Just two ingredients - and the result is amazing. Airy, crispy meringues that slowly melt in your mouth and turn into sticky chewing gum. This is an excellent decoration for a cake (especially in winter, when berries and fruits are expensive), as well as an independent dessert for tea. Children enthusiastically crunch these cakes and try to steal a couple of them while you are busy decorating the cake! 
Both gel and powder dyes are great for coloring meringues, but they interact with them differently. If you use gel dyes, the meringues turn out shiny, smooth and slightly sticky. If you use powdered ones, the meringues will turn out matte and will not stick. All you have to do is choose what you like best.
Today we will talk about what dyes I use and how I prepare colored meringues.
Ingredients (for two baking sheets):
- Egg whites - 3 pcs.
- Powdered sugar - 150 g
- Salt - on the tip of a knife
- Vanilla extract - 1 tsp.
- Citric acid - 1 pinch
- Food coloring of desired color.
How to make colored meringues for a cake
Before starting to beat the meringue, wipe the mixer bowl and beaters with lemon juice or citric acid solution, this will help remove traces of fat from the bottom and walls of the bowl. If there is even a little fat on the beaters or bowl, the whites will not whip.
For the same reason, we carefully ensure that the yolks do not get into the whites when we separate the eggs.
To be on the safe side, separate each protein into a separate bowl and then add it to the total protein mass.
So, to prepare meringues, place 3 egg whites room temperature Add a pinch of citric acid to a bowl (or mixer bowl) and beat at low mixer speed for 30 seconds.
Then gradually increase the mixer speed and beat for about 1 more minute until soft peaks form and fluffy.
Without stopping whipping, add 1 tbsp to the protein mixture. l. powdered sugar (total volume 150 g).
When all the powder has been mixed into the whites, increase the speed to maximum and beat for about 3 minutes until shiny, stiff peaks form.
Add 1 tsp to the meringue. vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Preheat the oven to 90 C and line the baking sheets with Teflon mats or good baking paper.
Divide the entire protein mass into as many parts as different colors is planned to be done. I prepared meringues in two pastel colors: lavender and mint. Therefore, I divided the protein mass into 2 parts and carefully tinted it using Americolor gel dye: I mixed leaf green and navy blue to get a mint shade, and a little regal purple dye to get a lavender meringue.
Transfer the colored mixture into pastry bags with the necessary attachments(I used the Open Star attachment). Then we place the meringues of the required size on cold prepared baking sheets.
I have recorded for you a detailed video recipe for making meringue for the cake. Welcome to the You Tube channel, I wish you pleasant viewing! Subscribe to the channel so you don't miss new video recipes!
Each housewife has her own recipe. Try it alternative ways, if the main one described in the recipe does not work out.
When adding photos to Instagram, please indicate the tag #pirogeevo or #pirogeevo so that I can find your photos on the Internet and enjoy the result with you.
Take a clean, dry, fireproof bowl. Place 150 g of protein in it (when separating from the yolks, it is very important to prevent the yolk from getting into the whites: otherwise they will not beat well!). Add 300 g of sugar there. It’s easy to remember: for 1 part protein, 2 parts sugar.
Pour into a saucepan hot water and place a bowl with egg whites and sugar on top, so that the water barely touches the bottom (maybe even just a little bit, because the water will boil and the bubbles will still touch the bottom).
Place the saucepan on the fire. And heat the mixture with constant (!) stirring with a whisk.
Our task is to wait until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can try it with clean, dry fingers: if you don’t feel the crystals, then it’s ready!
They say that the whites should warm up to 60 degrees. If you have a thermometer, you can use it, but I don't. I'm waiting for the sugar to dissolve...
...and remove the bowl from the heat.
...start whisking. The mixer whisks must also be dry and clean!
Beat for quite a long time. My 450 W mixer does the job in about 10 minutes. The mass becomes denser and becomes glossy.
Gradually it begins to collect around the edges of the bowl...
...and confidently stay on the rims.
At this moment, as advised experienced confectioners, you should add a pinch of citric acid and beat again. Acid (any kind, so in similar recipes on the Internet you can find both cream of tartar and vinegar) serves as a stabilizer and makes the meringue more stable and dense. But if you don’t have acid, you can do without it, I checked. Everything is working!
