Pavlova ~ Baked Meringue with Cream and Fruit
Pavlova
The 60's ~ A Magical Decade
This dessert was first introduced to me as a young child. I grew up in a quaint neighborhood back in the '60s. This was a wonderful time when neighbors all knew each other and considered each other good friends. Every house had huge grassy backyards with pools in every yard. The adults had little parties every weekend with their neighbors by the pool. And all the neighborhood children rode bikes in the street, played on each others lawns with sprinklers running, and ran rampant through each other's houses in the block. It was definitely a different era, a magical time with lots of childrens screeches and laughter that always filled the air.
Pavlova Dessert
Preparation & Cook Time
Ingredients
- 4 Egg Whites, room temperature. You can pull the eggs out of the fridge the night before.
- 1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- 1 cup Sugar, super fine
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
- 16 ounce carton Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 ~ 3 cups Seasonal Fresh Fruit, e.g, Berries, Bananas, Kiwi
- 1 tablespoon Confectioners Sugar, for preparation of whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract, for preparation of whipping ceam
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or aluminum foil.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a small bowl. Start on low, and gradually turn it up to medium, until soft peaks form. Increase mixer speed to to medium-high and for best results pour in sugar very slowly. Add vanilla. Increase speed to high for a few minutes more, until meringue forms glossy, stiff peaks.
- Scoop the fluffy meringue into two separate piles onto the covered cookie sheet. Use a plastic spatula to spread the two separate mixtures to form them into two identical square or round cake shapes. The mixture will not spread while baking, so you can leave as much height as you want, but no less than 1 1/2 inches high.
- Bake for 60 ~ 65 minutes, until the outside is dry to touch. The inside of the cake will remain soft, moist with a marshmallow-like centre. Turn the oven off, and let the cake dry out for an hour inside the oven. Pavlova is significantly more fragile than meringue. Because Pavlova is notorious for deflating when exposed to cold air, when cooking is complete it is imperative to leave it in the oven to fully cool down before the oven door is opened.
- While the cake is baking in the oven, prepare the whipping cream. In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat because the cream will become lumpy , too thick and butter-like. Put in fridge until ready to fill and top the cake.
- Wash, peel and slice enough fruit for the filling and topping.
- To assemble the Pavlova, place one half of the meringue on a cake plate upside down with the crunchy side on the bottom and the gooey side facing up. Fill the cake half with a layer of whipping cream and spread fruit over the whipping cream and cake. Place the other half of the cake on top of the first half. Spread the remaining whipping cream and Iather the outside of the cake with it, then cover the whipping cream with the rest of the fruit slices. Enjoy!
Pavlova Cooking Sheets
Pavlova ~ A Time Tradition Dessert
My parents and my older brother were immigrants, who came from West Germany in 1966 and found the American Dream in this lovely small town neighborhood, where they bought their first home. I was born here. Our immediate neighbors, The Bakker's, came from Denmark with two sons, and a daughter my age. Right around the corner moved in The Koke's, a family of seven, all boys, that had just made the big move from Australia. I loved listening to them talk with their foreign Australian accent.
The mother of the family and my mother became very close friends and they shared many things, including cocktails and recipes. Mrs. Koke introduced this Pavlova cake recipe to my mother, and it became a tradition in our household for all celebrations, especially birthdays, through out my childhood.
This delicious recipe is now in print for you, my Hubpage friends, to share in your home.
...Enjoy!
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- MissCue on HubPages
My desire to write has always been a constant companion. Even when I have nothing else, I am comforted with the thought that I have my creativity...
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Pavlova research and history as described in an interview with Glen Ralph
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Pavlova Recipe Demonstration
© 2013 Helen Kramer
