How to make Meringues to decorate your cakes!

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Recently there is a trend for unicorn cakes, drip cakes and number cakes and the one thing these all have in common is how perfect they look finished off with little meringues.

Meringues are a great way to add colour and a different texture to your cakes rather than just buttercream, and the best thing is they are so easy to make with just two ingredients. So in this weeks video tutorial I am going to show you how I make my meringue kisses and swirled rosettes, and also different ways you can colour them.

The meringues that I make in this video are French meringues and are made by whisking egg whites until light and fluffy with nice peaks, and adding in caster sugar at a ration of 2:1. So for 100g of egg whites you need 200g of caster sugar. This is combined with the egg whites slowly until the granules of sugar have all dissolved to give a thick, silky, smooth mixture. You can then add flavours and colours to your mixture before you pipe them into your desired shapes. Gel colours work best as their colour is more concentrated and they add less wet ingredients to your mixture.

If you are finding that your mixture is just isn’t thickening once you add your sugar it may be because your egg whites were not whisked enough at the start. Your meringues will also work best when your egg whites are at room temperature. If your eggs are too cold you can pop them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes to warm up before separating them.

I then bake these at 100°C for between 45 minutes – 1 Hour depending on the size of your meringues. If you were to bake something a little larger like meringues nest you may want to back them for a little longer. You are looking for a nice crunchy shell with a soft center. By keeping your oven low your meringues will retain their white colour, else they can have a slightly ivory tinge. Once the meringues are ready turn the oven off and let them cool before removing them. They are then ready to add to your cake creations.

Here is a an example of a cake with my meringues added. I love how it looks with the different varieties of styles. I added these to a 6 inch cake covered in this light pink buttercream with a few sprinkles on one side and a white royal icing drip on the other. I think my husband summed up this cake perfectly when he called it a ‘styled mess’.

how to make Meringues for your cakes

I really hope you find this weeks tutorial / recipe useful and if you haven’t made meringues before will enjoy adding them to your cakes.

Meringue kisses cookie recipe

Meringue Kisses Recipe

Author: Cakes by Lynz
Meringues make great cake toppers. Here you'll find my French meringue cookie recipe, which is perfect for meringue kisses.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Decorating Time1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings 60 kisses
Recipe Type Meringues
Keyword French Meringue, Meringue Cookies, Meringue Kisses

Ingredients
  

  • 100 g Egg Whites (Around 3 eggs)
  • 200 g Caster Sugar
  • Flavouring of your choice
  • Food Colour Gel

Instructions

  • First you will need to separate your egg whites into a bowl. For the meringues we are using a 2:1 ratio of caster sugar to egg whites, so I always weigh my egg whites to enable me to get the correct amount of sugar.
  • Using the whisk attachment on a hand mixer or stand mixer, start with a slow to medium speed, mixing your egg whites until they become foamy and a little cloudy.
  • At this stage you can turn your mixer up and whisk your egg whites until they form peaks which keep their shape.
  • Add the caster sugar slowly, one teaspoon at a time, making sure to keep mixing it as you go.
  • Once the sugar has all been added wipe down the side of your bowl with a spatula and keep mixing for a further 3-4 minutes to make sure all of the sugar granules have dissolved. You can feel the mixture between your fingers. You are looking for it to feel completely smooth. (If any granules are left in your mixture you may get hard lumps in your meringues once baked)
  • Once the mixture is ready you can add a few drops of flavouring.
  • You can now colour your meringue using food gel colours. Take a look at the video above for some different examples of ways to colour your meringue kisses. Once you have your desired colour, place the meringue into a piping bag.
  • Add a piece of parchment paper onto a baking tray, securing the corners with a small amount of meringue as a glue.
  • Hold your piping bag directly above your parchment paper, applying a small amount of pressure. once the meringue is around 1 inch at the base, stop applying pressure and pull the piping bag up to get your meringue kiss.
  • Bake your meringues in a preheated oven at 100 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes for small meringue kisses or around 1 hour for larger meringues. Once baked you want to turn the oven off, but leave them inside the oven to completely cool.
  • You can now use your meringues to decorate your cakes.

Notes

Storing your meringues 

Once your meringues have cooled, you can place them in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for around 2 weeks.
Meringues don’t like to be put in the fridge as they soak up the moisture and can go sticky. 

Also why not save the recipe for later and pin it to Pinterest

Thank you for reading!

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17 Responses

  1. Hello there,
    I Just made the cake with meringues. It is for a birthday tomorrow.. will it be ok?
    Thanks a million,
    Sarah

    1. Hi Sarah, Yes they will definitely be ok. You just don’t want to put the cake in the fridge. The meringues need to stay away from moisture, so just keep the cake in a cool dry place and it will be fine.

    1. Hi Kate, I always use a regular oven setting for baking as I find with a fan oven it can bake the outside alot quicker than the inside.

  2. If you were to bake them in preparation of putting them on the cake how long will they last?
    Can I bake them a day or two in advance or need to do it the same day?

    1. Hi Kimberley, You can definitely bake them a few days in advance. Once cooled pop them in an airtight container at room temperature and they can last a few weeks.

  3. I have decorated cakes with mini coloured meringues before, but they went soft after a few hours? Does this happen to yours? Mel x

    1. Hi Mel, Can I ask are you storing your cakes in the fridge after you make them. Meringues don’t like moisture, so if possibly you have put the cake in the fridge this can cause them to go soft.

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Hi, I’m Lynsey and welcome to Cakes by Lynz. I LOVE everything cake! Here you will find all my latest cake decorating video tutorials from my YouTube channel, reviews and general cake ramblings!

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