Meringue weeping

The two faults

Beading on top

Golden droplets on the surface. Undissolved sugar drawing moisture, or over-baking. The commonest.

Weeping underneath

A watery layer between meringue and filling. Under-cooked meringue, or meringue put onto a cold filling.

Shrinking away from the crust

The meringue was not anchored to the pastry edge.

Grainy texture

Undissolved sugar again, and the same fix.

Preventing beading

• Add sugar gradually — a spoonful at a time, once the whites are at soft peaks. Dumping it in at once means it never fully dissolves.
• Use caster sugar. Granulated crystals are too large to dissolve reliably in a foam.
• Test it. Rub a little between finger and thumb. Any grittiness means keep whisking.
• Do not over-bake. Long baking drives water out of the protein and it collects as beads.
• Avoid humid days where you can, or bake longer at a lower temperature.
• Consider a Swiss meringue, where the whites and sugar are warmed together until the sugar has definitely dissolved. It is far more reliable for pies.

Preventing weeping underneath

• Put the meringue onto a hot filling. This is the key instruction for a lemon meringue pie and the one most recipes bury. Hot filling cooks the underside of the meringue; cold filling leaves it raw, and raw meringue weeps.
• Spread it to the edges so it touches and seals against the pastry all the way round. This anchors it and stops it shrinking.
• Bake it hot and briefly, or low and long — but make sure the meringue is cooked through, not just browned on top.
• Cool it slowly and away from draughts.
• Serve it the same day. Meringue on a wet filling has a limited life however well made.

A reliable meringue topping

1. Have the filling hot and in the case, ready to go.
2. Whisk room-temperature whites with a pinch of cream of tartar to soft peaks.
3. Add caster sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking to stiff, glossy peaks between each addition.
4. Check for grittiness between your fingers. Keep whisking until there is none.
5. Spoon it straight onto the hot filling, spreading right to the pastry edge and sealing all round.
6. Swirl the surface, and bake at around 180°C for 15–20 minutes until golden.
7. Cool at room temperature, away from draughts, and serve within a few hours.

The three meringues, and which one weeps

Which method you used changes how likely both faults are, and it is the first thing to establish.

French meringue

Raw whites whisked with sugar. The least stable, the most prone to both beading and weeping, and the one most recipes mean.

Swiss meringue

Whites and sugar warmed together over water until the sugar dissolves, then whisked. Much more stable, and the sugar is guaranteed dissolved.

Italian meringue

Hot sugar syrup poured into whisking whites. The most stable of all, effectively cooked, and it barely weeps at all.

For a pie topping

Swiss or Italian. This is the single most effective change if French meringue keeps failing you.

For a pavlova

French is traditional and works, because it is baked long and slow rather than briefly browned.

For a soft topping browned under a grill

Italian, every time. Brief heat is exactly the condition French meringue fails in.

Common questions