Meringue Tower Cake (Christmas Tree)
Check out this meringue tower cake shaped as a Christmas tree to have a seasonal dessert for the holidays!
Servings 8 people
Equipment
- pastry bag and a star tip
Ingredients
- 2 cup sugar if possible use Baker's Sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 8 egg whites room temperature
- 12 oz heavy cream
Instructions
Making the Paper Tree Bough Template
- Your meringue cake is made of six stacked layers, ranging from about twelve inches in diameter at the bottom to two inches on top. This is best achieved by working on top of a paper template for each layer.
- Use a large sheet of posterboard (or other thick paper) to create six 6-pointed stars of the following diameters in inches: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2.
- Make sure the star tips are roughly the same distance from each other. Cut out each star and place it beneath the parchment on the cookie sheet described in the next section.
Making Meringue
- Line a flat cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir sugar and cornstarch together in a bowl.
- Beat (at medium speed} the egg whites until foamy.
- Add sugar and cornstarch mixture to the egg whites.
- Increase the speed and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks. You can tell if you have stiff peaks by turning your beater upright, and the egg white doesn't collapse. They stay stiff.
Making Meringue Tree Boughs
- Preheat oven to 275°
- Place your meringue in the pastry bag with a star tip attached and then place all six paper templates on three cookie sheets.
- Place each star template beneath the parchment and secure with scotch tape. (IMPORTANT: The tape must be removed before baking).
- Outline the template with the pastry bag and fill in the middle and the boughs with a layer of meringue.
- You will then pipe your pastry bag and create a pattern for the second layer. Create a pattern looking like needles of a tree going towards the center. Continue this step for each tree bough.
- Just note the top layer of the tree bough is two inches in diameter and cone-shaped which is similar to the top of a tree.
- Bake for an hour and a half at 275 degrees. Once done in the oven, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN. Instead, leave the meringue in the oven on the cookie sheet and let it cool overnight for best results.
Preparing Heavy Cream
- Prepare heavy cream by whipping until thick. You can add a bit of powdered sugar if you like.
- Set aside the whipped cream.
Making the Christmas Tree
- You will want to place the meringue tree on a charcuterie board or large surface.
- Place the bottom tree bough on parchment paper and outline the design with pencil and then cut out the design with scissors.
- Then place the parchment paper on a charcuterie board and place the bottom meringue layer on top of it. Then put some of the heavy whipping cream in the middle of the tree bough. Next place the next layer on top. Continue for the rest of your layers until you have made a tree.
Adding Candles (optional step)
- Take pieces of white fondant and mold them into a ball. Then place birthday candles in each ball. You will end up with six balls and six candles.
- Place each candle on the bottom boughs.