Rainbow rippled meringues

These multicoloured meringues have a range of flavours, including lavender, pistachio and blueberry. Pick your three favourites, then serve with flavoured creams for a stunning dessert.

MAKES 21 meringues (seven each of three different flavours) PREP 45 mins

COOK 1 hr MORE EFFORT G

4 large egg whites

225g white caster sugar

For lemon meringues yellow food colouring paste

1 lemon, very finely zested

For orange meringues orange food colouring paste

1 orange, very finely zested

For pistachio meringues green food colouring paste

2 tbsp finely chopped shelled pistachios For blueberry meringues blue food colouring paste

2 tbsp freeze-dried blueberries, pounded to a powder

For lavender meringues purple food colouring paste

½ tbsp dried lavender, pounded to a powder

For raspberry meringues pink food colouring paste

2 tbsp freeze-dried raspberries, pounded to a powder

You will need disposable piping bags small paintbrush extra-large round piping nozzle

1 Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/ gas 1 and line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. Next, prepare three disposable piping bags, one for each of the three flavours. Using a wet paintbrush, paint lines of food colouring along the inside of the piping bags. Be quite generous – you want bold colours. Wash the brush well between each colour so they don’t mix. Snip off the end of one bag, drop in an extra-large round piping nozzle and put the bags to one side.

2 Tip the egg whites into a large mixing bowl or table-top mixer. Whisk the eggs with an electric hand whisk or in your mixer until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, whisking continuously, until you have a thick and glossy mixture, which will hold up in a stiff peak on the end of the whisk. Divide the meringue into three bowls and swirl through your chosen flavourings (to correspond to the piping bag colours). You want to achieve a marbled effect rather than thoroughly mixing it all in.

3 Put the piping bag fitted with the nozzle into a tall glass and roll the bag down over the lip of the glass to hold it in place. Fill the bag with the correct flavoured meringue to match the colour in the bag. Lift up and twist the end to seal.

4 Hold the piping bag about 2cm vertically above the baking sheet. Apply an even pressure to the bag, slowly lifting the bag as you squeeze, to make a smooth round meringue, approximately 6cm wide. To finish with a nice peak at the top, push down a little on the mixture then quickly pull the nozzle away.

5 Continue until all the mixture in the bag is used up, leaving enough room between each meringue for them to spread a little. Quickly remove the nozzle, wash it and dry well, then drop into the next piping bag. Repeat the process with the remaining mixtures until they are all used up.

6 Bake the meringues for 1 hr, turning the heat down to 120C/100C fan/gas 1/2 for the final 30 mins. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks, then serve with one of the flavoured creams (below). The meringues will keep in an air-tight container for up to a week.

PER MERINGUE 60 kcals • fat 1g • saturates none • carbs 12g • sugars 12g • fibre 1g • protein 1g • salt none