Decadent Pavlova
We love a pavlova for an impressive seasonal dessert, and the combination of light, melt-in-your-mouth meringue, velvety crème diplomat and fresh fruit in this luxurious version from John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen solidifies it as one to bookmark for upcoming special occasions.
Introduction
We love pavlova and wanted to make this one a real masterpiece! The added cornflour in the meringue makes it a little sturdier so you can ‘pull up’ the side, while the cream and custard are mixed together for the most luxurious, creamy filling. Top with whatever fruit you wish but we love the grapes and halved blueberries hanging off the sides. Any leftovers make a fabulous Eton mess the next day.
Ingredients
| For the pavlova: | |
|---|---|
| 6 | egg whites, at room temperature |
| 330g | caster sugar |
| 2 tsp | cornflour |
| 1 tsp | white wine vinegar |
| For the crème pâtissière: | |
| 3 | egg yolks (reserved from the meringue) |
| 3 tbsp | caster sugar |
| 1 tsp | vanilla bean paste |
| 1½ tbsp | cornflour |
| 300ml | milk |
| 1 tsp | vanilla extract |
| 300ml | double cream |
| For the topping: | |
| small grapes, halves, some left on the vine to finish | |
| Handful of | blackberries, halved |
| Handful of | blueberries, halved |
| 4 | physalis, opened up |
| 1 | kiwi fruit, sliced |
| ½ | ripe pear, skin on, cored and sliced wafer thin |
Essential kit
You will need an electric whisk or stand mixer.
Method
Preheat the oven to 140°c (120°c fan).
For the pavlova, draw a circle on a piece of baking parchment about 25cm in diameter and place the paper on top of a baking sheet (once you have made the meringue mixture, you can stick down the paper with little blobs of the mixture).
Whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk in a bowl or in a stand mixer until soft peaks form. Put the sugar in a jug and gradually pour, in a steady stream, into the egg whites, while whisking. continue to whisk until the meringue is glossy and voluminous and has lovely soft peaks. Add the cornflour while still whisking and finally add the vinegar.
Tip the meringue onto the centre of the circle on the baking parchment, trying to keep the meringue quite high. spread it out to make a circle, still keeping it nice and high. Take a small palette knife and drag it in upward motions along the sides to make a ‘fence’ effect along the outside. Make a dip in the centre of the meringue.
Transfer to the oven and bake for 1½ hours, then turn the oven off and leave the meringue in the oven to cool completely. If possible overnight, but a few hours will do.
For the crème pâtissière, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla bean paste and cornflour together to make a light, smooth paste. Pour the milk into a saucepan and slowly bring it up to scalding point, adding the vanilla extract. Once bubbles start to appear around the edges, remove from the heat.
Pour half the milk over the yolk mixture, whisking all the time, then whisk in the remaining milk. Pour the custard back into the pan and heat gently, continuously stirring with a spatula until the custard just starts to boil and thickens to the consistency of the custard you get inside a doughnut. As soon as it starts to boil, remove it from the heat.
Pour the crème pâtissière into a dish, cover with a piece of baking parchment to prevent a skin from forming and leave to cool. Leave to set in the fridge.
In a bowl, whisk the double cream until soft peaks form and set aside.
When ready to assemble the pavlova, gently stir together the crème pâtissière and whipped cream together (this is called crème diplomat).
Spoon the crème diplomat into the well of the pavlova and top with all the fruit, standing the pear and kiwi slices upright. carefully drape a few small grapes on the vine over the top, with a few cascading slightly over the edge. Serve.
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