Many are used to calling meringues a little cookie made from whipped proteins. This is not entirely true, meringue is a cream that can be the basis for an independent dessert - a cake called “meringue”, or a filling or decoration element for cakes, cupcakes and other culinary products.
In different countries, their recipes for the popular cream have been formed. And they differ not only in the filling or decoration of cakes, but also in the most important thing - the technology of preparation. As a result, meringues can be crispy, soft as marshmallows, or viscous.
Useful tricks
At first glance, the algorithm for preparing meringues seems to be the simplest: you need to whisk the whites with sugar, form figures of any shape from the resulting cream and bake them in the oven.
However, many housewives are unsatisfied with the first time they got this dessert. To prepare delicious cakes, you need to consider the following recommendations:
- It is necessary to separate the component eggs very carefully, if a drop of yolk gets into the protein, it will not be able to beat. There are 2 ways of separation - leave the yolk in one of the halves of the shell, and pour the protein or, breaking the egg, move its contents into your hand, or into a slotted spoon, or in a special spoon with holes to make the protein stack.
- Fresh eggs for cooking is better not to take, suitable a week ago. In such products, the protein will dry out - and it will be easier to whip into foam.
- Eggs need to be taken out of the refrigerator in advance and wait until they heat up to about 25 ° . Warm proteins are whipped into a more voluminous foam, and the cream also retains stability better during baking.
- To make the dessert crispy, the proteins must be brought to the formation of sharp peaks. This means that if you whisk up a part of the cream and give it a certain shape, then it will harden in this form and will not fall off. Otherwise, the peaks are soft and you need to turn on the mixer again. (Protein, whipped to a soft peak, is suitable to make cream for cake or pastries.)
- The mode of operation of the mixer must be regulated. First, the minimum speed is set, and after bubbles form in the foam, it gradually increases.
- As for sugar, it needs to be poured into protein gradually, 1 tablespoon each. Otherwise, the finished cream will settle.
- It is recommended to replace sugar with powder, this will help to make the mixture completely homogeneous and lighter.
At what temperature to bake meringues in the oven and whether to close it, depends on the type of stove. If it is electric, you need to cook dessert with the door closed. This is due to the fact that such an oven does not have an air duct. And if you open it, then hot air will come out, and cold air will take its place, because of which the cakes will lose their shape. You should wait until the dessert is baked and cooled, and only then get it.
In a gas oven, meringues are usually cooked with the door open.
The taste and color of the product depend on the temperature at which the meringue is baked - it can be crispy, soft, baked completely or just outside, beige or light brown.
If several options:
- turn on the oven at 80-100 ° and put the dessert for 2 hours - the cookies should turn out to be light and crispy (you need to monitor the color change and turn off the fire when a dark crust appears on the cream);
- cook at 150 ° C - then the dessert will be soft;
- if the cooking time is short, it is allowed for several minutes to bake the cream at 200 ° C, and then reduce the temperature to 100 ° C for half an hour.
French recipe
French is the classic meringue recipe in the oven.
Ingredients: 100 g protein and 200 g sugar.
How to cook: first beat the protein, adding a little salt, then gradually pour the powdered sugar, continuing to beat the mixture to the state of strong peaks.
What is the temperature at which the meringue is baked: dessert must be placed in the oven, heated to 150 ° C, and turned off; when the oven has completely cooled, the meringue will be ready.
What the dessert will turn out to be: light and airy, this recipe is often used for filling, and not for individual cakes, since the cream is not very stable, it will not work out flowers or other forms with small elements.
Italian version
Ingredients: 100 g protein, 100 ml water and 200 g sugar.
How to cook: dissolved sugar should be boiled to a temperature of 121 ° C, then you should wait until the bubbles disappear from the mixture, and gradually pour it into the protein, beat until solid peaks.
At what temperature does the meringue oven bake: from 100 to 150 ° C. To get a softer meringue, you need to bake it longer at lower temperatures.
What will be the dessert: soft and a little custard, the cream retains its shape well, it is often mixed with oil and other components to create combined fillings.
Swiss dessert
Ingredients: 100 g protein and 200 g sugar.
How to cook: proteins and sugar need to be mixed and put to bask in a water bath (so that the water does not touch the dishes with the mixture) to 50 ° C, they should increase several times in volume. Then beat the cream with a mixer.
At what temperature do meringues bake: from 80 to 100 ° C for 2-4 hours.
What the dessert will turn out to be: very stable, curly cookies, decorations for cakes are made from such a cream.
What can I add to the cake
There are many ways to bake stuffed meringues at home. In dessert, you can add nuts, chocolate, fruit juice. To decorate ready-made cakes, berries, toppings, and icing are used. You can serve them with ice cream.
To cook colorful meringues, instead of eggs you need to buy albumin - a dry protein. Egg white consists of 90% water, therefore, its powder counterpart can be diluted with any liquid, such as juice, in the same ratio (1 part albumin to 9 parts juice).
The resulting mixture can be whipped with sugar and cook further according to any variant of the recipe. The meringues will be the same color as the juice is selected.
In addition, in protein, after it has been whipped to a strong peak, you can add nuts or chocolate. The ingredients must be carefully mixed in the cream.
Ready-made meringues can be continued to decorate and form desserts from them, for example, often the upper part for cupcakes is made from a cake.