These light, crisp and airy meringues are filled with creamy lemon mousse and topped with tangy lemon curd and a bright fresh fruit salsa. Fits right in to my spring dessert obsession lately, no?
If you haven’t tried a meringue yet, please jump on this whipped egg train, it’s the place to be! They really are not hard and produce such an angelic dessert. While crispy on the outside, the inside is full of spongy marshmallow-y fluff. And piping them into a nest shape is so much fun for a springtime dessert.
If you saw my Lemon Curd Mousse post a few days ago, I used it here as well because it makes the perfect filling for these meringues. The recipe makes extra lemon curd to fill the bottoms of the mousse dishes, so don’t worry about needing a separate recipe for the curd that tops these babies. It’s all there. You’ll find a link to the recipe here and in the actual recipe, as well.
The fruit salsa I have listed is the perfect topper for these meringues, but if you had other fruits you wanted to use, they would work also. Mint would be fabulous shredded and mixed right in to the fruit salsa. I would have done that, if I had thought of it before photographing these. Good thing there is always a next time!
- FOR THE MERINGUE:
- 5 Egg Whites, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- 1 C. Superfine Sugar(Castor sugar)
- 1 RECIPE Lemon Curd Mousse (recipe makes additional curd for topping)
- FOR THE FRUIT SALSA:
- 10 Strawberries, small dice
- 1 Orange, sectioned, chopped into small pieces
- 2 Kiwi, peeled, small dice
- Mint leaves, for garnish
- FOR THE MERINGUE:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper of a non-stick mat. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
- Place the egg whites in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
- Whisk the egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Whisk in the cream of tarter.
- Increase the speed to medium/high and beat for a few minutes, until soft peaks form.
- Slowly pour in the superfine sugar and continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form(when you remove the whisk attachment, the whipped egg whites that cling to it should stick straight up and not move or fall when the whisk is turned right side up).
- Scoop the whipped egg white into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.
- Pipe 3" circles 2" apart from each other on the lined baking sheet. Pipe two rings atop one another around the perimeter of each circle, forming a nest.
- Bake the meringues in the preheated oven for about 90 minutes, until the outsides of the meringues are crisp, but not browned. The inside will still be slightly spongy.
- Turn the oven off and leave the meringues inside until they are completely cooled.
- Remove from the oven and place on work surface.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip with lemon curd mousse and pipe it into the center of each meringue until it just mounds over the top of the nest. Place a spoonful of lemon curd over the top of each mound of mousse.
- Mix the chopped fruit together in a small bowl. Spoon about 1-2 T. Of fruit over the top of each mousse filled meringue nest. Top each meringue with a mint sprig.
- Serve immediately.
*You will likely have a little lemon curd left over. Use it wisely. Like on scones or biscuits. Or toast. Or straight from the bowl.
*The meringues are best served and eaten as soon as they are filled. They will become soggy if allowed to sit too long.
*All components of the recipe could be made ahead of time and stored separately until ready to assemble and serve.
Meringue recipe adapted from Sweetopolita
These are amazingly beautiful!
Thank you so much Lexi!
I love the pictures and your writing.
Thank you Shyma, I really appreciate that!
The meringue nests look amazing- I love the fruit topping!
Thank you Jessica!
Hi! Tried this recipe out and they taste so great! Although i had a bit of trouble with the meringue. At first they turned out okay but then deflated when cooled down. How do i prevent this from happening the next time around?
Hi Jane! Glad they tasted good =) Meringue can be a bit touchy. It usually deflates if it wasn’t cooked long enough or if the oven door was opened too soon. You could try reducing the heat a little and baking them for a longer time. When you turn the oven off, leave them in for at least two hours without opening the door. Hope that helps! =)
Could you please clarify the baking temperature – while I know the international standard unit of temperature is Celsius some reciepes still use the obsolete Fahrenheit units – hence not sure which your 200 degrees is.
I never leave reviews on things unless it’s REALLY worth it…. so this was my first attempt at merengue and I must say.. it turned out AWESOME! I ended up just using the merengue recipe and made an orange chocolate mouse to pair with it. The merengue was light, fluffy and perfect. My only advice for people using this recipe is to separate the eggs while they are cold, then let it warm up to room temperature. I lost about 3 eggs in the process trying to separate them at room temp.