The meringue on the stick will be two-colored, so I divide the dough into two parts. I paint one blue (it is better to use a gel or powder dye, not liquid, so as not to liquefy the meringue).
The second - in yellow.
I place the blue cream in a pastry bag with the tip cut off. It is convenient to do this using a tall glass, for example, from an immersion blender.
I fill a second pastry bag with yellow cream, the tip of which I also first cut off.
Here are our beauties! Waiting in the wings! :)
Now take another pastry bag. We insert the nozzle into it (I have an M1 Wilton, but there may be another one that you like). Cut off the tip. And we place the other two in this third bag.
Now about how to plant meringues
Let's start with the fact that the shape, of course, can be absolutely any! And then we will make sure of this. But most often these are ordinary round roses. I showed in detail how to make these in the recipe. Now the question is different: to be or not to be, that is, how to make them exactly on a stick, at what moment is it best to insert this stick? But there is no definite answer: whoever adapts, does so. You can, for example, first plant roses...
...and then carefully insert sticks (wooden kebab skewers) into them - strictly parallel to the surface of the baking sheet. This method is good, but some people don’t like that the rose seems to be slightly crushed.
Then you can do it differently. First put the stick, and only then plant the rose directly on it.
One way or another, we plant our roses. We fill the free space with small bezes without sticks (we will also need them for decorating the cake).
You can leave some of the cream and paint it a completely different color.
I use Squires Kitchen powder dyes, shades “Turquoise”, “Yellow” and “Lilac”. I like it very much, bright and beautiful, the consumption is small, but I warn you: tongue and lips Blue colour will paint. If anyone knows dyes that do not suffer from this, please let me know :)
Place in a piping bag with a tip (I use a Wilton D2).
And plant meringues of a different shape, for example, a less familiar one.
Decorate them with confectionery sprinkles.
And put our pieces in the oven - dry at a temperature of 80-90 degrees (it’s difficult to say more precisely, all ovens are different!) for about an hour and a half. Depending on your oven and the size of the meringue, you may need more or less time. I went a little too far with the temperature, and in some places small cracks appeared, but not critical. You can avoid this altogether if you adjust the temperature correctly or if you simply leave the meringues on the table until completely dry, but for this you need to have a reserve of time, and the apartment should not be too humid.
In any case, I think I got the most beautiful meringues on sticks! And not only:)
Pay attention to the difference between the meringues into which we inserted sticks and those that were placed directly onto sticks. Here are the first ones.
And here are the second ones. The stick peeks through.
Personally, I like the first option better: it’s more reliable, and I like it when the inside is also as beautiful as possible. But the second one is faster to form, and nothing gets wrinkled.
And this is our fantasy meringue on a stick! Wonderful!
Meringues on sticks are ready! You can put them in a vase on sweet table, you can wrap each one in cellophane and tie it with a ribbon to make it look very festive and elegant. Can you decorate with them? cream cake, simply inserting them into it in the order you want!
For colored meringue we will need:
- 200 grams of protein;
- 400 grams of powdered sugar + 8 grams of vanilla;
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt;
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice;
- water-soluble food colors;
- wooden sticks/skewers.
How to make colored meringue on a stick at home
Starting cooking, preheat the oven to 80°C.
Very carefully separate the yolks from the whites. We don't need yolks at all in this recipe. Place the whites in a bowl along with salt and beat until there are abundant bubbles. Now, increase the speed of the mixer, beat the whites until a white fluffy mass appears. Let's start typing powdered sugar mixed with vanilla.
Beat the whites until they are completely white, only now can you add lemon juice. At the same time, the mass immediately acquires a glossy shine. When the corolla is raised, the peak looks like a bird's beak.
Only at this stage do we divide the resulting mass into portions and paint it in the desired colors.
Place the colored pieces of meringue into a piping bag fitted with a tip (I use an “open run”), one spoonful of each. Don't mix. The photo shows the resulting multi-colored mass.
From the received protein cream Place on Teflon parchment various shapes the size you need: spirals, stars or marshmallow shapes.
IN the right desserts Immediately insert the skewers and place everything in the oven preheated to 80°C for 1 hour.
After drying, let them cool and very easily separate them from the paper.
