This week for Mother’s Day I decided to make a Pavlova.  A Pavlova is basically a meringue cake with a few ingredients added to turn it from crisp throughout to crispy and light on the outside and fluffy and marshmallow on the inside.  It just takes a few ingredients and just a couple techniques to make sure you succeed.

Pavlova Meringue Cake : Cream of Tarter Vs. Vinagar

    To make a pavlova, you have to first make a meringue.  Now there are 2 ways you could go with this.  You really need to stabilize your egg whites and help them hold on to air so that you get a nice, tall, fluffy Pavlova. 

      You can use cream of tarter right from the beginning, in with the egg whites.  Cream of tarter is an acid that when sprinkled in with the egg whites, will stabilize them and help them hold onto air.  That way they won’t deflate quite as easily.

  The other way is that you could whip up your meringue, then in the next step when adding your corn starch and vanilla extract, add vinegar to give it that acid to stabilize.  The down side to this is that it waters down your meringue which can deflate your it just a little. I personally like the cream of tarter method but it’s up to you.

Pavlova Meringue Cake : Sugar

     The thing to remember about meringues is that they are extremely delicate.  so it is so important that you add the sugar in, little by little.  This way the sugar will not be too much weight on the meringue so that it will whip up and also this will give the sugar a chance to dissolve in the meringue.  You can check to see that the meringue is ready by rubbing some of the batter between your fingers and if you don’t feel granules, its ready.  If the sugar isn’t incorporated correctly it will cause “weeping” or deflating in the pavlova. 

Pavlova Meringue Cake : Corn Starch

   After I make the meringue, I add corn starch.  Corn starch is very important in this recipe because it gives the pavlova it’s fluffy texture.  To make sure that this meringue doesn’t deflate it needs to be sifted in.

Pavlova

Yield: 6 mini Pavlovas

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours

A light and airy meringue dessert that is crusty on the outside and marshmallow like and chewy on the inside.

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Ingredients

Pavlova

• 6 Egg Whites
• 1 1/2 Cups of Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tsp of Corn Starch
• 1 Pinch of Cream of Tarter
• 1 Tsp of Vanilla Extract

Toppings

• 1 Cup of Heavy Cream 
• 2 Tsp of Granulated Sugar 
• fresh fruit of your choice.  I used blackberries, raspberries and pomegranate seeds

Instructions

Pavlova

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Add the room temperature egg whites and the cream of tarter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
3. Whip of about 2 minutes on medium speed until frothy.
4. Add in the sugar a little at a time and increase the speed to high, beating until stiff peaks form.
5. Sift in the corn starch and add the vanilla extract. Fold those ingredients in gently.
6. Add the pavlova to the baking sheet in 4-6 inch mounds, making a dip in the center.
7. Place in a 300• oven for 30 minutes or until crusty and set on the outside.
8. Turn off the oven and crack the oven door. Leave the cakes in the oven for 2-3 hours.

Decoration

1. Place the chilled heavy cream in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
2. Whip until you get stiff peaks.
3. Smear a good dollop of whipped cream on top of each pavlova.
4. Place fruit of choice on top.
5. Place leftover pavlovas in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days

      If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, message me on instagram, facebook or leave me an email. 

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