Master this iconic dessert and you’ll never serve up store-bought again! With an easy-to-follow recipe and foolproof tips about ingredients, prep and cooking, you’ll enjoy pav perfection every time.
Looking for more easy pavlova recipes?
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 140°C fan-forced (160°C conventional). Put half of the vinegar in the bowl of an electric mixer, and wipe thoroughly with paper towel to remove any remaining oil or grease, then wipe whisk head as well. Draw a 20cm circle on a sheet of baking paper, then turn over and use to line a lightly oiled heavy oven tray.
Put egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in bowl and mix with whisk attachment on slow speed for 3 minutes. Increase to medium speed and whisk until first peaks form.
Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting 10 seconds between additions. When half has been added, increase to medium-high speed and continue adding sugar. When all sugar has been added continue whisking until smooth and glossy. Whisk in vanilla, then whisk in cornflour. Fold in remaining vinegar.
Spoon meringue onto prepared tray inside circle and gently spread upwards, staying within circle. Use a spatula to make a textured top. Put tray in oven and immediately reduce to 110°C fan-forced (130°C conventional). Bake pavlova for 1 hour 10 minutes without opening oven door. Turn off heat and cool in oven for at least 6 hours or overnight. If oven has a very tight seal, prop door ajar after
2 hours with a wooden spoon handle.
Serve pavlova topped with cream and fruit.
COOK’S TIP
An egg white can weigh between 30-40g, depending on the size of the egg. You’ll need about 7-8 egg whites for this recipe.
FAST ED’S TOP 10 EXPERT TIPS
- Even a very small amount of fat, oil or grease on equipment can interfere with how egg whites become meringue. That’s why the recipe directs you to wipe your appliance with vinegar.
- Put baking paper circle-side down on oven tray so you don’t get ink on pav.
- A heavy baking tray is ideal, rather than a light one, as it helps pavlova to dry out better for a more stable result.
- If you have some eggs that are a little older, they make the best pavlova. Whites in very fresh eggs are harder to separate and stretch into meringue.
- Whisking meringue on slow speed first allows the protein in the egg white to separate and start to properly stretch. This makes the meringue much more stable and able to hold the weight of fruit once baked.
- Adding sugar slowly lets it dissolve and be incorporated. If you add too much at once, the undissolved sugar never becomes part of the meringue and it will collapse in the oven.
- Cornflour is what gives pavlova its lovely gooey inside texture.
- Vinegar cuts through the sweetness of so much sugar.
- Pavlova always spreads during baking. Keeping the circle tight to begin with makes for a pavlova that can fit on a plate when baked.Â
- Stage one of baking cooks the egg white to set meringue. Stage two (long drying out) evaporates moisture so the pav can hold its shape. Don’t be tempted to rush the drying out.
Tools you might need
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