Cake with meringue and sponge cake: ingredients and recipe

Crumbly, fragile meringue, like meringue cake, comes from France. Melting and tender, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, it was called by the French “air kiss”.

Meringue is the name given to cakes made from whites, and cream made from whites is called meringue. This is what meringues are actually made from. It is also used as a filling for a variety of confectionery products. At first it may seem that making meringue is quite simple, because it contains a very small amount of ingredients, but it is a very capricious and complex dessert, the quality of which depends on many different factors. Not every amateur cook knows how to prepare meringue and meringue, so first you should learn some secrets to get an excellent airy dessert.

Preparing meringues and meringues

How to bake meringue? What is the best recipe to use? Meringue at home can be made in different ways. Of course, you will need to achieve a high culinary level in the art of making airy protein dough, which must remain tender, airy, dense, at the same time light and retain its shape well. If you know some of the nuances of cooking, you will get excellent tasty and beautiful meringues and other desserts from egg whites, beaten with sugar and baked in the oven. There are several ways to make meringue: Swiss, French and Italian.

Pavlova cake

A light and delicate dessert created by the famous pastry chef, dedicating it to the Russian ballerina. Making a meringue pavlova cake is an interesting activity that any housewife will enjoy.

Ingredients:

proteins (3 pcs.);
powdered sugar (175 grams);
corn flour (1 tsp);
citric acid (pinch);
vanillin (pinch);
nuts (50 grams);
strawberries (400 grams);
fruit liqueur (3 tbsp);
cream 35% (550 ml).

Preparation:

To make a meringue cake at home, you need to prepare the necessary ingredients. We prepare raw proteins and sweetener (100 grams) according to all the rules. Add corn flour and vanilla into the fluffy mixture, continuing to beat the mixture. Pour chopped nuts into the snow-white mixture.
We form a circle from the fluffy mass. We make “roses” along the edges of the king cake with meringue (using a culinary syringe). We send the workpiece to the oven (150 degrees). After 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 130 degrees. We wait another 40-50 minutes.
Decorate the meringue cake with whipped cream and powdered sugar (75 grams), cover the snow-white cake. Decorate with crushed strawberry puree and liqueur.

Three types of meringue

How do the French cook? They do it simply: beat the whites with a pinch of salt and add powdered sugar little by little until stiff peaks form. The finished whipped egg white should hold its shape very well. Such meringues come out airy and tender, but they are only suitable for simple-shaped cakes, as they can lose their appearance and become blurry.

Italians replace sugar with thick hot sugar syrup, adding it in a thin stream right during the whipping process. They use this delicious soft cream to top eclairs, strawberries and layer cakes. This cream mixes well with oil. But meringue prepared according to the French recipe will lose its shape when butter is added.

The Swiss recipe for making meringue is truly masterful. The protein cream is made in a water bath, and this mass increases several times in volume. It makes excellent patterns on pastries and cakes that look impressive and do not blur. Using this cream you can make a children's cake with meringues.

Dessert “Chamomile”

This incredibly airy dessert with a delicate and crumbly texture with milk cream is one of the meringue cake recipes that will make your menu festive and unique. To ensure the perfect shape of the delicacy, prepare food paper for the meringue in advance: use a plate to draw a circle with the same diameter as the sponge cake and cover it with a thin layer of cooking fat. The next day, a tasty piece of cake with meringue and sponge cake becomes even more appetizing: all layers are well saturated with cream, the mass becomes more homogeneous and tasty.

Ingredients:

eggs (10 pcs.);
granulated sugar (800 grams);
starch (100 grams);
milk (250 ml);
butter (450 grams);
lemon (1 pc.).

