Meringue roses
You need:
- 3 egg whites
- 180g white caster sugar
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 3 x gel food colours
- Prepare a two baking trays with baking parchment and preheat your oven to 120°c.
- Using an electric whisk or standmixer, beat your egg whites on medium for several minutes until they’re big, white, and fluffy. You want them to be stiff but not dry – so don’t overbeat. They should still be soft.
- A dessert spoon at a time, add the sugar to the mix and beat on medium. When half of the sugar is incorporated, add the cornflour and turn the speed up to high and keep adding the sugar slowly until you have a thick, smooth, and glossy mixture. Don’t overbeat it – if you beat it too much it will liquefy and be useless. You’re looking for stiff peaks when you lift the beaters out of the bowl. It shouldn’t move when the bowl is turned upside down. Be careful with this trick – don’t attempt it unless you’re confident it won’t drip out.
- Now working quickly, separate into three bowls (or two if you’re doing duo colours). Fold in a generous squirt of gel colour and carefully fill a piping bag (with a star nozzle) with the three coloured mixes, carefully scraping it as much to the edge as possible so it’s as evenly distributed as possible.
- Now pipe a small circle/blob and then slowly move the nozzle out in a spiral so that it looks like a rose. There are videos on youtube that show how to do this – just look up rose piping and you will find them!
- Pipe out around a dozen roses and pop in the oven. Cook for an hour and 15 mins, then turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven. If you’re pushed for time you can leave the door ajar and they’ll cool faster.
- Serve when they’re cold – best with cream and strawbs, or sandwiched together with cream, chocolate, caramel, nutella – whatever you like.
Enjoy!
These will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days.
