What the [heck] is an Italian meringue?

 An Italian meringue is a stable meringue that has been made with the addition of a boiling sugar syrup, rather than spoonsful of granulated sugar, as in a regular meringue. Because of its stability, it is used to frost cakes and pastries, in soufflés, to make really stable buttercream frostings, etc., where a soft meringue has to be cooked or blended in batter and cooked or it will begin to deflate quickly.

Here are two recipes for Italian meringue, one of them a one-step process, and quite newfangled (also requiring a hand mixer). Take your pick:

• Traditional Italian Meringue
• One-Step Italian Meringue

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