Preparation:

Before preparing the crumbly meringue, we make sponge cakes: put 8 yolks, lemon zest in a bowl, add 300 grams of sweetener and combine the ingredients at high speed of the food processor.
Bring 5 raw and fresh proteins to fluffiness. We connect the yellow and white blanks.
Pour the recommended amount of starch into a bowl (with a cake blank with a meringue layer).
Divide the mixture into 2 parts and send each to the oven (180 degrees). We wait 37-42 minutes.
We combine 3 proteins and 100 grams of granulated sugar. We bring the workpiece to dense “peaks”. Place on pre-prepared paper and keep the mixture in the oven (120-130 degrees) for 50-70 minutes.
We make the milk filling: pour milk and 200 grams of sweetener into a saucepan. We are waiting for the preparation to boil. Combine 2 eggs and 200 grams of granulated sugar, whisk and pour the mixture into hot milk. Prepare the filler in a water bath for 10-12 minutes. Add the required amount of oil to the cold mixture and beat until fluffy. If desired, add a spoonful of cognac and vanilla.
Assemble the sponge cake with meringue, soak each layer with milk filling, and decorate to your liking.

Nuances of preparation

Be sure to thoroughly wash and degrease all utensils and kitchen utensils used for preparing meringues and meringues. Fat will prevent the protein from maintaining a tight structure and negatively affect the quality of the dough. To avoid this, you can wipe the dishes with vinegar and then rinse with cold water, then wait until the dishes dry. Or you can add lemon juice to boiling water and rinse the dishes with this mixture.

Which eggs to take - fresh or not so fresh? If you eat protein cream that cannot be cooked, it is recommended to use the freshest eggs. But for meringue, eggs that have been sitting for a week are more suitable, because this type of protein whips much easier. To prepare meringue, do not take cool whites, but warm ones, at room temperature. Egg whites from the refrigerator will whip faster, but in the end the mass will be less voluminous, more stable in the oven and denser. But warm whites will give you an airy, fluffy mass with good relief, and these products will rise well and keep their shape.

"Air Snickers"

Moderately sweet, with a layer of condensed milk, a delicious cake. The crumbly meringue and shortbread create a unique and nutritious dessert that will satisfy any sweet tooth. Using the same principle, you can make baked goods with caramel (by covering the top of the dessert with liquid mixture). This will give it an even milkier, creamier taste (and a subtle roasted peanut aroma). Despite the apparent complexity, such baking is accessible even to a young cook. The main thing is to carefully measure the components and follow the recommendations described below. You will get a cake with a layer of delicate meringue that can decorate even the most elegant table.

Ingredients:

flour (230 grams);
butter (220 grams);
sugar (300 grams);
egg (3 pcs.);
peanuts (150 grams);
boiled condensed milk (0.5 cans).

Preparation:

Before preparing the meringue, combine the sweetener (100 grams), butter and yolks in a bowl.
Pour in flour, gather the dough into a lump and cool for 20-30 minutes.
Mix the whites with sweetener to achieve a fluffy, airy texture.
Place the shortbread dough on the pan and distribute it (with your hands) around the entire perimeter.
Cover it with a snow-white protein mass and send it to the oven (160 degrees), wait 55-60 minutes. Divide the still hot workpiece into 2 parts.
We wait for the cake to cool down and cover it with cream. Sprinkle the meringue with condensed milk with fried and chopped peanuts.
After 3-5 hours, serve the meringue cake with nuts.

Sugar or powder?

For whipping, use powdered sugar, not sugar. With it, the mass will whip up much better and it will turn out lighter and more delicate. But if the sugar is not completely dissolved, it will creak unpleasantly while eating. At the beginning of whipping, set the mixer to low speed to add oxygen to the mixture, but when you get bubbly foam, increase the speed to maximum. You can add powdered sugar gradually. If you add it all at once, the meringues will settle after baking.

To get delicious crispy meringues, you need to beat the egg whites until they form stiff, sharp peaks, when the mixture will follow when you remove the whisk. If you do not get sharp peaks, but round ones that begin to fall, then they are suitable for making dough for a sponge cake with meringues, but the meringue itself will not work out of them. Sometimes it is advised to add a pinch of salt or lemon juice to the whites before whipping so that the mass is larger in volume and fluffy, but if you have a good modern blender or mixer, you can do without these additives. If you need to add starch or flour to the proteins, be sure to sift them to saturate them with air and give the dough an airy feel.

