Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. Draw three 15cm x 27cm (6in x 10½in) rectangles on the parchment (two on one sheet and one on the other) using a dark pen.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 140°C (120°C fan) mark 1. Put egg whites into a large clean bowl. Whisk with a handheld electric beater until stiff but not dry. (To test, dip beaters into the mixture and lift up - the egg white peak should stand up stiffly rather than flopping over.) Gradually add 300g (11oz) of the sugar, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes very thick and glossy.
Step 3
Smear a small blob of meringue in the corners of each baking sheet, then stick the parchment sheets down, pen side down (you should be still able to see the lines through the paper). Use one-third of the meringue to make each rectangle, staying within the drawn guidelines. Sprinkle the almonds over one of the meringue rectangles (this will become the top layer) and bake for 1¼hr-1½hr until the meringues feel hard to the touch and peel easily off the paper. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
Step 4
When the meringues are cool, make the filling. In a large bowl, whisk the cream and the remaining sugar until the cream just holds its shape, then whisk in the defrosted berries.
Step 5
Use a palette knife to help remove the meringues from the baking parchment. Put one of the plain meringues on to a board or platter, spread over half the cream mixture, then top with the other plain meringue and spread over the remaining cream mixture. Top with the almond-covered meringue, then scatter over a few silver sugar balls and serve.
Get ahead
Make the meringues up to a day ahead. Cover trays loosely with clingfilm and store at room temperature. Complete recipe up to 4hr ahead, cover loosely with foil and keep chilled.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
