Today I am starting a new video series on my YouTube channel to take that mystery out of baking, making and decorating cakes. I want to bring you all more confidence to challenge yourself with any recipe without it feeling too difficult. The series is called Cake Basics and in these videos I will be showing you different cake related recipes and topics and breaking them down into small details, answering all possible questions to help you achieve same results using my recipes. It will contain basic recipes and also more challenging recipes, but they will all be achievable with the very detailed instructions. I am really hoping to inspire and help more of you to see that you CAN do anything once you have the right kind of help :)

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I am ​starting with a basic meringue recipe that is very versatile and can be used for so many things. There are also other ways to make a meringue, that might be easier, but I feel that this recipe gives the best end result and also it can be used in more ways than other meringue recipes. Once you learn how to make it, you will be able to make so many different things with it :) To mention a few, it can be used for making meringue kisses, for making pavlova, for creating a smooth swiss meringue buttercream (detailed tutorial will come soon) or for making a marshmallow topping for a cheesecake. 

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I feel that many are challenged by the meringue because of just something as simple as separating the egg yolk from the egg white. I have done this way more than 1000 times and I can tell you what I do exactly. These will be very detailed and long instructions, so that I can cover everything and help you as well as I can.

 

• I usually use the stainless steel bowl of my standing mixer, but you can also use a plastic or a glasss bowl. To be honest I have never noticed any difference using any of these, even though many recipes suggest there should be a difference. Just make sure the bowl is clean and has no fat in it. You can wipe it clean to be sure just before starting making the meringue.

• I have a separate bowl for my yolks and a small mug for my egg whites. I break each egg separately into this small mug before adding it to my mixing bowl. In case the yolk breaks I risk only that one egg white and not the whole batch.

• I break the eggs always using a sharp knife and carefully just lightly cracking the egg shell. 

• I use my hands for separating the yolk from the egg whites. I used to do it with the egg shell but there you risk breaking the yolk against the sharp edges of the shell. I have also tried using a separator, but I also didn´t like that as it was hard to get all of the whites separated. So my suggestion is, go simple and just use your hands. 

• I always wash the eggs prior to making the meringue with some soap and cool water. In this case I don´t risk getting anything that might have remained on the egg shell into my meringue.

• I always use eggs that are room temperature.

• If you can avoid making meringue on a very humid day, do that, as the humidity can affect how your meringue turns out.

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I have​ earlier always heated the meringue mix to 65°C and it was always good. This time I decided to heat it to 70°C to see whether it will make a difference and I liked it much more. When you heat the mix to 70°C the meringue that you get is firmer and keeps the shape better. I will be making mine this way from now on. 

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As this is a cooked meringue it doesn´t need to be processed further in any way in order to be used. That is why it is perfect for buttercream and also for the marshmallow topping on cakes, as it is safe to eat. 

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Believe me, I have had my bad times with meringue and I do understand it can be frustrating when it doesn´t work out. However, my only reason for that has been when some yolk has escaped into the whites. That being said I have also managed to get successful meringue even with a little yolk in it. So I think there is a fine line with how much can escape. However, I would not recommend testing this line, but just making sure there is no yolk in your whites, as it is really not worth risking all the other ingredients. Just do like I do and separate the eggs one at a time to avoid this happening. 

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There  are also a lot of recipes that tell you how clean all your utencils need to be before you start, like wipe everything with lemon juice or in that direction. Never done it and never had a problem using this recipe.

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I hope I took some of the mystery out of making meringue for you and I also hope you got some confidence from this post and tutorial to make this delicious meringue :) Let me know in the comments below what you will be using it for.

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Happy Baking lovelies! ​