pavlova

Chocolate Berry Pavlova

~ momwheresmylunch ~ Leave a comment

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When you have had a bad day there is nothing like a slice of my friend Caroline’s yummy chocolate Pavlova to cheer you up. This uses the same method as a regular pavlova but with the addition of cocoa powder instead of cornflour. Make sure you beat the sugar into the egg whites well as failure to do so will cause your pavlova to leak sugar syrup when it is cooking. Enjoy!

For the meringue

6 egg whites

300 grams caster sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder (sieved)

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

 

For the topping

500 millilitres double cream

500 grams raspberries/ blueberries/strawberries

3 tablespoons dark chocolate (coarsely grated)or icing sugar

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350ºF and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and you can hold them over your head and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar.

Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound on to a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 23cm / 9 inches in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150°C/gas mark 2/300ºF and cook for about one to one and a quarter hours. When it’s ready it should look crisp around the edges and on the sides and be dry on top, but when you prod the centre you should feel the promise of squidginess beneath your fingers. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue disc cool completely.

When you’re ready to serve, slide on to a big, flat-bottomed plate. Whisk the cream till thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over the berries. Coarsely grate the chocolate so that you get curls rather than rubble and sprinkle  on top. Alternatively dust with icing sugar.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

Pavlova

~ momwheresmylunch ~ Leave a comment

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 If you are entertaining or visiting and have offered to do dessert there is nothing easier than a Pavlova. The simple rule of thumb is the double the amount of sugar to eggs for example: 6 egg whites and 12 ounces of sugar. The dessert was created in honour of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova either during or after one of her tours of New Zealand in the 1920s. Make this dessert even easier by using the bottled egg white and save yourself having to think of what to do with the leftover yolks! This dessert contains no flour and so is gluten free!

225 millilitres egg whites approximately 6 eggs

330 grams /12 ounces 1 ½ cups caster sugar

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon cornflour

To serve

500 millilitres fresh cream lightly whipped

Fruit of your choice, I used raspberries,blueberries and strawberries

Icing sugar to dredge

Preheat the oven to 150C/ 300F

Place the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk on high speed until stiff. Test by tipping the bowl upside down, the egg whites shouldn’t fall out!

Gradually add the sugar one tablespoon at a time waiting about 30 seconds between each addition. Once all the sugar has been added, scrape down the bowl and add the vinegar and cornflour. Whisk for a further 5 minutes until the mixture is stiff and glossy. If you don’t whisk in the sugar fully your pavlova will ooze a sticky sugar syrup while it is cooking making it impossible to remove from the parchment paper.

Pile spoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and using a spoon shape to form a 20 centimeter mound with a dip in the centre to hold the fruit and cream once cooked.

Reduce the oven temperature to 120C/ 250F and bake for 90 minutes or until dry and crisp to the touch. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.

Decorate with cream and fruit and dust with icing sugar and serve at once!