Delishuss Blog

I’ve attempted making pavlova in the past with lots of failure. I found this recipe in the Taste magazine. It’s one of Matt Preston’s. His recipes are always straight forward and tasty so I thought I’d give it a try. It’s pretty fool proof. I’ve tried it twice now and it’s worked both times. I’ve altered the topping recipe but the base ingredients are the same. You can add whatever soft fruit you like. It’s best to make the pav the night before.

Ingredients

6 egg whites

315g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used essence the first time around and it wasn’t very nice, so I’d go for the extract or leave it out)

300g thickened cream

3 large passion fruit

3 tblsp icing sugar

1 mango, diced

75g raspberries

75g quartered strawberries

75g blueberries

1 kiwi, chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius, 130 degrees Celsius for fan assisted. Draw a 22cm circle on a sheet of baking paper. Place the paper on a baking tray.
2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric beater. Add the cream of tartar. Add one tablespoon of sugar at a time and beat until the sugar is dissolved in the egg whites. It’s worth taking your time to mix it in properly; I think that’s where I have slipped up in the past.
3. Beat in the vanilla extract. Your egg whites should now be glossy and stiff.
4. Spoon some of the mixture onto the baking paper and spread it out in the shape of the circle using a spatula. Do this repeatedly until all the mixture is on the baking paper. Try and get some height as it looks better and it collapses a little when cooked. Also, put a dip in the middle as this will be for your topping.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 110 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees fan forced. Cook for a further hour and 20 mins. The meringue should be crisp and dry.
6. Turn off the oven and leave the meringue in the oven overnight.
7.  Scoop out the passion fruit pulp from the fruit into a bowl.
8. In a separate bowl add the cream and sieve in the icing sugar. Stir in half of the passion fruit pulp.
9. Spread the cream mixture over the meringue base.
10. Sprinkle over the remaining passion fruit pulp and scatter over the fruit.