Marshmallow Pavlova

 

I've been meaning to share this recipe on my blog for some time now. It's one of those recipes that have become an all-time-favourite in my family while growing up and even makes the cut as a birthday 'cake'! This recipe was introduced to me by a friend's mother, who was the undoubted pavlova queen, but  over the years this has somehow become uniquely ours with every flavour under the sun having been tried, from passion fruit curd and summer fruit, to whipped cream and raspberries.

The thing I love about this recipe? It's one of those make-ahead-recipes, so don't decide an hour before the picnic to whip up a pavlova! This recipes needs a little time, but will never fail you in the wow-factor of it's presentation. I just love people reactions when you present them with a crisp pavlova, filled with soft whipped cream and summer berries!

So, the trick is to get a really crispy outer crust and a spongy, marshmallow centre, the options are limitless from there! This is achieve by two very simple things, a tablespoon of cornflour and resting the pavlova in the oven, overnight. Proving to a last-minute-gal as myself, sometimes it's worth planning ahead...

Marshmallow Pavlova

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

1 cup castor sugar

1 tbsp corn flour

1 tsp vinegar

300ml cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp icing sugar

1 punnet cherries/raspberries/fruit

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius

Beat the egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form, adding the vinegar and gradually adding the sugar until it has all dissolved. Fold in the sifted cornflour.

Spread the meringue in a circle (about 20cm in diameter) on wax paper or a silicon sheet. Don't flatten the mixture too much, you want to get some height. 

Bake for 1 hour -1 1/2 hours until dry and crisp on the outside.

Allow to cool overnight in the oven.

The next day, whip the cream, add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract and serve with cherries or seasonal fruit!