Foam cake or also commonly called meringue is a dessert in France, Switzerland and Italy. Meringue is a sweet and light pastry. The dough is made from egg whites which are beaten to foam with fine sugar until stiff. Meringue is processed by baking using a very low temperature and a long time, like biscuits. Meringue does not have to have brown skin, but it must be crisp and dry enough. Meringue can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.
The following 3 techniques for making meringue are often used:
- French Meringue
Most often practiced in the household kitchen because the steps are simpler. Simply by beating egg whites and sugar until stiff. The addition of cream of tartar is also common. To cover up the rancid aroma of egg whites which sometimes still exists, you can add powdered chocolate, lemon juice, or mint essences as in the meringue kisses. There are also variations, which are eaten without baking, for example: floating island (custard vanilla with meringue topping).
- Italian Meringue
Using boiling sugar syrup instead of powdered sugar is the hallmark of this version of meringue. When the egg whites are being shaken, the sugar syrup is slowly poured into it while continuing to be shaken until stiff. The result, meringue mixture is softer. Just use blow torch to give a brownish-brown burning effect. An example is the ‘lid’ on Baked Alaska (ice cream pie and covered with typical Norwegian meringue).
- Swiss Meringue
The manufacturing process is quite ‘challenging’. While being shaken until stiff, egg white and sugar are steamed using the au bain-marie method at 110 ° C-120 ° C. Thanks to this process, sugar dissolves more easily and the dough will expand with greater volume and look more shiny than other techniques. The mixture can also be mixed with cookie dough or frosting mixture for cake. The most popular example is Lemon Meringue Pie.
Tips for making meringue:
Place each meringue 2.5 cm or more apart. Repeat until all the meringue mixture in the bowl is transferred to the pan.
Previously cover the baking pan with Baking Paper Seven so that the meringue does not stick to the baking sheet and is easy to lift from the baking sheet. Besides the advantages of Baking Paper Seven is that there is no need to bother washing the baking sheet and Baking Paper Seven can still be reused. To get a beautiful meringue, print a meringue using a star-shaped icing bag.
