Almond meringue with apricot purée

For the meringue: preheat the oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Place the egg whites in a spotlessly clean dry bowl and whisk until the mixture is fairly stiff. Add a quarter of the sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture holds its shape. Gently fold in the remainder of the sugar, followed by the nibbed almonds.

Spoon half the meringue mixture onto each of the lined baking sheets and gently spread it out until the meringues are 20–22cm in diameter.

Bake in the oven together for 25–30 minutes or until crisp on the outside and cream coloured (it will lift easily off the paper when cooked). Once the meringue is cooked, leave it inside the oven for 1 hour to cool down slowly and lessen the risk of it cracking. Alternatively, remove it from the oven but don’t leave it anywhere too cold.

For the purée: fill a large saucepan with 850ml of water, add the lemon juice and sugar and bring to the boil. Add the apricots, return to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until the apricots are softened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then place in a blender or food processor and whiz to form a purée.

To serve: place a meringue round onto a serving plate or cake stand. Whip the cream and spread onto the meringue round, pour over some apricot purée, then gently place the other round (the best-looking one) on top. Dust with icing sugar and cut into slices to serve, with the remaining purée on the side.