Meringue

Meringues are a mixture of egg whites, beaten with sugar. At its core, it’s about the foam produced by the egg white protein. This foam is light and airy, properties that are used to make desserts or to use a base for buttercream frostings.

Sugar is used to stabilize the foam. It is hydrophilic, pulling water out of the egg whites and lightening the protein network.

Types

French Meringue

The French Meringue, also known as the basic meringue, is simply egg white beaten with sugar. It is not very stable. It needs to be baked to be stable and to reduce moisture.

It is used as the starting basis for desserts. It’s an “ingredient” in chiffon and angel cakes.

It’s very light and airy.

Italian Meringue

The Italian Meringue is egg whites beaten with boiling syrup. It’s much more stable than the basic meringue.

Swiss Meringue

The Swiss Meringue is egg whites and sugar, brought up to temp in a bain marie and whipped. It’s not as stable as the Italian Meringue but it’s very stable. It’s also known as marshmallow creme.

Because the sugar is added to the mixture early, it interferes with the protein. Swiss meringue is denser than the other two. For the purposes of frosting, it’s much lighter than American Buttercream and heavier than whipped cream.

Weeping

Weeping is moisture pooling at the boundary of the meringue. This is caused when not properly baked.

Baking

Underbaking will not drive off enough moisture in the meringue. Overbaking will cause teh proteins to tighten (like meat!) and squeeze moisture out, instead of keeping it suspended.

Swiss or Italian meringues are more stable having the egg whites heated. Using these removes the need to cook the meringue, you can simply just toast the outside for flavour development.

Cornstarch

Cornstarch can be used to absorb the excess moisture. The starch molecules can gelatinize and suspend moisture.

Topping a Pie

If you’re using meringue as the topping for a pie, put it on while the filling is still hot. This will cook and set the bottom-side.