Giant pavlova recipe
My favourite dessert of all time is Pavlova. I make giant ones, enormous icebergs of meringue that fill a whole baking tin. I like mountains of Pavlova with gooey insides, creamy peaks, salted caramel and passion fruit. I normally make one per table at my Supper Club, hand everyone a large spoon and let them demolish it!
Ingredients
- 0.5 lemon
- 8 egg whites
- 400 g caster sugar
- 600 ml double or whipping cream
- 4 passion fruit
- 150 g bluberries or fruit of your choice
- 150 ml salted caramel (see below)
- 0.5 lemon
- 8 egg whites
- 14.1 oz caster sugar
- 21.1 fl oz double or whipping cream
- 4 passion fruit
- 5.3 oz bluberries or fruit of your choice
- 5.3 fl oz salted caramel (see below)
- 0.5 lemon
- 8 egg whites
- 14.1 oz caster sugar
- 2.5 cups double or whipping cream
- 4 passion fruit
- 5.3 oz bluberries or fruit of your choice
- 0.6 cup salted caramel (see below)
- 125 ml cold water
- 330 g caster sugar (use processed not natural)
- 250 ml double cream
- 1 pinch of good quality sea salt
- 4.4 fl oz cold water
- 11.6 oz caster sugar (use processed not natural)
- 8.8 fl oz double cream
- 1 pinch of good quality sea salt
- 0.5 cup cold water
- 11.6 oz caster sugar (use processed not natural)
- 1.1 cups double cream
- 1 pinch of good quality sea salt
Details
- Cuisine: Australian
- Recipe Type: Dessert
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 90 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- For the pavlova; Preheat the oven to its lowest setting. If using an Aga, prepare the simmering oven.
- Use a copper bowl if you have one, or use a Nigella trick: first wipe the inside of your bowl with a lemon half. Any grease will make it hard to get the egg whites stiff. Also be careful not to get any yolk into the bowl of egg whites. I normally mix the whites in my Kitchen Aid or with an electric whisk. Whisk the egg whites in the clean bowl until they're frothy.
- Slowly add the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture becomes stiff and glossy, and forms peaks, but don't go too far, or it will split into weird bobbly bits.
- Grab a silicone sheet or piece of baking parchment and use it to line a baking tray and dollop the meringue on.
- Bake the meringue in the oven for about 1½ hours. Once the cooking time is finished, turn off the heat and leave the meringue to cool still inside the oven with the door slightly open. In the Aga, I often just leave the meringue in the simmering oven for about 4 hours, checking regularly.
- When the meringue has cooled, whip the cream until it's thick and fluffy, then pile it onto the meringue. Drip salted caramel all over it and scatter with the fruit. If using passion fruit, use wrinkled ones, cut them in half and spill the luscious sour, sweet seeds across the pavlova. This is not a neat dessert. It's controlled chaos.
- For the salted caramel (this makes 500ml); Combine the sugar and water in a medium-sized saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat to medium and bring the mixture to the boil, without stirring but giving it an occasional swirl, until it turns a deep amber colour. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Now and then brush down the sides of the pan with a brush dipped in water to prevent crystallisation happening.
- Once the caramel has reached your desired shade of brown, remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream.
- When the caramel has cooled down, add salt to taste and use 150ml on the giant pavlova and the rest can be stored in a clean jar for up to a month.
Also worth your attention:
More recipes from Kerstin Rodgers
Kerstin's book - Supper Club
Publisher - HarperCollins
Kerstin's Blog- The English Can Cook
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