The Birthday Cakes and a recipe for White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Anushka turned 4 last week and this birthday was extra special as it was the first one we celebrated in India. It was more of a family get-together and Anushka got to play with her favorite cousin and had a fabulous time. Growing up all my birthdays were celebrated this way and this evening brought back such wonderful memories.

This birthday was also very different from her last birthdays as I had so much help getting everything ready, having your parents with you is such a blessing, everything is taken care of. The last year with the Minnie Mouse Party there were so many things to be done and as much as I enjoyed planning and organizing everything I remember having panic attacks every few hours. This time though I felt like I had nothing to do. Dad and made sure the house was clean and organised and looked after Anushka when I was busy, mom took care of the food and all I had to do was bake the cake.

The 4 year old "grown-up" gave me very clear instructions for her cake design. Up until two days before her birthday she wanted a blue cake with lots of flowers and butterflies and then suddenly changed her mind and wanted a pink one instead. I rolled the fondant and let her cut out the flowers and butterflies and she was so excited to see them on the cake.

Her day began with a small celebration at school. I sent a small cake with that she cut with her friends. As cream cakes are not allowed I made a simple chocolate cake with chocolate chips. I had planned to write a message with icing but ended up making a simple fondant topper instead.

The main cake was two layers of chocolate cake and one middle layer of orange cake. I filled the cake with whipped chocolate ganache and frosted with White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Butercream (SMBC).

It was the first time that I made SMBC with home-made butter and while it looked perfect somehow it wasn't sweet at all. I thought of adding some honey or corn syrup but just to be sure I asked the experts on HBG in facebook.  Got some wonderful ideas and ended up adding some white chocolate to the buttercream. I'm not so found of white chocolate but in this case it worked like a charm and the flavor was just delicious! 

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

18 tbs unsalted butter, softened but cool, cut into tablesspoons

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature

Method:

Make sure your bowl, whisk and all other tools you use to make the meringue are completely free of any grease.
Take the egg whites and sugar in a big metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk gently but constantly until the mixture reaches a temperature of 140 degrees F on a candy thermometer, or until the egg whites are hot and you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers. 

Remove from heat and whip the hot mixture, until it turns thick and glossy and white and and about doubles in volume. The bowl will be neutral and not hot at this point.

Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating continuously on medium speed until it has a silky smooth texture. The mixture may look curdled at some time, but just keep mixing and it will come together soon!
Mix in the vanilla and the melted white chocolate and whip till smooth and creamy.
Use immidiately or refrigerate in an air-tight container for upto 1 week and whip until creamy before using.

50 Second Eggless Chocolate Mug Cake

Happy Valentine's Day to all! For the last several years I've have always baked a chocolate cake for this day, but this year with Manoj being out of town, the cake plans have been postponed to another day. But again it is impossible to ignore all the chocolate treats that I have been seeing everywhere and what's better at such times than this super easy chocolate mug cake. I have made this so many times, it is just the thing to satisfy all those sudden, irrational and odd time cravings for chocolate cake.

If you are looking for an easy last minute dessert to round up your valentine's day meal or for any other time then this could be it. The cake is moist, chocolaty and uses just basic simple ingredients. You can make it extra special by serving it with a dollop of whipped cream or ice-cream or drizzling or even pouring as much chocolate sauce as you like. Some ganache would be great too.

The only thing to take care is to not overcook the cake. In the microwave a few seconds here or there could make a big difference. 48-50 seconds is what it takes in my microwave works perfectly in mine, make sure to check.

Eggless Chocolate Mug Cake

Ingredients:

3 tbs all purpose flour/ maida

1 tbs cocoa

1 1/2 tbs castor sugar/ super fine sugar

1/4 tsp instant coffee powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 tbs finely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

2 tbs chopped dark chocolate

1 1/2 tbs water

1 1/2 tbs oil

1/2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, coffee powder, baking soda. Add the chopped nuts and chocolate and mix. In another bowl whisk the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla until combined. Pour the wet mixture over the flour and whisk gently just until combined. Spoon the mixture into a microwave safe mug and microwave for 50 seconds. 

Cool for a few seconds and enjoy!

