Hazelnut Meringue Gateau

A busy weekend left me short on time to bake this week. So I whipped up a hazelnut meringue gateau from the Best of Mrs Beeton's Afternoon Tea - minimal ingredients and time required.

The original recipe assumes you've bought whole hazelnuts, but I bypassed that step by buying pre-roasted and pre-chopped hazelnuts, still, they had to be ground smaller.

Then, combining the egg and sugar, I began to hand whisk over heat, until my hand hurt and I moved to an electroic whisk off of the heat.

Once stiff, I could fold in the chopped hazelnuts and spoon the mixture into a piping bag. Then, piped it into two rounds - although I had a ton of mixture left over so I doubled up on height.

After baking for 40minutes, I thought the meringue was still too soft in the centre, so I gave it another 15minutes, then left it in the warm oven to dry out futher.

The recipe adds sugar to double cream, but I thought the meringue was sweet enough so just used double cream as the filling.

The middle was still too soft for my taste, but the edge was lovely - sweet and nutty. However, as I'd made this on a day when I had no plans to see friends, by that evening the whole meringue had gone soggy. I'd recommend waiting until the last minute to construct the gateau together.

Hazelnut Meringue Gateau

75g chopped roasted hazelnuts

3 egg whites

150g caster sugar

2-3 drops vinegar

2-3 drops of vanilla essence

Filling & topping

125ml double cream

5-10ml/1-2tsp caster sugar

Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper or non-stick baking parchment. Draw a 15cm/6in circle on each and very lightly oil the greaseproof paper, if used.

Combine the egg whites and caste sugar in a heatproof bowl. Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water and whisk until the meringue is very thick and holds its shape. Add the vinegar, vanilla essence and chopped nuts.

Spread the meringue inside the marked circles or place it in a piping bag with a 1cm round nozzle. Starting from the middle of one circle, pipe round and round to form a coiled, flat round 6in in diameter. Pipe a similar round on the other sheet. bake for 35-40minutes, until each layer is crisp and lightly browned. Leave to cool.

Whip the cream in a bowl until it stands in stiff peaks, then stir in caster sugar to taste (I added none.) Place one of the meringue rounds on a serving plate and spread with most of the cream. Put the second meringue round on top and decorate with the rest of the cream and hazelnuts.