Meringue icon is a type of dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

 made from whipped egg white

Egg white

Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around either fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks...

s and sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

, occasionally some recipes may call for adding an acid

Acid

An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

 such as cream of tartar or a small amount of vinegar

Vinegar

Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...

 and a binding agent such as cornstarch

Cornstarch

Corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour or maize starch is the starch of the corn grain obtained from the endosperm of the corn kernel.-History:...

 found in icing sugar which may be added in addition to the corn starch which produces a pavlova

Pavlova

- Persons :* Anna Pavlova * Anna Pavlova * Alla Pavlova * Karolina Pavlova * Anelia Pavlova * The feminine form of Pavlov, a common Russian and Bulgarian family name- Other :...

. Meringues are often flavoured with vanilla and a small amount of almond or coconut extract although if these extracts are based on an oil infusion then this, if used in excess, may inhibit the egg whites into forming a foam due to the fat from the oil.