My Favorite Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Bread

I can never eat an overripe banana, even a small black spot or mushy texture is a big no-no. So all such bananas are usually used up in shakes and I also love them caramelized.

But such overripe bananas are of course best suited for baking and I love banana bread especially when it is loaded with chocolate and nuts.

I have tried a lot of recipes in search for the perfect one and this is my favorite, the best one so far! I first baked this bread last October and its the fourth time that I've baked it again. It's just what I have been looking for and everyone who has had it has loved it! The banana flavor is prominent without being over-powering, it's super moist and it has a ton of chocolate and nuts making every bite absolutely heavenly!
Recipe from Food52.

Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Bread

Ingredients: 

3 medium overripe bananas

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)

10 tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

Grease and line a 9"x5" loaf pan. Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F.

Beat bananas with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the banana mixture and mix just until combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The top of the cake browns rather quickly, so I tented it with foil after about 25 minutes and then baked until it was done.

Let it cool completely before slicing. To get neat slices use a serrated knife and cut using a sawing motion.

Flourless Chocolate Rum Cake

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are eagerly looking forward to welcoming the new year. For the first time in years I did not bake a fruitcake this time. I just wanted something different. And when I saw the recipe for this cake, I new it would be the perfect treat.

This is one of those amazing, hassle free, one bowl desserts that can be put together in a few minutes and tastes absolutely heavenly. It is amazingly decadent, rich and intensely chocolaty and the rum in the cake takes it to a whole other level.

The original recipe has a fudge icing with rum in it. I topped the cake with ganache and skipped adding any rum to it, as I knew Anushka would want to lick the ganache bowl clean:). Moreover as much as I love the flavor of alcohol in desserts, even a little too much makes me tired and sleepy. But if you can take it, I'd say got for it.

To make it alcohol free, simple substitute the rum with some coffee. I can only imagine how good that would be!!
Recipe from Pastry Affair.

Flourless Chocolate Rum Cake

Ingredients:

 6 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1/3 cup rum

Method:

Grease and line an 8" round pan. Preheat oven to 190 C/ 375F.

Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and mix in the sugar. Make sure the mixture is only slightly warm and whisk in the eggs one at a time, mixing well until smooth after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder and rum and mix until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Take care to not over bake the cake.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and invert onto a platter. Cool completely and top with the ganache.

Ganache

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cream

4 ounce dark chocolate, chopped

1 tbs rum (optional)

Method:

Heat the cream just until you see bubbles around the edges. Pour over the chocolate and let it stand for about 1 minute.

Stir until smooth. Stir in the rum if using and once cool spread over the cake.

Healthy Cardamom Tea Cake

It has been a month since we moved back to India. There are hundreds of things I will miss about our life back in the US, but it's wonderful to be home and meet up with family and friends. Most of all I love to see Anushka playing with and getting pampered by her grandparents. We are undecided as to where we will be settling and I've been shuttling between by in-laws and parents homes and living out of suitcases and it still feels like a vacation.

As far as blogging goes though, I'm in a rut and it took a lot of self-motivation to write up this post. I miss my boards and all the props that I had to leave behind and of course the huge oven in our apartment. Although I haven't cooked anything new in a while I have been baking quiet a lot and am finally getting used to the old O.T.G at my mom's place.

This cake, adapted from Cook Republic is the first one I baked since coming here. I love the simple ingredients and the one bowl mixing method. The batter was ready in no time and while the cake bakes, the house smells heavenly because of the cardamom. It was impossible to wait until the cake cooled and we sliced it minutes after it was out of the oven. It had just the right amount of sweetness, great texture and amazing flavor, we loved it.

Healthy Cardamom Teacake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup rice bran oil
1/2 cup milk
icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Liberally grease an 8" round pan and dust with flour.
Sift together flours, cardamom, cinnamom and salt.
Stir in sugar. Whisk together the eggs, oil and milk until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared pan.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool, dust with icing sugar, if using and serve.

Cold-Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

We were cutting a melon for our snack last evening, while craving for a good slice of cake instead and we got around reminiscing about those days when we wouldn't give a damn about what we ate. We were in Hyderabad for a year after we got married, it was a new place with not many friends. Once Manoj left for work my brand new oven was the best company I had on most days. I baked cakes or muffins every other day and while I loved sharing my bakes with my new neighbors, there were those rare occasions when I would finish an entire cake all by myself and then I would bake one more before Manoj got home. We always had cake at home and we never gave a thought to all the sugar, flour and butter we were having daily.

