At what temperature to bake meringue: meringue recipes from different countries

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Many are accustomed to calling meringue a small 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.

Different countries have developed their own recipes for the popular cream. And they differ not only in the filling or decor of the cakes, but also in the most important thing - the technology of preparation. The resulting meringue can be crunchy, soft like marshmallows, or gooey.

Useful tricks

The algorithm for preparing meringue at first glance seems to be the simplest: you need to beat the whites with sugar, form figures of arbitrary shape from the resulting cream and bake them in the oven.

However, many housewives are unhappy with how they got this dessert the first time. To prepare delicious cakes, you need to consider the following recommendations:

1. Separate the components of the eggyou need to be very careful, if a drop of the yolk gets into the protein, it will not be possible to beat it. There are 2 ways to separate - leave the yolk in one of the halves of the shell, and pour the protein or, after breaking the egg, move its contents into your hand, or into a slotted spoon, or into a special spoon with holes so that the protein stacks.
2. It is better not to take fresh eggs for cooking, a week old will do. With such products, the protein will dry out - and it will be easier to beat it into a foam.
3. Eggs must be taken out of the refrigerator in advance and wait until they heat up to about 25 ° C. Warm proteins are whipped into a more voluminous foam, and the cream also holds better during baking.
4. To make the dessert crunchy, the proteins need to be brought to the formation of sharp peaks. This means that if you pull up a part of the cream with a whisk and give it a certain shape, then it will harden in this shape and will not fall off. Otherwise, the peaks are soft and you need to turn on the mixer again. (Whipped egg white to soft peaks is good for creaming cakes and pastries.)
5. Mixer mode needs to be adjusted. First, the minimum speed is set, and after bubbles form in the foam, it gradually increases.
6. As for sugar, it should be poured into protein gradually, 1 spoonful at a time. Otherwise, the finished cream will settle.
7. Sugar is recommended to be replaced with powder, this will help 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 whenclosed door. 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 take it out.

In a gas oven, meringues are usually cooked with the door open.

Meringue taste and color depend on the temperature at which the meringue is baked - it can be crispy, soft, baked completely or only on the outside, beige or light brown.

If multiple options:

• turn on the oven at 80-100 ° C and put the dessert for 2 hours - the cookies should turn out 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 there is little time for cooking, it is allowed to bake the cream at 200 ° C for several minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 100 ° C for half an hour.

French recipe

French is a classic oven meringue recipe.

Ingredients: 100 g protein and 200 g sugar.

How to cook: first beat the protein, adding a little s alt, then gradually pour in the powdered sugar, continuing to beat the mixture until strong peaks.

At what temperature to bake the meringue: put the dessert in the oven, preheated to 150 ° C, and turn it off; when the oven is completely cool, the meringue will be ready.

What the dessert will turn out to be: light and airy, this recipemore commonly used for fillings rather than individual cakes, as the cream is not very stable and will not produce 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 must 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 firm peaks.

At what temperature to bake meringue: from 100 to 150 °C. To get a softer meringue, you need to bake it longer at a lower temperature.

How the dessert will turn out: soft and slightly custard, the cream keeps its shape well, it is often mixed with butter and other ingredients to create combined fillings.

Swiss dessert

Ingredients: 100 g protein and 200 g sugar.

How to cook: proteins and sugar should be mixed and put 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 to bake meringue: from 80 to 100 ° C for 2-4 hours.

What the dessert will turn out to be: very stable, curly cookies and cake decorations are made from this cream.

What can be added to the cake

There are many ways to bake stuffed meringues at home. You can add nuts, chocolate,fruit juice. Berries, toppings, icing are used to decorate ready-made cakes. Serve them with ice cream.

To prepare multi-colored meringues, instead of eggs, you need to buy albumin - dry protein. Egg white is 90% water, therefore, its powder analogue 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 cooked further according to any version of the recipe. The meringues will turn out the same color as the juice will be selected.

Also, nuts or chocolate can be added to the protein after it has been whipped to strong peaks. The ingredients must be carefully mixed into the cream.

Meringues that are already ready can continue to decorate and form desserts from them, for example, cupcake tops are often made from a cake.