A Christmas Wreath

This is a Mary Berrie recipe so, of course, it works. It is a real 'show stopper' and you can make it up to 1 month ahead she says and store wrapped in cling film and then foil and stored in a cool place. However, that is England - with the humidity here maybe not that long! Also, try not to make this on a humid day as meringue just doesn’t seem to whip as well - I had to put the air conditioning on when I was making my Christmas meringues this year.

This serves at least 12 people and is so much easier to slice than a big round pavlova. Also, by the time you get to dessert a small slice is all anyone wants ….

Ingredients:

6 large egg whites

350g caster sugar

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp cornflour

Preheat the oven to 140 fan bake. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and draw a 30cm circle in the middle of the paper. Draw a 15cm circle in the centre of the larger circle to make a ring - I generally draw around a dinner plate and a pudding plate.

Put the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl (I wipe out with vinegar to make sure their is no grease and if you get egg yolk in the bowl it won’t whip so be careful) and whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar a little at a time and then beat for 10 minutes. Mix the vinegar and cornflour in a cup and then stir into the egg whites.

Spoon the meringue onto the ring drawn on the baking paper and then, using a large spoon make a shallow trench in the meringue for the cream and fruit to sit in.

Transfer to the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120 fan bake and bake for 1 hour, 1 hour 15 minutes until the outside is hard but still white. Turn the oven off and leave the pavlova inside for an hour or overnight to cool and dry.

For the filling:

600 ml cream, teaspoon of vanilla, 50g icing sugar, strawberries, hulled and quartered, raspberries, blueberries pomegranate seeds and a few mint leaves to decorate.

To assemble, whip the cream, vanilla and icing sugar until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed. Spoon the cream into the trench in the meringue. Arrange the fruit on top and decorate with a few mint leaves if using. Sift over a little icing sugar if you wish and I always put an artificial holly sprig on the bottom of the wreath. I put the left over berries in a bowl with extra strawberries and serve with the ‘wreath’.