Supplies

  • 9 large egg whites
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 3 tsp corn flour
  • 515g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Green food colouring
  • Sprinkles
  • Soft whipped vanilla cream & strawberries to serve
  • Red fondant to decorate

Steps

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 130C.
  2. Rub the bowl of your stand mixer with half a lemon. Add your egg whites, and whisk on medium speed until it they begin to turn frothy. Slowly add your sugar, a teaspoon at a time, and keep whisking until you have added all of the sugar, and the meringue is glossy and stiff. If you rub your fingers between the mixture you shouldn’t be able to feel any sugar granules.
  3. Add the cornflour, lemon, vanilla and green food colouring and whisk for another minute.
  4. On 4 baking trays, create outlines for 7”, 6”, 5” & 4” circles. Scoop the meringue onto the circles and flatten into discs about an inch tall. Cover the edges of the meringue with sprinkles.
  5. Bake for 10m at 130C then drop the temperature to 90C and bake for another 50m. Once cooked, turn off the oven and allow to cool in there for another 45m without opening the door.
  6. To make the star for the top of the tree, roll out red fondant with a light dusting of icing sugar and then cut a large star out with a cookie cutter. Place the star in the oven at 50C for 12m, then leave it out to dry & harden at room temperature.
  7. To decorate the tree, place the 7” disc on a cake stand sticking it down with a bit of whipped double cream. Cover the meringue with a layer of softly whipped vanilla cream & a few strawberries, then add the 6” disc and repeat until you reach the 4” layer.
  8. Place the 4” layer on top along with a dollop of whipped cream and place your star in the centre.