How to prepare meringue for decorating cakes, Easter cakes, panettone at home

Now I will show you how to prepare meringue for decorating cakes at home, Easter cakes or all other confectionery products. This meringue recipe is so versatile that it can be used not only for making small meringues, but also for Pavlova dessert or meringue roll. The only difference will be in the shape of the meringue and the time it takes to dry in the oven.

Ingredients for meringue

Prepare the following ingredients:

protein – 35 g;
sweet powder – 70 g;
a pinch of citric acid;
corn starch – 1 tsp.

Making small meringues for the cake

From 1 protein you will get quite a lot of small meringues for decorating cakes at home. Therefore, if you use them to decorate a cake or Easter cakes, then one protein will be enough.

I took the protein at room temperature. There really isn't much difference whether you use cool or warm protein. You'll beat it anyway.

For whipping, an ordinary mixer or a whisk attachment on a blender, like mine, is suitable.

Beating egg whites for meringue

I break the protein into a clean glass and start beating it at low speeds at first, and then add speed. After a couple of minutes of beating, the protein will begin to transform into the so-called “soap foam”.

Once this foam appears, turn off the mixer and add a pinch of citric acid. It can be changed 1 tsp. lemon juice.

Then you can add finely ground sweet powder. I recommend using specifically sweet powder, not sugar. Because when adding crystalline sugar, it is not always possible to achieve its complete dissolution. Therefore, sweet powder is a good solution to this problem!

The next point: the sweet powder must be added evenly, stirring the protein with a mixer at low speed each time before each new addition.

After all the sweet powder has been added to the egg whites, turn up the mixer and continue beating until stable peaks form. As you beat, the whites will begin to thicken and become glossy.

When the egg whites have been whipped to a suitable consistency, add a teaspoon of cornstarch. After this, you need to mix everything. This can be created with a mixer at the lowest speed or with a silicone spatula.

Jigging meringue onto parchment

The meringue for the meringue is ready. Now it needs to be placed on parchment. To deposit the meringue, I will use the most popular pastry nozzles - open and closed star. But you can choose any other attachments at your discretion.

Now I insert the nozzle into a pastry bag and, for ease of filling, place it in a tall glass. After this, you need to fill the pastry bag with the prepared meringue using a silicone spatula.

For decorating cakes at home, I place meringue on a parchment sheet. The meringue can vary in size and shape. It all depends on your imagination.

Drying small meringue

When the meringue is all placed on parchment, the baking sheet can be sent to the oven. In this case, the oven must be preheated to 120°C in advance. After planting the meringue, you must immediately reduce the temperature to +70°C. Such a sharp temperature difference will create a dense, even crust on top of the meringue and prevent cracks.

Drying the small meringue lasts 1.5-2 hours. After 1.5 hours of drying, you need to open the oven and check the readiness of the meringue. If it is dense on top and lags well behind the parchment sheet, then the meringue is ready. If it is still soft on top, then continue to dry it for another 30 minutes.

After the drying time has ended, leave the meringue in the oven with the door closed until it cools completely.

Apart from traditional snow-white meringues, they can be painted any color using gel dyes. I have a lavender color scheme, and I was going to make a few of those bezes.

The dye is mixed into the protein very carefully using a silicone spatula. After coloring, the meringue is placed on parchment and sent to the oven to dry.

Ready-made meringues can be used to decorate any cake, Easter cakes, panettone, pie and any other baked goods.

Colored meringues for decorating the cake

Just two ingredients - and the result is great.

Airy, crispy meringues that slowly melt in your mouth and turn into sticky chewing gum. This is a good decoration for a torus (especially in winter, when berries and fruits are expensive), and also an independent dessert for tea. The kids are excitedly crunching these cakes and are trying to steal a couple of them while you are busy decorating the cake! Both gel and powder dyes are excellent for coloring meringues, but they interact with them differently.
If you use gel dyes, the meringues turn out shiny, smooth and slightly sticky. If you use powdered ones, the meringues will turn out matte and will not stick. All you have to do is choose what you like best. We’ll talk now about what dyes I use and how I prepare colored meringues.

