The Easiest Basic Meringue Recipe-How to make meringues (2024)

FAQs

Which meringue is easiest? ›

French (Simple) Meringue

This is the most common and easiest to make of the meringues and is known as an 'uncooked' meringue. Egg whites are whisked until soft peaks form. The sugar is then gradually whisked in, a large spoonful at a time, until fully incorporated and it has dissolved.

French meringue is often considered the simplest meringue recipe to make. Unlike Swiss and Italian meringue, the ingredients are combined without any heat. Egg whites are whipped into soft peaks before sugar is slowly whisked in until stiff peaks have formed.

Cream of tartar – Meringue's secret ingredient! It creates a strong, stable meringue.

Cornstarch: Cornstarch is an excellent way to foolproof your meringue. Use it to create added fluff and keep your hard-won volume from shrinking. Cream of Tartar: Often added in when making meringues, acidic cream of tartar provides lift and stabilization.

Yes, but the acid in the cream of tartar makes for a sturdier meringue that is less prone to weeping. If you'd rather use lemon juice as an acidic ingredient rather than cream of tartar, add about 1/2 teaspoon juice for every egg white in your recipe.

It can take a while for a meringue to reach stiff peaks and for the sugar to dissolve—about five minutes with a hand mixer. If the sugar has not dissolved (for example, if it tastes gritty), keep beating.

The cornflour and vinegar that is added strengthens the egg white and make it more stable and you get the marshmallowy centres from the shorter cooking time.

Surprisingly, fat is the enemy of a good meringue. Think about it this way: Egg yolks are what you use when you want a dense, luscious dessert like mousse or chocolate pudding. Egg whites provide the lightest, airiest texture you can imagine.

Why add vinegar and cornstarch to meringue? ›

Acid. Whether it be vinegar, lemon juice, cream of tartar, or a combination, an acid will greatly improve the structure of meringue. Acid not only helps meringue whip up and aerate more quickly, it also keeps it stable. Without acid, meringue is more likely to collapse either during or after mixing.

At the very core, meringue is a sweet dessert topping made from whipped egg whites and sugar, but there are actually three types —Italian Meringue, French Meringue, and Swiss Meringue.

French meringue is the least stable but lightest of the three.

A French meringue is the easiest and simplest to make with very few steps involved in the baking process, you do have to bear in mind that if you wanted to make your French meringue sweeter, the more sugar you add, the denser the actual meringue will be.

Italian meringue is generally considered to be the most stable of the meringues (which makes it suitable for making frosting too), but also, the most difficult to make of the three meringue types.

Italian meringue is the most stable of the three because it requires hot sugar syrup to be drizzled into whipped egg whites so you get beautiful, fluffy peaks. It'll be satiny in texture and will give you tall, proud peaks when you frost your cakes or pipe onto a cake or tart.