Meringue can turn an ordinary cake into a dreamy, dramatic, towering confection. Take a look through our gallery to find inspiration.

Clusters of spiky "petals" of soft meringue top the layers of this cake. The same meringue, spread smooth, covers the sides.

This layered pavlova is filled with soft whipped cream and fresh coconut.

This grand stack looks like a tower of mattresses sheathed in summery, romantic blankets. It was inspired by vintage chenille bedspreads, and consists of five nearly square tiers coated with Swiss meringue buttercream, then covered with crisp panels of Swiss meringue.

Dotted with meringue blossoms, this quirky cake has a 1960s feel. The cake is made with seven tiers coated with Swiss meringue buttercream and decorated with about four dozen meringue daisies.

Any cake frosted in buttercream can be decorated with crisp meringue flowers in shades of white. On this cake, some flowers are piped in one piece and baked in the oven, while others are piped petal by petal, baked, assembled with more meringue, and baked again; the overall effect is that of a heavily embroidered bodice. The finished flowers, which are easy to cut through, add a delicious crunch to each slice.

This playful creation unites two traditional confections. Here, meringue mushrooms, often found on buches de Noel, sprout from cake tiers iced in soft folds of Swiss meringue frosting. Black Forest cake filled with kirsch-soaked cherries stands out against the stark white icing when this cake is served.

In a cheerful tower of a cake, five deep hexagonal layers are iced with buttercream; the tiers are piped with a star tip in opposite directions for a patchwork effect. The initials are made of air-dried meringue. Extra meringue letters were made, so each delicious slice of French orange pound cake with Grand Marnier buttercream frosting could be served with its own R.

Swiss meringue buttercream icing, piped through a petal tip with a slight wiggle of the wrist, is the medium for the squiggles enveloping the Loose Petal Cake. Buttercream is soft, free form, relaxed -- and very delicious. Each buoyant, cushiony tier of this peach-tinted powder puff of a cake is almost imperceptibly elevated above the preceding layer.

A cascade of 60 piped meringue flowers tumbles down a stack of rectangular tiers for the Ribbon Rose Cake; each tier is edged in a pristine border. Each rose on this cake is piped with a single, continuous squeeze onto a flower nail and baked before being affixed to the cake with royal icing.

A Tuscan-style cake with Swiss meringue buttercream is garnished with champagne grapes and Seckel pears. A stoneware cake stand is supported by dowels inside the bottom tier. The display includes fall foliage, plums, and walnuts; the cake is served with Italian nougat candies.

The Lady Baltimore cake (left) has white frosting and a filling that contains chopped nuts and dried fruits. It's accented with almonds and Swiss meringue fleurs-de-lis. The Lord Baltimore cake (right) is trimmed with Swiss meringue fleurs-de-lis.

The icing on this coffee-infused Mocha Cake starts out light and becomes deepest in color and flavor at the bottom. The meringue drops, tinted with cocoa and coffee extract, are dipped in chocolate, then set on the tiers.

This cake was named for Megeve, a ski resort in France, and it resembles nothing so much as a mountain covered in chocolate curls. Under the curls rest discs of vanilla meringue layered with chocolate mousse.

This cake is as magical as the season's first flurry. Snowflakes made from royal icing are miniature at the top of the cake and larger at the bottom, giving the impression of a gracefully drifting snowfall. The tiers are frosted smoothly with Swiss meringue to resemble tightly packed snow.

This confection is composed of layers of Meyer lemon-flavored cake, lemon curd, and coconut Swiss meringue buttercream. Curls of fresh coconut and candied lemon peel form the ruffled flounces on the tiers.

This seven-tier coconut cake, frosted with Swiss meringue buttercream, candied coconut, and two different types of coconut flakes, will take your guests' breath away.

Pin tucks and ruffles encircle the layers of this formal cake, which resembles the bib of a classic tuxedo shirt. Tiny sugar-paste pearls, like fabric-covered buttons, punctuate the center of each frilly sugar-paste band. Ivory taffeta ribbon trims the cake board; its picot edging alludes to the black of the suit. The interior is made up of white layers filled and frosted with vanilla Swiss-meringue buttercream and then covered with fondant.