Many people are scared of making meringue but will all the tips I have for you I promise you Pavlova will be the best in town. Topped with cream and berries, this sweet cloud of goodness is one of my favourite desserts.
When you make meringue you need to have 2 things in mind:
- Measurements: make sure that the sugar is double the weight of the egg whites. This makes for a perfect meringue every time.
- Fat: no egg yolk should be in the egg whites after separating the egg. You can separate them one by one before adding them to your bowl to make sure that you’re not ruining a whole batch of eggs because you messed up in the last one. Also wash your bowl every time you make meringue. If there’s fat left in there from the last thing you made or because it’s close to where you cook then it could affect the rise of the meringue.
Let’s talk about fruit. You can top this delicious dessert with any fruit of your choice and even make the cream on top chocolate flavoured or coffee flavoured by adding powdered cacao or instant espresso.
You can also add fruit compote, honey, nut butter or chocolate ganache. It’s just an extremely versatile dessert that can bend to your pleasure.
This dessert is extremely impressive when you put it on a table, it’s romantic as well and it just feels like a dream when you eat it. Check out the video above so you see that it’s actually not that complicated to make.
Impressive Pavlova with Berries
Print Pin RateIngredients
For the Pavlova
- 4 egg whites
- double the weight of the egg whites in sugar
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp cornflour
For the toppings
- 250 ml whipping cream (cold)
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 250 g strawberries
- 100 g blueberries
Instructions
For the Pavlova
- Put the egg whites and sugar in the bowl you'll use to whip them up later.
- Place the bowl in a bain marie on medium heat without the water touching the base of the bowl.
- Use a whisk to move the egg whites every couple of minutes, trying also to scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Remove it from the heat when you put your finger inside and don't feel any granules of sugar left. Be particularly careful to check the bottom of the bowl.
- Whisk on high speed until the egg whites come to room temperature.
- Dissolve the cornflour in the lime juice and mix into the egg whites. This will make it marshmallowy at the centre.
- Draw a circle at the back of baking paper using a pencil that is a bit smaller to the plate or cake stand you'll be using later to present it in. This will help you to stay within that diameter.
- Stick the tips of the paper to the baking tray using a bit of the meringue.
- Put the meringue at the centre of the circle you drew and spread it around using a spoon, forming a center at the centre as you go. Check out the video for further reference.
- You can leave it like this for a rustic look or go around with a spatula to flatten it and then use the tip to add some texture.
- Take to a preheated oven at 100C for 1 hour (see note for extra egg whites) or until you feel that it's solid on the outside.
- Leave to cool down inside the oven to prevent cracking (some cracking is completely normal). This will take 4-6 hours.
For the toppings
- Whip up the cream just with the icing sugar until you have a nice, soft texture. Do this right before serving.
- Put the cream in the Pavlova's cavity and top with fruits. I chopped most of the strawberries and left other whole for decoration.
Notes
