
In my view cherries are the finest jewels of summer. I love eating cherries but I love them equally in desserts, cakes and ice cream.
For this dessert, I paired poached cherries with whipped cream and toasted pistachios with home-baked meringue. It’s a lovely fresh summery dessert perfect for picnics and celebrations.
I covered the meringue recipe in detail and it’s a fool proof method for making meringue. I never had a meringue go wrong using this recipe – make sure to check out the additional steps in the notes.
Poached cherries are a breeze and come together in minutes.
Please tag me in instagram @incredible.kitchen if you decide to make this dessert.
Happy summer
xoxo




Ingredients
Make Meringue
- 120 gram egg whites about four small eggs
- 240 gram white caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 3/4 tsp cornflour
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Poached cherries
- 300 gram cherries pitted and halved
- 60 gram sugar
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
Toppings
- 300 gram cherries pitted and halved
- 100 gram pistachio toasted
Instructions
- 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
Notes