Awaiting its use as a candy bar, ready colored meringue on a stick can stand in a glass or vase. But, if you have a little sweet tooth at home, then rainbow protein decoration for risks not waiting in the wings. 🙂
Good day to all! First of all, thank you very much everyone for your congratulations! I didn’t have the opportunity to say “thank you” to everyone personally, but believe me, your warm congratulations really lifted my spirits during this cold season! Secondly, congratulations to everyone on happy holiday Christmas! Family warmth, comfort and health to you and your household! Take care of each other!
And thirdly, about the meringue recipe...
Before the holidays, I baked a lot of meringues, which, after the photo shoot, I gave to my parents as a New Year's gift. I think that many people know how to bake meringues. In this case, you will not find anything new in my post. But if you still have questions, then...
When whipping meringues, I always use a clean, dry bowl.
I preheat the oven to 120 C in advance. I usually bake meringue from three egg whites (this is exactly the amount of meringue that fits on my baking sheet). For 1 protein I use 50 grams of fine crystalline sugar (I never use powdered sugar). I always take large eggs.
In a mixer, I beat the whites for about 5-10 minutes (beating time depends only on the power of the mixer). Protein mass should become dense, white, if the mixer bowl is turned over your head, the whites should remain at the bottom and should not flow under any circumstances. It is very important not to overbeat the whites, otherwise the meringue will not work. As soon as I see that the protein mass has reached the desired consistency, I begin to add sugar in a thin stream and beat until the sugar dissolves (usually this takes a few more minutes). At this stage I add food coloring.
The protein mass settles quite quickly, so I immediately transfer the mass to pastry bag and on a baking sheet covered with pastry paper, using a star attachment, spread the mixture in small portions at a distance of approximately 3-5 cm from each other.
Then I send the oven for 1-1.5 hours. More exact time Baking time depends on the power of the oven and the size of the meringue. The larger the meringue, the longer it will take to bake, but after experimenting a couple of times, you will find the optimal time.
I store the finished meringues in the refrigerator in a plastic container.
Have a nice day, everyone!!!
Cake with cream roses, multi-layer jelly, marzipan and candy figures, multi-colored meringues, fondants and macaroons, or even the simplest pasta different colors... How to achieve this in normal home conditions? Let's listen to the advice of a professional.
A cake with cream roses, multi-layer jelly, marzipan and candy figures, multi-colored meringues, fondants and macaroons, or even the simplest pasta of various colors... How to achieve this at home? Let's listen to the advice of a professional.
Food should be elegant
Modern industry food coloring stepped far forward. In a professional kitchen you can create food of absolutely any color - the entire rainbow spectrum, including shades. Delicate pastel tones and rich rich colors - everything is possible. On home kitchen this is also easy to repeat, taking at least a coloring kit for fun easter eggs: All these paints are quite acceptable for food consumption. But one point stops us: the naturalness of these same dyes, especially when we want to please the youngest members of the family with the fabulous colors. Kids love fancy food, colorful decorations and, of course, the cream roses on the cake (more than the cake itself).
The simplest option for natural food colors is berry and fruit syrups, as well as some vegetables.
From “traffic light pattern” to “rainbow spectrum”
There are standard schemes for using natural food dyes:
– beets will give red color,
– yellow – turmeric,
– orange – carrots,
– green – spinach.
Let me criticize this scheme a little, and at the same time expand it, offering an alternative to stable “traffic light” combinations.
Firstly, beets will not give you a pure red color, beet broth (fixed with vinegar or citric acid) gives a shade of red closer to fuchsia or even brown. Turmeric will not give a rich yellow color, it will be closer to greenish. So dirty greenish. Carrots - yes, carrots poached in oil give a confident carrot tint (not orange, but carrot). A Orange color The orange itself will give you, that is, the orange.
In general, with the participation of multi-colored citrus fruits, you can achieve different shades of yellow, orange and even green. As simple experiment You can make colorful (and flavored) refined sugar by rubbing sugar cubes with the zest of an orange, lemon, or lime. Sugar crystals quickly and easily absorb the coloring matter of fruits. In addition to orange, apricot (both fresh, boiled in syrup, and dried fruits) will give a rich orange color.
