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This year, my usual Christmas dessert is being swapped for a wonderfully different sweet creation. Golden rounds of meringue with pistachio are layered with creamy pistachio filling and a vibrant cherry compote. Upon assembly, the meringue softens slightly beneath the filling, resulting in a delightfully cake-like texture. It's a fantastic choice for a holiday sweet that omits traditional rich ingredients.

Festive Nut & Fruit Meringue Cake

Owing to the popularity of a certain viral chocolate bar, pistachio creme is now readily available in local shops. It is already sweetened and offers a beautiful pale green color. You could opt for pistachio butter as a substitute, though the hue might be muddier and it may require to balance the flavor.

Prep: 5 min
Cook: 2 hr 20 min
Serves: 12-16

For the Meringue Discs
150g pistachio kernels, plus an extra 50g, chopped, for garnish
50g icing sugar
1 tsp cornflour
A pinch of salt
165g egg whites
155g caster sugar

For the Cherry Compote
350g frozen cherries
Juice of ½ lemon
60g caster sugar

For the Pistachio Cream
600ml whipping cream
60g pistachio creme

Directions

First, preheating the oven to 170C (150C fan)/340F/gas 3½. Cover three trays with parchment paper. Take an 18cm cake ring, draw a circle on each piece of paper. Turn the paper upside down so the drawn lines aren't touching the meringue.

Pulse together the 150g pistachios, icing sugar, cornflour, and salt until mostly fine – some texture of pistachio are desirable.

In a large bowl and beat at medium speed until foamy. Whisk more vigorously and beat until you have soft peaks. With the mixer running, incorporate little by little the caster sugar until the meringue is glossy and forms stiff peaks.

Gently fold the pistachio mixture into the meringue, being careful not to deflate it. Place the batter into a bag fitted with a large tip and cut off about a generous opening from the tip.

Starting from the outer edge of each pencil template, create a meringue layer onto each tray. Even it out using a palette knife. Place in the oven until the meringues are gently colored and sound hollow when tapped. They should peel away cleanly when cool. Remove and cool completely.

While the meringues bake, combine the compote ingredients. Place all compote ingredients in a saucepan and cook on a medium-low flame until the cherries begin to release juice. Let it come to a simmer and cook for 5-6 minutes until the cherries are tender. Remove the cherries with a slotted spoon to a bowl, reserving the syrup in the pan. Reduce the liquid until it has halved in volume, then mix it back with the cherries. Leave to cool.

To make the filling, whip together the whipping cream and pistachio creme in a bowl until smooth and spreadable.

When building the cake, trim the sides of each meringue disc with a bread knife, for a clean edge. Place one disc on a cake stand and top with a layer of the whipped cream. Form a depression (about 10cm-12cm wide) in the middle and add some of the cherries (to stop the juices from spilling). Top with the next meringue layer and layer again, reserving a portion for the finish.

Place the final disc and mask the cake with the leftover filling, using a palette knife with a offset spatula. Adhere the extra nuts onto the sides.

Put the remaining filling into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and add decorative dollops on top. Garnish with the remaining fruit and chill until ready to serve.