Italian meringue is soft, fluffy and completely delicious! It’s marshmallow like in texture and appearance and one of the most magical confections to make! I really can’t help but be happy and smile when I whip up a batch! It’s fabulous on cakes, cookies or any desserts! My kids honestly all love to just eat it straight from the beater and I always sneak a spoon full too.
It is a more technical merigue to make because you have to cook the sugar to a certain degree before adding it into the whipped egg whites. This method is the main difference between Swiss Meringue and Italian Meringue.
What is the difference between Swiss meringue and Italian Meringue?
In short, Swiss meringue and Italian meringue differ mostly in the way they are prepared. Swiss meringue gets cooked prior to whipping and Italian gets cooked while whipping.
Swiss meringue is made when you lightly whisk and cook your sugar and egg whites in a bowl that is over a pot of boiling water until the sugar melts then you whip the egg white and sugar mixture with a whisk until it forms stiff peaks. Some say it is the easier of the two methods. It is also supposed to be safer because you know the egg whites are cooked. I actually don’t think it’s any safer than Italian meringue when you make it the way I make it, I will get to that when I talk about Italian meringue shortly. I also think it can be a little trickly to get a perfectly smooth Swiss meringue where all of the sugar get dissolved. However, I think Swiss meringue is great and I use it to make Swiss meringue buttercream on occasion. Like my chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream RECIPE HERE (scroll to the bottom of the link to see that recipe).
To make Italian Meringue (this meringue featured in this recipe), you add egg whites to a bowl and beat until they form soft peaks, meaning you can dip the tip of your whisk into the egg whites and it will form a peak then that peak will quickly slump to the side.
Then in a sauce pot, you add sugar, corn syrup, water, vanilla and a pinch of salt and cook to the soft crack stage, or 270 F. with a candy thermometer. (For my candy making 101 post with all the stages and temperature click here) Some recipes call for a lower cooking stage and temperature, those stages will not actually cook the egg whites fully. So if you are worried or to be extra safe, follow my directions. When you cook the sugar to soft crack stage it guarantees they will be fully cooked because egg whites cook around 144 F. which they will reach when you pour 270 degree hot sugar into them as they whip. You can feel the sides of your mixing bowl after adding the hot sugar and it will be very hot to the touch.
They then get whipped into fluffy stiff peaks and get the most gorgeous shine to them, Your meringue is then ready to frost with and enjoy. If you were to make it a Italian meringue butter cream, this is the point you would add unsalted butter but this recipe doesn’t go that far so we won’t worry about that.
What do you need to make Italian Meringue:
Makes roughly 3 cups meringue or enough to frost a 2 layer cake or 9 x 13 inch cake.
- 3 egg whites – room temperature (this relaxes the proteins and allows them to beat into peaks better)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a clean electric mixing bowl or bowl that can handle heat with an electric mixer using a whisk attachment ( the bowl needs to be clean or it will effect your eggs ability to whip into peaks), add your egg whites and begin beating until they get to soft peaks. Soft peaks are when you dip the end of your whisk in and the egg whites form a peak then it quickly slumps to the side or off the whisk.
- Once to that stage, set egg whites aside while you make your sugar mixture.
- In a sauce pan, add sugar, corn syrup, water, vanilla and a pinch of salt, stir together and bring mixture to a boil.
- Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot. I also always add a glass of ice water to the side so I can manually check my candy stage, see directions for that below.
- Once sugar mixture is to 270 F. or at soft crack stage, remove from stove and bring to mixing bowl. Turn mixer on while you pour the hot sugar towards the inside side of the bowl, that way it won’t splash hot sugar around and it won’t create sugar art on the whisk but instead goes directly into the egg white mixture.
- Let the mixture whisk on high for 5 minutes or until mixture gets shiny and fluffy and cools down to a warm temperature.
- Use to frost cakes, frost or fill cookies, add to baked Alaska or any dessert you want to add it too.
*Cold water candy test. You do this by dipping a spoon into hot sugar mixture and pouring a spoonful into the glass of cold water, then feeling the mixture with your fingers. If it quickly falls apart it’s thread stage, if it forms a soft squishy ball it’s soft ball stage, if it forms a firm ball that’s hard ball stage, a really firm ball that only gives way when you pull hard, that soft crack and if it harden immediately and you can break it, that is hard crack stage.
Italian Meringue
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites – room temperature this relaxes the proteins in the egg whites and allows them to beat into peaks better
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a clean electric mixing bowl or bowl that can handle heat with an electric mixer using a whisk attachment ( the bowl needs to be clean or it will effect your eggs ability to whip into peaks), add your egg whites and begin beating until they get to soft peaks. Soft peaks are when you dip the end of your whisk in and the egg whites form a peak then it quickly slumps to the side or off the whisk.
- Once to that stage, set egg whites aside while you make your sugar mixture.
- In a sauce pan, add sugar, corn syrup, water, vanilla and a pinch of salt, stir together and bring mixture to a boil.
- Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot. I also always add a glass of ice water to the side so I can manually check my candy stage, see directions for that below.
- Once sugar mixture is to 270 F. or at soft crack stage, remove from stove and bring to mixing bowl. Turn mixer on while you pour the hot sugar towards the inside side of the bowl, that way it won’t splash hot sugar around and it won’t create sugar art on the whisk but instead goes directly into the egg white mixture.
- Let the mixture whisk on high for 5 minutes or until mixture gets shiny and fluffy and cools down to a warm temperature.
- Use to frost cakes, frost or fill cookies, add to baked Alaska or any dessert you want to add it too.
- *Cold water candy test. You do this by dipping a spoon into hot sugar mixture and pouring a spoonful into the glass of cold water, then feeling the mixture with your fingers. If it quickly falls apart it’s thread stage, if it forms a soft squishy ball it’s soft ball stage, if it forms a firm ball that’s hard ball stage, a really firm ball that only gives way when you pull hard, that soft crack and if it harden immediately and you can break it, that is hard crack stage.