Ofcourse now its all I can think about as the side effects are a little too clearly visible around our waistlines. 

I eagerly wait for an opportunity to bake now, friends coming over or a party at Anushka's school or at work. I had baked this particular cake for a snack party at Anushka's school a while back and it was heavenly. The cream cheese imparts an amazing velvety texture to the cake and a little tanginess that's just perfect.

It's from one of my favorite books, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. I googled the recipe before I tried it and it was a good thing too because I found a lot of  reviews that suggested reducing the sugar. I reduced it considerably and it was still sweet, but just the right amount.
Note:
I divided the cake batter among two loaf pans and there was not enough and thats the reason it baked flat. Its best to use a bundt pan, it rises beautifully and looks great.

Cold - Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar (original recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups)

6 eggs (room temperature)

1 tbs pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbs grated fresh ginger

1 tbs grated lemon zest

Method:

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan and dust with flour. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.
Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last addition, mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.
Place the cake in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 325F and bake, without opening the door, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 65-80 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert it onto rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper, or wrapped in plastic at room temperature for upto 3 days.

Note:
I divided the cake batter among two loaf pans and there was not enough and thats the reason it baked flat. Its best to use a bundt pan, it rises beautifully and looks great or use smaller loaf pans.

Eggless Chocolate Mango Marble Cake

Chocolate and mango are on the top of my list of favorite flavors and they pair up beautifully too. This was the second dish we baked as part of the Homebaker's Challenge and the recipe was chosen by Sangeetha of Spicy Treats.

We had two recipes to chose from, with or without eggs and I went eggless this time. I usually prefer baking with eggs but this recipe did not disappoint. The cake was moist and the  two flavors really stood out. Like most eggless cakes this one too had a dense crumb, but the taste more that compensated for it.

The only change I made was adding a little bit of coffee to the chocolate batter and that really helped to enhance the chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Mango Marble Loaf

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

11/2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup sugar

5 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup mango pulp

1/4 milk

1/4 cup buttermilk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease and line a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

Mix the cocoa powder with 3-4 tbs of warm water and keep aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.

In another bowl mix together the sugar, oil, vanilla, mango pulp, milk and buttermilk.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold gently until well combined.

Divide the batter into two and gently fold in the cocoa mixture into one half.

Pour the two batters alternately into the prepared pan and run a knife through the batter to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until done.

Mango Cream Cake

It was Manoj's birthday yesterday, time for yet another celebration. Though the day went by as usual, we had a few friends over for dinner. I cooked a simple meal and of course there was cake for dessert.

The last cakes I baked were for Anushka's birthday and there were a lot of sleepless nights and fussing and swearing involved, so when I asked Manoj what kind of cake he wanted, the only thing he asked was to keep it simple :).

Mangoes are everywhere now and the ones I bought this weekend were so juicy and sweet, they seemed perfect for a cake. I decided to stay away from spatulas and icing bags and to just keep things really simple. Once the layers were baked and cooled, it just took a few minutes and the cake was ready and I loved the way it looked.

I have been looking for a good vanilla cake recipe to use with such cream cakes, one that uses oil so that its moist even straight out of the fridge and one that's not too sweet. I did not find one so I tried out this cream cake from Sky High. It uses heavy cream instead of butter, it's light and it's delicious and so moist, just what I was looking for. This recipe makes three layers, but I used only two. If using all the three layers, you will have to make some more of the filling, just double or increase the quantities by 50%.

Mango Cream Cake

Cake:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups cake flour

3 3/4 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 1/8 cups)

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolk

3 tbs buttermilk

Method:

Grease and line three 8" pans with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and keep aside.

Combine the cream and vanilla in a large bowl and whip until soft peaks begin to form.

Reduce the speed gradually to low and beat in the sugar, but do not whip until stiff.

Add the whole eggs and egg yolks and whip until the batter forms soft peaks.

Sift about a third of the dry ingredients over the batter and fold in by hand. Repeat 2 more times until all of the flour mixture has been added. Finally fold in the buttermilk.

