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Dessert

Meringues

Meringues are light, airy cakes made from beaten egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and filled with coffee cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Meringues

Why it works: Chocolate and coffee are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells buttery, creamy. The science ↓

Meringues

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the meringues

  1. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gradually mix in the caster sugar.

  3. Add vanilla extract and mix well.

  4. Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet in egg-shaped portions.

  5. Sift a little caster sugar over the meringues and shake off excess.

  6. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden.

Fill and serve

  1. Remove from paper and hollow out the centers carefully.

  2. Boil the coffee with caster sugar until it forms a syrup.

  3. Let the syrup cool, then mix in whipped double cream.

  4. Fill the hollowed meringues with the coffee cream and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chocolate + coffeetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that holds air, giving the meringues their structure and light texture.
Caster sugar
Stabilises the whipped whites and sweetens the meringues, helping them turn crisp and golden.
Double cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the coffee filling a smooth, soft texture.
Strong coffee
Provides the main flavour of the filling, with its sugar syrup adding sweetness.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold firm peaks so they trap air. Underwhipped whites stay runny and bake flat, while overwhipped whites turn grainy and collapse.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More meringues recipes

Italian 23Cream 9Apple 8Dry 7Spanish 4Egg-Shaped 3 See all 42 →

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