Pavlova
The Story
Pavlova - a sugary cloud of distinctive textures, a light and airy dessert composed of meringues, whipped cream and fresh berries. As you bite into Pavlova you immediately taste crispiness and sweetness of meringues and fluffiness of whipped cream. The sweetness of merengues contrasts with tartness of berries and the crunchiness is balanced out with softness of whipped cream. That is why I love Pavlova - not because the ingredients on their own are particularly unique, but because when you combine them together, the flavors and textures constantly contrast with each other, bringing harmony to your palate.
Unlike the name suggests, Pavlova did not originate in Russia, but it was named after Anna Pavlova, a Russian ballerina who fell in love with this dessert while visiting either Australia or New Zealand (it is still disputed which of these counties originated Pavlova) .
Though meringues do take time to bake in the oven, they do not require much preparation time. If you follow the instructions of this recipe step by step, I guarantee that you will succeed at it and Pavlova will become one of your favorite desserts as well.
Recipe
Ingredients
350 grams of sugar
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Pinch of salt (about 1/8 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon of corn starch
500mL of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 Celsius).
Carefully separate 6 egg whites from the yolks and pour them into a dry bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to the egg whites. (Important: Make sure that there is no water added to the mixture of your meringues, not even a drop. Lemon juice should be the only source of liquid included.)
Start beating the egg whites with a mixer (with whisker attachment) while slowly adding all 350 grams of sugar into the mixture. The entire process should take about 5 to 7 minutes.
When your egg whites become stiff and glossy (as illustrated below) add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to them and mix for about 30 more seconds to ensure that the cornstarch is evenly distributed. Your meringues are now ready to be baked.
Place parchment paper on the baking tray. Carefully place beaten egg whites in the piping bag and pipe them onto the baking tray while making small wells. You can either make one big pavlova or several smaller pavlovas. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a spoon instead.
Place the baking tray with the meringues in the oven and IMMEDIATELY lower the temperature to 220 degrees Fahrenheit (105 Celsius). Bake the meringues for 1 and a half hour. Do NOT open the oven door during the first hour, it will deflate the merengues.
After 1 and a half hour passes, turn off the oven and let the merengues stay in the oven for one more hour, with oven turned off. You can leave the oven door slightly open. After the hour passes by, remove the meringues from the oven and let them cool completely.
To make whipping cream filling, pour 500mL of heavy cream into a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to it and whisk everything with a mixer for about 2 to 3 minutes until the cream thickens.
When your meringues cool off, top them with whipping cream berries on top. Now you have your Pavlova! I hope you love this dessert as much as we do. Enjoy!