Divide the batter among the three pans. 

Bake the cake layers for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert them onto wire racks. Carefully peel of the parchment paper and allow to cool completely.

Sugar Syrup

Ingredients:

2 tbs sugar

1/2 cup water

Method:

Heat the sugar and water until the sugar has dissolved. Keep aside to cool.

Mango Cream

Ingredients:

1 tbs water

1 1/2 tsps gelatin

1 cup mango puree

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 - 4 tbs sugar, as needed depending on the sweetness of the mangoes

Mangoes, Berries and Chocolate Shavings for topping 

Ingredients:

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and keep aside for 5 minutes for the gelatin to bloom.

Take the cream and vanilla extract in a chilled bowl and sprinkle sugar over it. Whip until it forms stiff peaks.

Heat the gelatin for a few seconds in the microwave or on a double boiler until clear and melted.

Stir the gelatin into the mango puree. Fold in the whipped cream into the mango.

Store in the fridge until the cream thickens and almost sets.

To Assemble the cake:

Level the layers if needed. Brush one cake layer with the sugar syrup until moist.

Spread half of the mango cream over the layer. Moisten the other cake layer with sugar syrup and place on top of the cream. Spread the remaining cream over the cake.

Top with fruits.

Refrigerate covered for a few hours and serve.

The Minnie Mouse Party - Cakes, Decorations and Games

Anushka turned three a few days ago and this year we celebrated her birthday "Minnie Mouse Style"! It was so exciting planning the party, working with all pink and black and getting all the decorations ready. There were a lot of times when I could involve Anushka, especially when there was glue involved and she so enjoyed messing everything up:)

Then of course there were the cakes and lots of them...(Links to the recipes below the pictures)

Chocolate Cake filled with Ganache and Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting(SMB)

Chocolate cake filled with Strawberry Whipped Cream and frosted with SMB

Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Strawberry Cream filling and SMB frosting

I love tall cakes and attempted a tiered one this time, my first! I kept the top tier short though or else we would have ended up with too much cake. The Minnie Mouse figurines gave me a few sleepless nights, it was not easy getting the face right and I was so relieved when I was done. All in all we had two fun evenings with friends and I still cannot believe that it's been 3 years!!
Just sharing a few more pictures and details from the parties....

Welcome sign on the door...

The banner was designed in paint and then printed and cut into shape. The number 3 is cut out of stiff felt and I glued some pink tissue flowers on it.

Made this out of paper pinwheels, my favorite thing!

I made these Minnie Mouse Ears kind of following the tutorial here. But I took the easy way out and bought black plastic hairbands. I used stiff black felt with the sticker on the back, so all I had to do was cut the ears using this template and then wrap them around the band and stick them together. They were very stiff and stood up straight. I made the bows and hot glued them on the bands. Anushka loved these and still wears them all the time.

Here is a great game for a Minnie mouse party...

The blind-folded birthday girl pinning her bow...

Last but my favorite...the pinata, I was so happy with the way it turned out and the kids always love it. I got the idea from here but made it a pull string one. It's perfect for kids this age especially if you're having an indoor party.

"I want to pull"...the birthday girl goes first and I had my fingers crossed the whole time praying all the kids get a turn.

It was an amazing experience planing the party and Anushka had a great time. Here's the exhausted birthday girl with her favorite gifts...

Coffee Mascarpone Cream Cake

A Very Happy New Year to all my readers. Here's hoping for a Bright, Prosperous and Happy 2013. The last few weeks of the last year were all fun, we had a wonderful holiday and spent a lot of time with friends. 

I hardly had any time for blogging but I did not want to miss posting on the first day of the new year.

Last night one of my friends bought a Tiramisu cake for our new year party, I was so thrilled to see it and it was just fabulous. 

I had made a tiramisu cake a while back and I loved the coffee, mascarpone and chocolate combination. This cake has very similar flavors, but there is no liquor and it is much lighter because of the fatless sponge. 

Coffee Mascarpone Cream Cake

Ingredients:

Coffee Sponge:

4 eggs, at room temperature

4 tbs sugar

1 tbs instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tbs water

8 tbs flour

Soaking syrup:

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

Mascarpone cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 oz mascarpone cheese

3-4 tbs powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tbs water

Method:

Coffee Sponge:

Preheat oven to 390F/ 200C.

