Meringue

Meringue is a frothy mixture of sugar and beaten egg white. When baked, it becomes crispy and extremely light and starts to dissolve the instant it touches your tongue. There are three kinds of meringue: French, Swiss, and Italian. Familiar crunchy French meringue is piped or spooned into various shapes and slowly baked. It is sometimes piped into round disks that are then used as cake layers. Swiss meringue is almost identical to French meringue, except that it is heated while being beaten, it’s sweeter, and it’s harder. It’s used to make decorations such as the little mushrooms on a bûche de noël. Italian meringue is soft and fluffy and is used as an icing or as the basis for other mixtures such as frozen fruit mousse.