Strawberry Meringue Torte

Last time I made Hazelnut Meringue Gateau, it went completely to waste as we had noone to eat the meringue on the day and it went completely soft. This time around, I was more prepared and made the Strawberry Meringue Torte on a day we were due around a friends house for a graduation party. Also, it's strawberry season, yum!!

I've made meringue before, and the steps were the same, although this time I skipped the whisking over heat as we don't have heatproof bowls. I just whisked it with my electric hand whisk for about 15 minutes. The mixture didn't hold its shape as much as I'd like, but my hands were getting tired.

Again, like the hazelnut merigune gateau, I had drawn a circle on a sheet of paper. I spread the meringue mixture as a base, then piped a ridge around the edge. The way I described it to my husband was that it was like a torte or a flan, but instead of pastry, it was crispy sweet meringue.

There was still a lot of meringue left over, so I piped a load of little nibs to decorate (& for my brother-in-law to eat the next day)

Some of the sugar had leaked out during cooking (a 4 hour low temperature oven cook!) but once the strawberries were in you couldn't see it at all. The recipe called for whipped cream, but as I constructed it at our friends house and I didn't have access to a whisk, I just used double cream not whipped.

I barely got to try it - I constructed it, walked around the party to grab a drink, by the time I got to the desert table there was almost none left. I'm glad it went down well. I was told to make two next time!

Strawberry Meringue Torte

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

100g granulated sugar

100g caster sugar

450g fresh strawberry, hulled

125ml double cream

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper or non-stick parchment. Draw a 15cm/6 inch circle on the paper and very lightly oil the greaseproof paper in used. Set the oven to 110C / gas 1/4.

Combine the egg whites, salt and sugars in a heatproof bowl. Set over a saucepan of gently simmering water and whisk until the mixture is very thick and holds its shape.

Spread some of the meringue all over the circle to form the base of a meringue case. Put the rest of the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe three quarters of the mixtue around the edge of the ring to make a 5cm/2 in rim or border. Use the remaining mixture to pipe small meringue shapes. Bake the case for 3-4 hours; the small shells for 11/2 - 2 hours. Leave to cool.

Make the filling. Reserve a few choice berries for decoration. Halve the rest and put them into the meringue case. In a bowl, whip the cream and cover the fruit. Decorate with the mini meringues and strawberries. Serve at once.