Lovely sun, luscious strawberries … it’s the perfect time for pavlova!
Sweet, dessert, pudding, whatever you like to call it, is the topping-off of a good meal. Carefully chosen to balance the type of meal preceding it, it can be a delight … and so very, very tempting, because one thing they nearly all have in common is a high carbohydrate content. Still, don’t you find that no matter how filling the main meal was, there still seems to be room for the sweet treat? (in our pudding stomach ) 🙂 And my favourite – the Pavlova – is no exception so I offer it to you again.
This one, made last week, was loaded-up with double cream, local strawberries and the very last of our own Kiwi fruit! Yes! Our own Cornwall-grown Kiwi fruit ... kept in an outdoor vermin-proof shed – 500 odd of them lined up in egg-trays – but these were the very last. There was one tray left – but the heat of the last couple of weeks had pushed most of them over the edge (too ripe). Not bad really, considering that the blossom is just opening on the kiwi plants!
It is believed that the dessert we know as the Pavlova was created in honour of the Russian ballet dancer Ann Pavlova when on a tour of New Zealand in the 1920s (though Australia hotly contests this, claiming to be the nation that hosted this culinary naming)
It is one of my favourite desserts and a long time ago I found a virtually fool-proof method of making them which has become much appreciated in the family as when I make them I usually make 3 bases at a time (well, if you have the oven on you may as well fill it up, and they do keep quite well in a sealed cake tub) and this means more than one meal-time gets this treat. These Pavlovas are also brilliant for when you have a horde of people round – each one cutting into 8 generous servings. Best when the fruit is in season – so choose in-season brightly coloured soft or softish fruit when you can (hard fruit, like sliced apple, just doesn’t sit as well with this dessert)
Ann’s Pavlova ( or Vacherin – not the cheese!)
This looks like meringue but it is really an adaptation I have made of a Vacherin – which is a type of meringue made with icing sugar (usually whisked once, but over hot water – my method seems to work just as well and be less of a bother)
Makes a 9 inch Pavlova base or 40 half mini meringues
2 egg whites
4 oz of sieved icing sugar.
Method
1, Whisk the egg whites until in stiff peaks.
2, Sieve the icing sugar and add to the whipped whites.
3, Whisk again until the mixture returns to stiff peaks
4, Either scoop into a piping bag and pipe small meringues onto a greased baking sheet (makes about 40 halves)
Or line the base of a 9” sandwich tin and grease the sides (or line a baking tray , draw a 9” diameter circle, grease the sheet, spread or pipe the mixture over the area of the circle – adding a little more towards the rim).
Bake at 160 C or 140 C fan oven or Gas mk 3 (until palest fawn)
15- 20 mins for the small
1 ½ – 2 hours for Pavlova
Allow to cool gradually – I usually turn the oven off and allow it to cool before removing the pavlova bases.
To decorate use either 4 – 8 oz Cornish Clotted Cream or whip at least a quarter pint of Double Cream (taking care not to make too thick – nor runny) and spread evenly and thickly over the top. Decorate with slices of soft / softish, fruits.
For mini-meringues. Whisk 1/4 pint double cream, place in piping tube with rosette nozzle. Pipe on one half – squeeze lightly as you stick the other half on.
Hope you find this recipe works well for you too!
Food is such an important part of our lives, it brings back memories, it can brighten our day or it can be a drudge and a scourge. How people eat and what they eat can help set scenes in novels too, can tell y0u a lot about the character without spelling it out. Take this excerpt from my novel Some Kind of Synchrony
The unexpected aroma of pizza, unmistakable in its amalgam of cooked cheese and oregano, stopped her for a moment, standing in her own hall, a rabbit poised for flight. Then Andy appeared, filling the kitchen doorway.
‘Thought I heard the door,’ he said and turned back into the kitchen. Faith grabbed up the shopping bag and her handbag, pushed the door shut with the vigour it required, and followed him. Two large size Pizzas stood on the table, one with the lid flopped back and a ragged wedge missing. Andy held the remains of this piece in his fingers as he lounged against the worktop. ‘Thought we’d have a pizza tonight – got the kids a video out too,’ he smiled, shoved the thick crust into his mouth and chewed contentedly, wiping his fingers on his jeans then folding his arms.
I hope it’s painted a picture of Andy for you – to read the first three chapters of this book, and my others, free in PDF just click here
What is your favourite dessert?
Are you enjoying the heat summer?
Do share – you know I love to hear from you and, fingers crossed, the glitches on the comments should be sorted out now – so i will know when you have written 🙂