Lisa Faulkner's hazelnut, berry and amaretto meringue cake

Hazelnut, berries and amaretto - what more could you want in a dessert?

It's time for a midweek treat in the kitchen as Lisa Faulkner is back with a show-stopping pudding that's perfect for the Easter lunch table. Her meringue cake is surprisingly easy to put together - she's even managing to whip one up herself between rehearsals for EastEnders and looking after the Torode-Faulkner household!

Recipe taken from From Mother to Mother, recipes from a family kitchen by Lisa Faulkner

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

5 medium egg whites250g caster sugar1 tsp cornflour1 tsp white vinegar1 tsp vanilla extract100g toasted hazelnuts, chopped

For the filling

400ml double cream2 tbsp icing sugar2 vanilla pods, seeds scraped1 tbsp Amaretto400g mixed strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, plus extra to decorate

Method

• Preheat the oven to 140C / Gas 1. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment and draw a 23cm circle on to each piece of parchment paper.

• In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then add the caster sugar in a steady stream while still whisking the whites. Once they go glossy, fold in the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla extract, then slowly fold in the toasted hazelnuts.

• Scoop half the meringue mixture onto each circle and spread out as evenly as possible. Bake in the oven for 1 – 2 hours, until you can start to peel the baking paper away from the meringue easily, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues to sit in the oven until cool. This will help prevent the meringue cracking.

• For the filling, whisk the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form, then stir in the amaretto

• Spread half the cream over one of the meringue bases. Scatter with the berries, then spread most of the remaining cream on the underside of the other base and place on top of the berries.

• Dot the underside of the extra berries with cream and use this to stick them to the top of the cake to decorate