you touch it with your finger. It should reach about about 70 degree Celsius using your candy thermometer.
2. Once the sugar has melted, turn off the heat and beat of medium speed until the mixture turns to stiff meringue. This would take about 5-10 minutes (depending on your machine).
3. Add in vanilla essence or vanilla bean or colouring and soft butter. Cream it until smooth. 
4. Rest the cream in refrigerator for 15 minutes before use. Taste awesome!