How to bake?

It is best to bake meringue on parchment at a temperature of 80-110 °C for 1.5-2 hours. But still try not to dry out the dessert, because it should be crispy and not have a dark crust.

If you want softer and more tender meringues, bake them at 150 ° C. You can first bake at high temperature (200 ° C), and then reduce the heat to 100 degrees and leave for another half hour. When baking meringue, the oven must not be opened, otherwise the pieces will become flat cakes as they will fall off. You cannot store meringue in the refrigerator, otherwise it will become damp. Based on the meringue recipe, you can prepare a huge number of wonderful confectionery products by adding coffee, berries, fruits, chocolate, milk, cream, nuts and spices. Meringue can be drizzled with chocolate glaze, served with ice cream, vanilla or butter cream, made into a filling for sweet sandwiches and pancakes, or cream for pastries and cakes.

Sponge cake and meringue

You will need a mold with a diameter of 23 centimeters.

For the test:

Flour – 200 g.
A pinch of salt.
Chilled butter – 150 g.
Sugar – 30 g.
Yolks - two pieces.
Cold water – 50 ml.
Baking powder - a teaspoon.

Filling:

Walnuts – 200 g.
Sugar – 35 g.

Meringue:

Squirrels - five pieces.
Sugar – 300 g.
Water – 60 ml.
Lemon juice - a tablespoon.

Cooking process

We start cooking with the dough. Mix sugar with flour, salt, baking powder. Cut the butter into cubes, add the yolks to it, and grind everything into crumbs. When the crumbs become homogeneous, add water, knead the dough, wrap it in film and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. You need to fry the nuts in a frying pan for a few minutes, remove the skins from them and cut them into pieces. Distribute the chilled dough over the pan, forming a small side that will cover the nuts. Prick the dough in several places with a fork and bake for about 15 minutes at 160°C. The dough should not be completely ready. Let it cool, sprinkle with nuts and sugar.

How to make meringue on a cake? Mix sugar and water, bring to 140 degrees on the stove, turn off the heat and add lemon juice. At the same time, beat the egg whites so that they are ready by the time you prepare the syrup. Continuing to beat, carefully and little by little add the syrup into the whites and beat until the protein cream has cooled. Place the prepared meringue onto the crust and smooth it out. Place in an oven preheated to 160°C and immediately reduce the temperature by 40°C. After half an hour, reduce to 100 degrees, and after another half hour, turn off the oven. Leave the cake to cool in the oven for half an hour. Once the cake has cooled completely, you can remove it from the mold.

Cooking method

The whites are pre-cooled. The nut kernels are ground using a blender, then fried in a frying pan without oil over low heat, and cooled. The whites are placed in a large bowl. Grind with a mixer until a dense mass is formed. Add powdered sugar and flour. Beat the ingredients for 60 seconds. The oven must be heated to a temperature of 150 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment and sprinkle with water. A protein mass is laid out on them, from which cakes are formed. The products are cooked in the oven for 1 hour. Keep in the oven until cool. The yolks are ground with vanillin and granulated sugar. Add water and mix. The bowl with the mixture is placed on the surface of a pan of boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes, then remove from the stove. Grind the butter using a mixer. Add to other ingredients. Then condensed milk, nut kernels, cocoa, and cognac are added to the mixture. The products are ground with a mixer. The layers are covered with the resulting mass.

Connect with each other. Place the cake with meringue layers in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

Orange cake with meringue

Take a mold no larger than 20 cm.

You will need for the test:

Two thirds of a glass of flour.
Chilled butter – 50 g.
Ice water - two to three tablespoons.
A pinch of salt.

For Kurd:

Sugar – 100 g.
Egg - one piece.
Yolk - one piece.
Butter – 30 g.
Flour - a teaspoon.
Orange zest and juice.
Zest and juice of half a lemon.

Meringue:

White of 1 egg.
Sugar – 60 g.
Powdered sugar – 50 g.

Let's cook!

