Meringue is a frothy mixture made by beating egg whites and sugar. It is the base for the meringue buttercream which begin with the formation of the meringue and addition of butter to the mixture.
There are 2 major types of meringue buttercream, the Swiss meringue buttercream and the Italian meringue butter cream. The buttercreams are prepared using the same basic procedures, beating sugar and egg whites to form the meringue; some level of heating is involved to ensure any bacteria in the egg whites are destroyed. The buttercreams differ in the heating process.
SMBC starts by hearing the sugar and egg whites over boiling water to 71degrees centigrade, then whipping till the meringue is formed, while the IMBC, syrup is made with sugar and water and then cooked till the sugar melts; the syrup is then slowly poured into a mixing bowl of egg whites to cook the egg white.
It has been claimed that meringue was invented by the Swiss but improved by the Italians. There are tons of arguments for superiority of both buttercream but fundamentally both buttercreams are similar in appearance and taste. Most chefs have concluded that SMBC is simpler to make than the IMBC while IMBC though more technical to make is argued to be more stable. Food safety wise, SMBC is considered superior being that the egg is heated to 71 degrees centigrade which provides more assurance that harmful bacteria that could be in the egg are destroyed. However, the level of sugar that goes into the buttercreams combined with the heating involved the IMBC is sufficient to achieve food safety being that sugar is antimicrobial
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