My cool as a cucumber teenage daughter and her equally hip teenage cousins put this beauty together. And if you’re looking for a way to bring your teenagers to the family table this Christmas, maybe you should make one, too?
It was our job to host one of the early Christmas lunches this year. Fifteen people for seafood, salads, bonbons, and presents.
Click here for Julie Goodwin’s meringue Christmas cake recipe.
But what to make for dessert? I didn’t want to do a pudding. There will be enough of that next week. The recipe for this meringue and cream and strawberry Christmas tree is in the Christmas issue of the Weekly. It’s so perfectly Australian – pavlova! – and so perfectly Christmassy all at once. And it’s impressive. Everyone says: Oooo!
We made the meringues the night before. Piece of cake, as it were. Then, when the cousins arrived, the kids were put in charge of topping the strawberries, whipping the cream, and compiling the cake. They loved it. We all photographed it. It was a giggle-fest, and a bonding exercise, all at once.
Some tips: don’t do the construction part too early. Our cake started to slump about an hour after being put together. It was the weight of all that cream, and all those berries. By the time we came to serve, it was more Leaning Tower of Christmas than Christmas tree, but that’s okay. Only added to the fun.
Click here for Julie Goodwin’s meringue Christmas cake recipe.
Also: divide before you cut. Take the top layers off, maybe. We didn’t. We carved straight through, and the whole thing collapsed, and it was more Eton mess than anything else by the time it got served up, but wow, was it good.
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