Meringue w Poached Cherries, Whipped Cream and Pistachio

• Make sure to measure the ingredients as you need the exact amount for this recipe.
• It's extremely important that all the utensils that use are completely dry and don't even have a hint of grease. A small amount of water and grease will destroy the meringues. I rub all the bowls, mixer blades, cutlery and piping bags with lime or lemon to remove grease from the pan and then use a dry dish cloth to remove any lemon residue.
• Pre-heat the oven to 175 degree centrigrade
• Spread the sugar in a baking pan and place it in the oven for seven minutes
• Remove sugar from the oven and mix in the corn flour and baking powder
• In parallel, start beating the egg whites using the whisk attachment on an electric mixer. Make sure that there is not even a hin of egg yolk as it will destroy the meringue. Whisk on low speed for 1-2 minutes until the eggs are foamy.
• Add cream of tartar
• Start beating at medium high speed for 2-3 minutes until the stiff peaks form. Stiff peaks are formed when the eggs turn completely white in colour and start to hold shape
• Then start adding sugar one tablespoon at a time to the egg whites. Make sure to bring the mixture back to stiff peaks after each spoonful of sugar
• This should take about 6-7 minutes in total (when using a hand-held electric whisk)
• Mix in the vanilla essence (optional)
• Pour the meringue mix on a parchment paper.
• Mold it in the shape of about 6 inch round cake. Then mold it in the shape of a volcano with a little well on the top for adding fruits – see pictures. Make sure that the parchment paper is wider than the base of the meringue as the meringue will expand during baking.
• If you want to add colour to the meringue, take aside 2-3 tbsp of the meringue and mix in the food colour of your choice. It's much better to use gel food colour for meringues.
• Turn the oven temperature down to 100 degrees centrigrade
• Bake the meringue for little over one hour. At no point, the oven door should be opened as it will produce cracks.
• After turning off the oven, I leave the meringue overnigth in the oven and open the oven door only in the morning. If you want, you can take meringue out after few hours in the oven
• Meringue can be made 2-3 days in advance. Store it in a cool, dry place

Make Poached cherries

• Make sure to remove all the browned and softened cherries. These cranberries will not taste good
• Add 300 grams of  cherries, sugar and 2-3 tbsp of water in a pan and cook on high heat until the sugar dissolves.  Add the lemon juice and simmer on low heat for 4-5 minutes until the cherries are slighly soft
• Take the cherries off heat and let them cool. Chill in the fridge for couple of hours before serving

Assemble the Meringue

• Whip double cream until it's ligth and fluffy
• When ready to serve, gently tap the merigue to break it into smaller pieces
• Serve it topped with whipped double cream, poached cherries, toasted pistachios and fresh cherries