This is one of the most beautiful and original desserts which you can make and serve. It will take time and patience, but the results are stunning and delicious. This cake makes you star in baking, and your guest will appreciate how wonderful the desert can look. Pavlova is not a dessert that you can make in hurry, so make sure you have enough time for preparing, slow baking, and cooling
Pavlova is old, a traditional recipe from New Zealand, and was named after Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova. Maybe it looks like a basic and easy recipe made from whites, but truth is that this recipe can be pretty tricky and unpredictable! So rather get your nerve ready. 🙂
My Pavlova baking
When I was thinking about what sort of cake I should make, I knew that Pavlova is a cake that I always wanted to try, especially after all baking shows where people were struggling. It’s a truth that it’s not the easiest dessert, but patience and some good skills can create an amazing and beautiful cake. I have a few recommendations on how to bake this cake and what to do step by step.
Even when I prepared fully on this recipe, my Pavlova cracked at some point. Not a lot, but probably my oven had a slightly higher temperature.
Even when there was a little crack a cake was delicious and so soft inside. The crust was crunchy and the taste was sweet, but with great harmony with yoghurt.
How to make Pavlova
- MAKE SURE ALL EQUIPMENT ARE CLEAN AND DRY! (CLEAN ALL BOWLS, MIXER, SPATULAS ETC …). A little mess or old ingredient from precious baking can destroy all cake, so make sure all requirements are clean and also your hands.
- GET READY INGREDIENTS: for good Pavlova is important to keep ingredients at room temperature. Especially eggs! Also, the eggs should be fresh as they make a better structure for a cake.
- SEPERATE THE EGGS WHITES AND YOLKS: it’s important to NOT let any drop of yolk get into the whites! It needs to be only whites! If you accidentally drop yolk into the whites you will need to do all whites again.
- WHISKING EGGS: I used a hand mixer so my timing and speed can be slightly different. For good meringue is important to take it slow, so use a lower level on your mixer. I used 3-4 speed. To get a good mixture and a soft peak can take more than 10 minutes of mixing.
- ADD SUGAR SLOWLY: The key to good meringue is adding sugar, but slowly! I added 2 tablespoons every 20 seconds. Don’t rush! This process took 10 minutes as you need to the slower speed of your mixer and keep mixing until the sugar dissolved. (Easy test if sugar dissolved: rub a little bit of meringue to your fingertips and tub it. If you feel granules it still needs whisk)
- ADDING CORNFLOUR: Make a mixture of cornflour and vinegar. Add it into meringue only if sugar is dissolved and mix it at a higher speed. Make sure you don’t have lumps in a cornflour mixture!
Baking Pavlova
Pavlova is baked slowly, so preheat the oven to 150C°/300°F, but get the temperature down immediately when you place a cake in the oven. The temperature should be 110C° or a little bit lower. If you will see that Pavlova is darker or brownish get down the temperature a bit.
DON’T OPEN THE OVEN!!!!
How to serve Pavlova
- To keep Pavlova dairy-free, you can use whipped coconut cream or yoghurt. Some yoghurt can change the structure of a cake, so try to choose the thick consistency of yoghurt.
- Whipped cream: The best and classic option.
- Yoghurt: I picked a yoghurt and it was delicious. Pavlova is sweet enough, and yoghurt goes very well with a sweet taste.
- Fruit topping: Be creative. Kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, bananas, peaches, passion fruit, etc … It’s really up to you what kind of fruit you prefer
How to store Pavlova
The best way how to store Pavlova is in containers or special air-tight containers. I recommend making Pavlova the day before because a cake needs to cool down and the texture is better after a few hours.
Pavlova is not a cake for long storage, so no fridge, freezer. Also, try to keep a cake in a dry room.
Pavlova cake
Equipment
- Mixer
- Spatulas
- Bowl
Ingredients
- 7 large Eggs
- 340 g Caster sugar
- 1 tbsp Cornflour cornstarch
- 8 ml White vinegar
Cream
- 100 g Greek yoghurt, whipped cream
- Fruits
Instructions
- Make sure that all equipment is clean and dry!
- Preheat oven to 150C° and get a ready baking tray and draw a circle around 20cm. I used cake tin.
- Carefully crack the eggs and separate whites from yolks. Once you separate whites pour them into a bowl and you can start mixing. If you get yolk into the whites you need to start again.
- Once you separated eggs you can start to whisk them. The speed of whisking shouldn't be too fast (with the hand mixer I used speed 4). Whisk it until it reaches a soft peak. (when you lift the whisk it should make a peak and stay stable). It can take more than 10 minutes.
- Once your whites make a soft peak you can start to add sugar. SLOWLY! I added 2 tablespoons every 20 seconds. Whisk a mixture until sugar is dissolved. (when you rub a mixture you don't feel any sugar granules). This process can take a longer time (30 minutes). Don't rush! Also, you can lower speed.
- When the sugar is dissolved and the texture is glossy you can add a mixture of vinegar and cornflour (make sure that mixture doesn't have any lumps).
- In the last stage, you can increase speed to 6. Keep whisking a few seconds.
- Use a clean spatula and scoop a mixture on a baking tray with parchment paper and draw a circle. Spread the meringue and follow a line of circles and shape a tall cake and create some swirls.
- Put a cake into the preheated oven and lower the temperature to 100-110C°.
- Bake Pavlova for 90 minutes and don't open the oven.
- After 90 minutes turn off the temperature and left a cake to cool down inside the oven. It can take more than 5 hours.
- Serve with some cream, yoghurt, fruits, honey.
Did you make my recipes?
How it turned out for you? Tag me on @foodieglam and use #foodieglam with photos of your cooking.