Sift salt and flour into a bowl, add chopped butter. Rub the butter and flour into crumbs with your hands, add ice water and knead the dough. Form it into a cake, wrap it in film and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. When the dough has cooled, roll it out, transfer it to the pan and trim the edges. Poke the bottom with a fork or add weights to prevent it from rising. Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C. During this time, wash the fruit, dry it, grate the zest and squeeze out the juice. Mix sugar, zest and juice until sugar dissolves and set aside. After half an hour, strain the juice, add flour and eggs, stir with a whisk and cook, stirring continuously, over low heat until it thickens. When the cream has cooled slightly, add butter.

Preparing meringue to decorate the cake. Beat the whites until stiff peaks form, adding sugar little by little. Place the curd onto the finished cake layer and pipe the meringue on top from a pastry bag. Bake your cake in the oven until you see a golden crust. Serve cool.

"King cake" with cream and strawberries

A fragrant, romantic dessert that will decorate even the most sophisticated feast. You can use other fruits to create a Madame meringue cake (depending on the season). Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and even elderberries are perfect for decoration and layering. By “dressing up” a real king cake with berries and meringue at your discretion, you will get a true culinary masterpiece.

Ingredients:

squirrels (6 pcs.);
powdered sugar (300 grams);
vanilla (pinch);
cream 35% (600 ml);
powdered sugar for cream (3 tbsp);
chopped peanuts (0.5 tbsp.);
strawberries (100 grams);
chocolate (20 grams).

Preparation:

We use a classic recipe for creating meringues: combine the whites with powder, bring them to tight “peaks,” divide them into 2 parts and place each on a baking sheet lined with food paper. Place in the oven (100 degrees), wait 70-90 minutes.
Cool the prepared cakes. We use a step-by-step recipe to make the perfect egg white dough.
Before preparing this meringue cake, combine the cream with powder. We make the workpiece airy.
Soak the bottom cake with some of the cream filling and sprinkle with nuts.
We repeat the whole process with the second cake. Place strawberry pieces and chopped chocolate on top of the dessert. Serve a fragrant royal dessert with filling at any time.

Walnut meringue cake

Ingredients:

Two large chicken eggs.
Sugar - one glass.
A pinch of salt.
Butter – 200 g.
Condensed milk - can.
A pinch of vanillin.
Any strong alcohol - a tablespoon.
Walnuts – 150 g.

How to make a cake with meringue? Separate the whites from the yolks and beat them at low speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar little by little and beat at high speed until it is completely dissolved. Place the mixture evenly on parchment and place the baking sheet with it on the top level. Cook at 100 degrees in the oven for about an hour. Dry the nuts and chop them in a frying pan. Beat the butter with a mixer until the mixture lightens and becomes fluffy. Add condensed milk little by little, and finally add vanillin and alcohol. When the oven is turned off, open the door and let the meringue cool. It turns out crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside. Break it into pieces, line the cake pan with film, put a few spoons of cream on the bottom (about 1/4), meringue on top (about 1/3) and sprinkle with dried nuts. And so alternate all layers until the ingredients are gone. Place the finished cake in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Turn the finished cake over onto a plate and remove the film. Decorate with nuts.

A sponge cake with meringue is the best decoration for a holiday table, especially for children, because it turns out light, delicate, beautiful and allows you to use your imagination by adding different fillings, fruits, and berries.

Variations in cooking

You can prepare such a cake for a holiday for a loved one or for a child after you study all the information presented below. You can decorate the cake the way you want. For example, you can cover the cake with regular sour cream and carefully place berries or fruits on top. These can be any berries - strawberries, blueberries, blueberries or raspberries. You can make chocolate ganache or frosting and cover the cake.

You can serve this cake with tea or coffee. It will be especially delicious with coffee with milk. The cake is ideal for both children's and adult parties. You can serve it with wine or drinks with liqueur - it will be delicious. Choose semi-sweet red wine, and Baileys is a good liqueur. Try making a cake with meringue and sponge cake according to this recipe and decorate it based on these recommendations - you will be pleased with the result!