Hello. I've made Swiss meringue buttercream four times now and have had pretty great results. I've followed Maggie Austin's recipe and also added cream cheese to it following her instructions--also with good results. 

I'm a little concerned about liquid seeping out, however.  The first time i made this, i noticed liquid in the bottom of my kitchen aide bowl. The frosting was firm, but floating on a very very thin layer of water. I used it and it was fine. 

This last batch had even more liquid, and it was like this *before* I added the cream cheese. And now I'm noticing the frosting is weeping in the bowl.  Is this liquid from the butter? 

So my question is, why does smbc get liquid in the bottom of the bowl, even when the frosting seems to have emulsified well?  It doesn't look lumpy or like cottage cheese at all and it's not runny--it just floats on this layer of liquid  then that liquid coats the frosting when I dump it out of the bowl.  Should I fold the liquid into the frosting and keep whipping until it doesn't seep anymore? 

Also, when smbc is refrigerated and then warmed up to room temperature, does it need to be re-whipped because of this weeping problem?  Or should you be able to put the cold smbc into a piping bag and warm it with your hands to use it?  I ask because I tried this to see how it would act and it piped out rough with liquid oozing from it. I wondered if this was just from no re-whipping or if I have a problem wi

Usually it sweats (or weeps) because it hasn't emulsified properly. The liquid is egg white that has broken down from the meringue.

This happens when you beat it at a too cool temperature.  What temperature does your SMBC have? You can warm it up by placing your bowl in a hot water bath, or by taking our some of the SMBC (a small bowlful), melting that and pouring it back in.

When the SMBC has been in the fridge, when you take it out and beat it when it's too cold, it will break down and loose liquid. That's why you always have to warm it up, then beat it again till its fluffy before using. 

Best working temperature for me is 25 Celsius. 

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Thank you for the information!  Sorry for the delayed reply--I was away at two different weddings.

I wound up using my hands to warm the bowl a bit and that seemed to help move things along.  I just wasn't sure if it was the type of butter or cream cheese I was using, or if I'd done something wrong.  The first batch I made was perfect.  But with later batches I realized I wasn't mixing as long because I'd figured out how much grape violet Sugarflair to add to make it whiter.  When I first made it, I was slowly adding the food coloring and mixed for longer, which let the frosting warm up and the liquid to incorporate without me noticing.  For later batches, I had the amount of food coloring down and even though most of the frosting looked beautifully smooth, I still had a film of liquid on the inside and bottom of the bowl that I hadn't noticed before.  And you're right--my butter was too cold and that's likely what caused the film of liquid.  I work in a really warm kitchen and was afraid of the butter being *too* warm and erred the other direction.

I'll try the 25 degrees C to see how that works.  I really appreciate the response!