How to make colored meringues for a cake

Before starting to beat the meringue, wipe the mixer bowl and beaters with lemon juice or citric acid, this will help kill traces of fat from the bottom and walls of the bowl. If there is even a little fat on the beaters or bowl, the whites will not whip.

For this same reason, we carefully ensure that the yolks do not get into the whites when we separate the eggs.

To be on the safe side, separate any protein into a separate bowl, and then add it to the total protein mass.

So, to make meringues, place 3 egg whites at room temperature in a bowl (or mixer bowl), add a pinch of citric acid and beat at low mixer speed for 30 seconds.

Then evenly increase the speed of the mixer and beat for about 1 more minute until soft peaks and fluffiness.
Without stopping whipping, add 1 tbsp to the protein mixture. l. sweet powder (total size 150 g).

When all the powder has been incorporated into the whites, increase the speed to high and beat for about 3 more minutes until sparkling, stiff peaks form.

Add 1 tsp to the meringue. vanilla extract and beat until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 90 C and line the baking sheets with Teflon mats or good baking paper.

We divide the entire protein mass into as many parts as there are different colors planned to be created. I prepared meringues in two pastel colors: lavender and mint. Therefore, I divided the protein mass into 2 parts and carefully tinted it using Americolor gel dye: I mixed leaf green and navy blue to get a mint color, and a little regal purple dye to get a lavender meringue.

We transfer the colored mixture into pastry bags with suitable nozzles (I used the “Open Star” nozzle). Then we place meringues of the appropriate size on cool prepared baking sheets.

How to create two-color meringues on a stick can be read in a separate recipe.

Bake the meringues until crispy for an hour, drying the largest ones for 1.5 hours.

We make sure that the temperature in the oven does not rise above 90 C, otherwise the color of the meringues will be lost or they may brown, which is not what we want.

If you suspect that the oven indicates the temperature incorrectly, I advise you to open the door slightly so that a small gap is formed and unnecessary heat escapes through it (but in this case, the time for making the meringue will increase).

Remove the finished meringues from the oven, let cool and carefully remove from the parchment. If they stick out like chewing gum and are difficult to remove, it means you need to return them to the oven and dry until done.

How to store meringues

You can store finished jewelry for about a week at room temperature. If you used gel dyes, the meringues may begin to stick to each other, so it is better to organize storage on a horizontal surface at a distance from each other.

Another option for decorating a cake could be a picture on wafer paper; you can read how to correctly use such confectionery news by following the active link.

If you used dry dyes, you can put them in an airtight box or plastic bag.
And don’t worry that the meringue won’t work out! Follow the step-by-step recipe and everything will be unbeatable. If it doesn't work out the first time, don't worry. Analyze the errors. Take the smallest portion of the meringue ingredients and repeat. For your analysis you may need the following articles:

I have recorded for you a detailed video recipe for making meringues for a cake. Welcome to the You Tube channel, I wish you pleasant viewing! Subscribe to the channel so you don't miss the latest video recipes!

Each housewife has her own recipe. Try other methods if the main one described in the recipe does not work.

When adding photos to Instagram, please indicate the tag #pirogeevo or #pirogeevo, so that I can find your photos on the Internet and enjoy the result with you.

French, Italian and Swiss meringue - how to prepare and what is the difference between them

There are three main types of meringue. They are all prepared according to different recipes and for different purposes. So what is the difference between French, Italian and Swiss meringue? And which one should be used in any given dessert? Let's talk about it.

French meringue

French meringue is the most traditional and most common of the above. It is crispy on the outside and a little soft or dry on the inside. The whipped mass quickly settles, so it must be prepared just before use, in other words, baking in the oven.

