Vanilla Pavlova with Cream and Fresh Fruit

This is a classic Australian dessert that is extremely easy to make. It’s a pavlova decorated with whipped cream, fresh berries and passion fruit. The inside is very soft and marshmallowy, whilst the outside is a crisp meringue shell.

This dessert tastes as good as it looks; but the problem with most pavlovas is that they tend to be too sweet. However, that is not the case with this pavlova – I assure you that the sweetness is absolutely perfect. The trick is not to add any sugar into the cream. 

To be honest, I never used to like pavlova until a few years ago. My dad would always request it for his birthday and we never made it for him since none of us actually liked it. But now I don’t understand why I didn’t like it in the first place, because it is absolutely delicious.

You don’t have to use berries to decorate this pavlova – you can use any seasonal fruit that is available. You can even add a berry coulis or passion fruit/lemon curd.

It’s important that your egg whites are at room temperature as this allows the meringue beat to its full volume. Make sure you separate the eggs when they are cold (eggs are a lot easier to separate when cold), and then leave the egg whites at room temperature for about 1 hour. Some say it’s better to use cold egg whites, but I think room temperature works best.

It is inevitable that there will be cracks in your pavlova, so to reduce cracking – make sure you put the pavlova on the bottom rack of your oven. Also.  another handy tip is to put your sugar in a zip lock bag, cut off a small snip at the corner and pour the sugar in. This means there is a constant, gradual flow of sugar. You don’t have to do this, but it does prevent cracking.

The texture is absolutely brilliant due to the addition of cornflour and vinegar. The cornflour it makes crunchy on the outside, and the vinegar makes the inside really soft and marshmallowy. It’s literally to die for.I also have some very exciting news. A new blogging site has contacted me and asked if I would like to have a contributor position. The site is named My Trending Stories, and I will be  putting several posts on there. My Trending Stories is not very popular at the moment; but I think it’s a good opportunity. They have a large variety of content from different bloggers of various ages; and they have an aim to be one of the top 5 biggest blogging websites. So please go check it out and share it!  I am completely humbled by their offer, and I would like to thank them for the opportunity. It’s pretty unbelievable actually. Follow me on My Trending Stories here.

Pavlova

Makes a soft yet crunchy vanilla pavlova that serves approximately 8 people.

Ingrdients

• 4 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornflour, sifted
• Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 1 teaspoon vinegar

To decorate:

• 500mL thickenned cream, whipped
• Seasonal fruit of your choice (bluberries, strawberries, passionfruit etc.)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and draw a 24cm (9 inch) circle.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites on low speed. Gradually increase the speed until soft peaks form.
3. Very gradually add the sugar (read post above to see tips on how to add the sugar) whilst beating on medium-high speed.
4. When all the sugar is added, beat on high speed for 4-5 minutes until stiff peaks form.
5. Add sifted cornflour, vinegar and vanilla seeds (or vanilla extract). Gently fold until completely combined.
6. Spread the mixture into a circle on baking tray.
7. Place into preheated oven (on bottom rack) and reduce temperature to 120°C. Bake for 75 minutes.
8. Turn oven off. Leave pavlova in the oven with door ajar to cool completely.
9. When cool, take it out of the oven and transfer onto a plate.
10. Decorate with whipped cream and fruit of your choice.
11. Refrigerate until cool and ready serve!