Rose meringues with strawberry dust

Makes 2 ‘sandwiches’

— 3 egg whites

— 170g caster sugar — 1 tsp white-wine

vinegar

— 1 tsp cornflour

— red food colouring, to stripe inside the piping bag

— 300ml double cream — 200g strawberries,

cleaned and sliced

For the strawberry dust — 2 tbsp dehydrated

strawberries

— 2 tbsp dried edible

rose petals

Preheat the oven to 90C/ lowest gas mark.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and draw four circles about 7.5cm diameter on the surface.

In a very clean, dry bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Gradually whisk in the sugar until the mixture is thick and glossy, then add the vinegar and cornflour. The mixture should stay in the bowl if you tip it upside down – good luck! Use dabs of the meringue mixture to secure the parchment paper on the tray at each corner.

Fit a piping bag with a 13mm star nozzle. Turn the piping bag inside out and run four lines of food colouring down the sides, from the tip towards the open end (this will create swirls when you pipe out the meringue roses).

Turn the piping bag the right way round again, and fill with the meringue mixture. Pipe it on to the circles, working from the centre outwards in a spiral shape to make roses.

Bake in the oven for one hour, then switch off the heat, but leave the trays, allowing the meringues to cool in the oven. They should easily peel off the paper when they are done.

Grind the dehydrated strawberries and rose petals together using a pestle and mortar, until you have a powder. The petals may still be in some larger pieces, but this looks lovely anyway.

Whip the double cream until it’s thick.

To assemble, spoon some of the whipped cream on to two meringue roses and top each with sliced fresh strawberries and a generous sprinkle of the dust. Sandwich the remaining meringues on top and sprinkle with more of the dust. Serve with more cream and strawberries.