How to make French meringue

Proteins and sugar (from time to time sweet powder) will be useful for you. Typically, the working proportion is 2 parts sugar to 1 part protein. For example, if you use 100 g of protein, you will need 200 g of sugar.

To make French meringue, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar evenly, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. The mixture should become soft, airy and light.

You can pipe the resulting mass using a pastry bag or spoon. Form the meringues on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in an oven preheated to 90-100 °C for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the product and the desired result. The meringues are ready when you simply remove them from the baking paper.

How to use French meringue

If two ready-made French meringues, piped from a pastry bag, are combined with each other, layered with cream or something similar, you get meringue . So says the distinguished publication Gastronomic Encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique.

Meringue with chocolate cream

French meringue is best used for Alaska and Pavlova cakes, the English dessert Eton mess and for making dessert snowballs . After mixing with chopped nuts (usually almonds or hazelnuts), a base for dacquoise (nut sponge cake) .

Pavlova cake “Pear and chocolate”

Italian meringue

Italian meringue is the most measured and dense of the three. Thanks to its satin texture, it is very popular among confectioners.

How to make Italian meringue

Italian meringue is a sweet syrup (a “thick thread” mixture), heated to 118-120 °C and, still practically bubbling, added in a narrow stream to the whipped egg whites. The mixture must be constantly whisked until it cools almost completely. To make the best Italian meringue, be sure to use a kitchen temperature gauge.

Italian meringue is deposited onto a sponge cake from a pastry bag

The basic ratio for syrup is 3 parts sugar and 1 part water. Basic meringue recipe: 30-50 g of syrup for 1 large egg white.

How to use Italian meringue

This kind of meringue, in comparison with the French one, is not consumed without the help of others (as a ready-made dish) and it is needed for the most complex desserts, such as, for example, Alaska cake.

It is used to cover tarts, flans, and Polish brioche before being put into the oven. Add to mousses and souffles, and later freeze. Creams, sorbet and various berry and fruit foams are prepared on the basis of Italian meringue. And specifically, it covers lemon pies (or similar products), and later it is so beautifully fired with a special burner.

Key lime tartlet with meringue

Swiss meringue

The development of making Swiss meringue differs from others. A water bath and a kitchen temperature gauge are indispensable for her. The raw whipped mass is even smaller in size than the French one. It is the most compact, smooth and silky. After heat treatment, it is crispy on the outside and “chewy” (sticky and slightly stretchy) on the inside.

How to make Swiss meringue

Typically, the working proportion for making Swiss meringue is 2 parts sugar to 1 part protein. For example, if you use 90 g of protein, you will need 180 g of sugar. Beat the egg whites and sugar in a bowl in a water bath at 40°C to 55-60°C. Then remove the bowl from the heat and continue whisking until the mixture cools. Bake at 100 °C, 30 minutes for the smallest forms.

Swiss meringue is often flavored by adding, for example, vanilla or lemon zest. Natural additives must be introduced after heat treatment.

Huge Swiss meringues with nuts

How to use Swiss meringue

Huge meringues, approximately the size of a palm, which you often see in the windows of pastry shops - this is Swiss meringue. It is also often used to decorate Christmas rolls (“log”).

Swiss meringue holds its shape perfectly and the finished products are spectacular and embossed. After some time, the surface of the meringue becomes a little denser, but the mass inside remains the same airy. This can be used to decorate baked goods, for example, Easter cakes, muffins, cupcakes. Swiss meringue can also be used as a cream for layering biscuits.

Pumpkin pie with Swiss (wet) meringue from Olga Stikhareva

Swiss meringue on a stick

I have long wanted to talk about such a delightful and excellent in its simplicity confectionery invention - a dessert called meringue on a stick! Another proof of the saying that everything new is well-forgotten old.

We put the good old meringue on a stick - and now we have a prestigious sweet delicacy, especially loved, of course, by children.

Making the dough: