Easter Meringue Nests

Welcome back for another Easter bake! This week we’ll be making Easter nests but with a slight difference!

~ Makes 12 meringue nests ~

~ Bake time: 3 ½ hours ~

For the meringue:

• 4 egg whites
• 200g caster sugar
• 5g cocoa powder

For the ganache:

• 100g double cream
• 120g plain/milk chocolate
• Mini eggs to decorate

Let’s get started!

1. Pre-heat your oven to 80°C.
2. First let’s get our baking trays and piping bag ready. Lay a sheet of baking paper over your tray (I used two trays) and secure a star nozzle into a disposable piping bag.

3. Now we can start on the making! Separate the egg whites into a clean large bowl and mix using an electric handheld whisk for a couple of minutes until it’s doubled in size and starts forming soft peaks.

4. Add in the cocoa powder. Make sure there are no lumps and give the egg whites another whisk to combine all of the cocoa powder. Try not to over-whisk!

5. Once everything is fully combined, spoon the mixture into your piping bag and pipe spirals onto your baking sheet. Add a ‘wall’ around the edge of the spiral. This will make the nest shape.

6. I managed to fit six nests onto one baking tray. My meringue nests took 3 ½ hours to bake but keep an eye on them because your oven may take less time!

7. While the meringues are cooling, we can crack on with the filling. For this step we will be using the hob and a saucepan.

8. Pour all of the cream into your saucepan and gently heat until it is just about to start boiling. Keep stirring the cream when it’s on the heat otherwise it’ll burn on the bottom of the pan.

9. Take the cream off of the heat and add in the chocolate broken into small pieces.

10. Keep stirring the cream until all of the chocolate is melted, then leave to cool.

11. When the ganache has cooled down a bit, go in with the electric whisk to make the ganache thicker.

12. Spoon all of the ganache into another piping bag and I’ve used the same star nozzle again.

13. Pipe a swirl of chocolate ganache into the middle of each meringue nest and top with mini eggs! They can be stored in an air tight container for a couple of days or eaten straight away!

I hope you enjoy making these. If you have a go don’t forget to share your makes with us on Instagram @aboxofbuttons or on Twitter @aBoxofButtons! See you next time!