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I made pavlovas last week from 4 egg whites and about a cup of sugar whipped together to a SUPER form meringue. I piped them on to a tray and baked first on 120 degrees for an hour and then on 70 degrees for another hour.

Somewhere in the middle of baking the pavlovas turned brown. They were stil tasty, but how can I keep them white, like I see in restaurants?

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  • When you say brown, do you mean actually browned or just slightly and evenly golden?
    – Chris H
    Mar 8, 2016 at 10:25
  • It was evenly golden color, but quite dark.
    – Lizozom
    Mar 8, 2016 at 11:31
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    But why? The golden brown top of the meringue is what makes it delicious!
    – Ian MacDonald
    Jul 9, 2018 at 16:13

2 Answers 2

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First, double check that your oven temps are accurate with a thermometer that you can place in the oven.

After that, two things I would try..

  1. Rack Positioning

I've baked meringues at similar temps without browning. It could be the position of the rack within the oven? If it was mainly the top that browned, move lower. If it was mainly the bottom that browned, move higher.

  1. Turn Off the Oven

The other thing you could try is turning the oven off for the second stage of baking. I've baked meringues at 200 degrees F for an hour before, then I turn off the oven, prop the door open for about 5 minutes to cool, then close the door for a few hours.

Hope one of these give you the results you're looking for.

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    I use the recipe (for meringue kisses) from the Fannie Farmer cookbook, which does the 'leave in a warm oven overnight', and they stay pretty pale ... although once in a while they don't dry out sufficiently and end up chewy. (and then I have to re-bake them, and risk them browning).
    – Joe
    Mar 8, 2016 at 15:28
  • I will give this another try.
    – Lizozom
    Mar 8, 2016 at 17:40
  • Do you have a link to an in-oven thermometer? All those I've found for cooking require some element of the device being outside the oven.
    – Matt W
    Jul 4, 2018 at 8:33
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120 celsius might be a bit too high. I bake them at 200F, that's 95 Celsius, for 1h45min then leave them in the oven for 2 hours. Then 1 more hour with the door slightly open. At this point they are pale white and they have to be stored in an airtight container to avoid stickiness. Don't leave in the oven overnight, they will turn sticky. Also granulated sugar will make them brown vs. powdered sugar.

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