Line the bottom of two 8"pans with parchment paper.

Take the eg gs, sugar, coffee paste and sugar in a large bowl and beat on high speed for 10 minutes.

Very gently fold in the flour in two batches until well combined without deflating the mixture.

Divide the batter among the two pans and level the top.

Bake for 18 -20 minutes until done. Cool in the pan on wire racks.

Soaking syrup:

Heat the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves completely. Keep aside to cool.

Mascarpone Cream:

Chill the bowl and beaters and the cream well. Take the cream and sugar in the chilled bowl and whip to almost stiff peaks. Whip the mascarpone and coffee mixture for a minute to lighten the mascarpone and then gently stir in about a fourth of the whipped cream. Fold in the remaining whipped cream gently.

To assemble the cake:

Slide a knife along the edge of the pan to release the cake and peel off the parchment paper. 

Brush sugar syrup evenly all over one of the cakes to moisten it well. Place it on a plate or cake server.

Top with a little less than a third of the mascarpone cream mixture.

Moisten the other cake layer and place it over the first one.

Frost the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate as desired.

Refrigerate covered for a few hours before serving.

My First Fondant Cake - A Very Moist Yellow Cake and Swiss Meringue Buttercream

The third course at Wilton is completely focused on fondant. If you liked playing with clay as a kid, or if you still like to, you will have a lot of fun working with fondant! From what I've read, I've realized that there are fondant lovers and haters out there and I believe I belong somewhere in between. I love the things you could do with fondant, but am not very fond of the taste. You could always peel of the fondant and eat the deliciousness under it. I don't think I would  make a fondant cake for myself, but to create something fun and whimsical for kids, fondant is the way to go! It is a little challenging to work with, but it's also a whole lot of fun and the possibilities are endless.

I was busy with a few other things during the week of the final class, so I stuck with a very basic design and made the easiest flowers among the ones we had learned. We had to take a buttercream iced cake to class, which we then covered in fondant. To me covering the cake was the most challenging part and a hundred things went wrong when I was doing it. The good thing is you can cover most of your mistakes with a strategically placed decoration :). I had rolled my fondant way too thick and there were a lot of cracks, you can still see the ones on the top edge of the cake. But for my first time, I think I did OK.

For the cake, I tried this recipe that I've had bookmarked for a long time and its one of the best cakes I've ever made. It was incredibly moist and delicious! Another thing I tried was the Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB) and its now my favorite frosting! SMB is not cloyingly sweet like the regular buttercream. It builds its structure from the whipped egg whites (don't worry, the egg whites are heated to a point where they are safe  and not raw), instead of sugar, making it just sweet enough for a frosting and it's easy to work with too!

Moist Yellow Cake

Ingredients: 

1 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

3 cups sifted self raising flour

1 cup whole milk, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp butter flavoring (I skipped this)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line (3) 8" pans (I used only 2).

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 7 mins.

Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Add flour and milk, alternating, beginning and ending with flour.

Add vanilla and butter flavoring and mix just until combined.

Divide the batter among the pans. Tap the pans on your counter to remove any air bubbles.

Bake for about 30 mins or until done.

Cool in pans for 10 mins.

Remove and immediately wrap each cake in plastic wrap to seal in moisture.

Cool completely on wire racks.

Once cool, remove from plastic and level the cakes. Fill and frost as desired.

Recipe from Bakerella. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients: 

(to fill and crumb coat an 8", 2 layer cake)

2 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

12 tbs butter, softened but cool

1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:

Make sure your bowl, whisk and all other tools you use to make the meringue are completely free of any grease. Take the egg whites and sugar in a big metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk gently but constantly until the mixture reaches a temperature of 140 degrees F on a candy thermometer, or until the egg whites are hot and you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers. 

Remove from heat and whip the hot mixture, until it turns thick and glossy and white and and about doubles in volume. The bowl will be neutral and not hot at this point.

Then add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, mixing continuously until it has a silky smooth texture. The mixture may look curdled at some time, but just keep mixing and it will come together soon! Mix in the vanilla.

For more details on SMB read this post at Sweetapolita.