
How to make perfect meringue: recipe and tricks
How to make meringue with Irish cream and fresh berries: step by step recipe.
My mother-in-law is a whizz at making meringue.
She makes them the traditional way, with a quick and expert whip of her wrist and serves them with clotted cream and berries at all family celebrations.
I may have something to do with it as I adore how she makes them, so I always ask for them!
This is her recipe, which I use successfully in my home too (it’s the same source as my banana bread recipe, so you can trust her!).
The only difference from her method is in the whipping, as I use the shortcut of using my stand mixer!
This is how to make meringues (with Irish clotted cream and fresh berries).
Irish Meringue ingredients
- 9 egg white, VERY carefully separated from the egg yolks
- Few drops of lemon juice
- A small pinch of salt
- 500gr caster sugar
- Clotted Cream or Irish Whipped Cream
- Fresh berries
Tools you need
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk (I use my KitchenAid for this)
- Baking tray with baking paper
- wooden spoon for folding in the sugar
- Spoon for moving the meringue onto the baking sheet
How to make meringues, step by step
Place the whites in a clean mixing bowl, add the pinch of salt and a couple of drops of lemon juice and whisk to a stiff peak.
Whisk in half the sugar, making sure the egg whites maintain their stiffness. Then, stop and gently fold in the remaining sugar.
Line a baking tray with baking paper, then use a spoon to create individual meringues. Use the spoon to leave a small indentation in the center, so you can then fill with cream and berries.
Place in a cold oven, then cook at 110C / 230 F (see conversion here) for about 3 hours.
Once ready, GENLTY move them onto a rack so they can cool down, then dress with a generous serving of clotted cream or whipping cream and fresh berries: raspberries and blueberries are my favorites but strawberries work well too.
For an extra touch, add mint leaves: I have it in the garden, and it adds a lovely touch of colour. Plus, the perfume is delicious!
Tricks for perfect meringue
When I asked my mother-in-law her trick for perfect meringues, she shared four tips with me.
- Make sure the bowl and whisk are perfectly clean. They must have no residue of any sort from previous use and no grease at all and no residue from detergent either (sounds like an obvious point as you always want to use clean utensils, but she recommended to go the extra mile on cleanliness for this one)
- Make sure you separate the egg whites from the yolks with great care as even a trace of yolk will make the overall endeavour of whisking the egg whites fail.
- Add a small pinch of salt and a couple of lemon drops into the egg whites before mixing. These are for texture, not taste, so keep the amounts minimal!
- Do not overwhip the egg whites, especially at the start, before adding the sugar. Give a first go at whisking, then stop before the mixture is too firm or additional whisking will make it collapse instead of stiffening more.
How to make Irish meringue: pin this


