Instructions: If you gradually add your sugar after the soft-peak stage when beating egg whites, they form a light, lovely meringue. My favorite fruit topping for this is a combination of peaches or nectarines and two or three different kinds of berries mixed together in a bowl and sprinkled lightly with sugar and a dash of kirsch.

1 cup egg whites, at room temperature (from about 7 eggs)

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups granulated sugar (divided), plus additional to sweeten whipping cream 1 cup whipping cream
4 cups Marionberries, raspberries, strawberries or sliced peaches

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Put the egg whites in a large glass or stainless steel mixing bowl and bring to room temperature. Beat until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the salt, cream of tartar, vanilla and almond extract and continue beating. Slowly add 1 1/2 cups sugar while continuing to beat until all of the sugar is added and a nice meringue has formed.

Butter the bottom only of a standard-sized angel food cake pan. Transfer meringue to pan, place in the oven and immediately turn off the heat. Leave in the oven overnight.

Next morning, turn out onto a serving plate. Chill, lightly covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.

An hour before serving, whip the cream and lightly sweeten. Use it to frost the cake. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup sugar over berries and/or peaches. Spoon fruit on each serving.

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