Heinrich Böll had such a character - a woman who baked pies, accompanying the action with all sorts of rhyming sayings, for example, “saffron makes the pie rosy.” Indeed, it is easier to obtain a golden yellow hue not with turmeric, but with the participation of saffron. A warm yellow color can also be achieved using pumpkin or sea buckthorn berries.
Red and pink dye can be created not only from beet broth, but also using the juice (syrup) of red berries. The leader here is raspberry, which produces a bright and clean red. You can also use cranberries and lingonberries. Strawberry syrup will not give a bright color; the shade will be rather dirty-reddish. Cherry juice will give the cream a cool reddish tint, closer to purple than cherry.
But the blue (or blue, depending on the concentration of the dye) color will be given not by blueberries or blueberries (which are more likely to also give a cold lilac or purple hue), but by blackcurrant syrup. Add a couple of drops of currant syrup to the whites whipped with sugar - and in the end you will get a pale blue meringue, not purple, but blue. A thick purple, inky richness can be achieved using blackberries. And if you want to get “radically black,” then nothing better has been invented in the food industry than licorice syrup.
With brown shades everything is simple: coffee or chocolate, and can be used as coffee syrup from freshly ground coffee and instant analogue. And also melted chocolate or just cocoa powder - everything is simple and clear with this. For children's desserts, coffee can be replaced with chicory. And cocoa powder can even be added to semolina porridge, turning it into “chocolate”.
Delicate cream (beige) color can be obtained very in a simple way– adding a couple of drops of regular milk to the whipped cream tomato paste(if you add not a couple of drops of tomato, but a little thicker, the color will become closer to pale orange), this couple of drops will not affect the taste of the dessert, but it will diversify the color scheme. Dried paprika (red) also has excellent coloring properties. Bell pepper), depending on the concentration, different shades of the reddish-orange range can be obtained.
But the most interesting thing is the green shades. Spinach is a favorite here without a doubt; it always gives a shade of emerald green to any product - from pasta to macarons. But when we experiment with berries and fruits, in addition to color we also get berry aroma and shades of taste - the whole bouquet. Spinach has a neutral taste. It only gives color (and vitamins, of course). If this is not enough for you, then instead of spinach (especially for confectionery) you can use fresh herbs - mint or tarragon (tarragon).
How to prepare natural dyes
You can cook berry and fruit syrups for future use and always keep colorful bottles on hand for coloring various dishes. Add them to milkshakes. And not only in dairy.
In the absence of seasonal berries, it is very easy to make syrup from frozen products: cover the frozen berries with sugar at a ratio of one to one. Wait until the berries begin to thaw and release juice, bring to a boil, boil for five minutes, strain, cool.
With beets and spinach it’s even easier: chop, add a small amount of water, simmer for 5-10 minutes until you get the desired shade (cook beets longer than spinach), add acid (lemon or vinegar). Let it brew.
It is safer not to boil carrots or pumpkin with water, but to saute them in small quantity oils, so the coloring matter is easier to extract.
Delicate fresh herbs, such as tarragon and mint, are also best not cooked, otherwise they will fade to a faded brown hue. First you need to cook a simple sugar syrup, and add chopped herbs to the already prepared but still hot one and let it brew.
But there is even more reliable way get a pure, stable shade from natural ingredients - make vodka tincture, alcohol will reliably preserve the color you want, but such an additive, of course, is no longer suitable for a children's menu.
How and when to add paint
As for baking, except for meringues (and macarons), it is better not to add dyes to the dough before baking, with rare exceptions (saffron, carrots, pumpkin, cocoa powder), the result may not be at all rosy, but rather sad. If you want to make not only the cream for the cake multi-colored, but also the cakes themselves, it will be safer to soak them in the prepared syrups of your choice.
Dyes should also be added to cream for decorating cakes and pastries at the very last moment, be it butter, yoghurt or butter cream, excessive additives do not contribute to the stability of the whipped cream, so they should be postponed until the final stage.
But if you are ready to start producing homemade multi-colored noodles or dough for colored dumplings and dumplings, then you should add dyes at the very beginning - when kneading the dough, adding them to the water, otherwise you won’t be able to distribute them evenly later.
And most importantly, you should add dyes literally one or two drops at a time; it is always possible to increase color saturation, but the main thing here is not to overdo it.
Eva Punch, for Fontanka.ru
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