This is a great recipe to use for festive meringue desserts. It can also be the topping for a classic pavlova. It uses the Swiss meringue technique of heating the sugar and egg white to dissolve and melt the sugar.

If you’ve got your Christmas glazed ham, your assorted veggies, your cranberry sauce, and all the other trimmings you might dream of with a perfect Christmas, you need a dessert that’s (hopefully) quite light and just as delicious.

This meringue wreath fits that bill perfectly – it looks amazing on the plate and tastes better in the mouth. It only takes around 15 minutes of prep but you’ll definitely want to plan for this because it takes a lot of time in the oven!

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas mark 3. Line three baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment.

Prepare the compote by placing the berries in a large saucepan with the sugar and heating gently until the berries release their juices and start to bubble. Simmer gently for about 6-7 minutes until the berries are softened with a thickened syrupy sauce. Stir through the vanilla paste and set aside to cool.

Make the meringue by putting the egg whites into a large heatproof mixing bowl and add the caster sugar. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk – this is far easier done using a handheld electric mixer. Whisking constantly, allow the sugar to dissolve, and as soon as the mixture feels slightly warm on the finger, remove the bowl from the heat and whisk vigorously until you have a very smooth, stiff meringue – a good 5 minutes or so.

Spoon the meringue into a ring on the baking paper. Using a large spoon make a shallow trench in the meringue for the cream and fruit to sit in. Put the meringue into the oven, reducing the heat to 100°C/120°C fan/gas mark 1. Bake for 2 hours then turn off the oven and open the door slightly, to allow the meringues to cool and crisp inside.

To serve top with a drizzle of the compote and syrup and then sprinkle over some fresh berries.