Strawberry pavlova
Strawberry pavlova
I’ve been wanting to make a pavlova for quite a long time now, but similar to macarons; it’s one of those things that are so daunting that I don’t start for fear of not being able to complete it in a proper way. But after having seen a recipe for a strawberry pavlova in the Dutch version of Good Food (which is a seasonal release only) I just had to give it a go.
Making the meringue was not difficult although I worried that the batter wasn’t as it was supposed to be. I had only ever made meringue before and that was a very very fast one in the microwave. One of the things about the microwave is that it is either too fast or too short and anything else was either burned or too flat. So I was quite pleased to find out that this looked much better coming out of the oven. Ok, it takes a rather long time to cook as it needed to be on a low temperature, but still I was very pleased with how it came out.
I had made one large one and wanted to do two mini pavlova’s in order to make a nice photo that I could use for the review that Steve Adams is giving on our photos in the Food Photography Club at Flickr, but as it turned out the one layer pavlova turned out better then the two smaller ones. I overdid it with adding the whipped cream so it just looks like one big blob as you can here…
Blob mini pavlova
A very tasty blob, but nevertheless not the best photo and certainly not the one I had intended to make…:( Unfortunately I will not have time to do much other foodphotos this week, so it will have to be the above photo of the pavlova. I am a little anxious about it, but that’s as good as it is gonna get!!
If you want to make this pavlova make sure you have an empty stomach when eating it, as it is very rich, but oooo so lovely!!
Strawberry Pavlova
For the merinque
175 gr peeled almonds, roasted
225 gr light brown sugar
225 gr raw sugar
6 eggwhites
1 tablespoon cornmeal
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
For the rest:
1 kilo strawberries, halved
50 gr icing sugar, plus some extra to sprinkle
5 dl whipping cream
1. Preheat the oven (140°C electrical/120°C hot air) and prepare two baking trays with baking paper.
Chop about 2/3 of the almonds in the magimix (don’t make them into powder). Chop the remaining almonds with a knife.
2. Stir the two sugars together. Whisk the eggwhites with an electric handmixer stiff, add the sugar in three parts and mix after each portion of sugar to make sure it is firm again. Add the cornmeal and the white winevinegar and keep stirring untill you feel a noticeable resistance while using the mixer (this can take up to 5 minutes)
3. Spoon the chopped and the largest part of the roughly chopped almonds through the mixture. Divide the batter in circles of about 20 cm each on the baking trays and cover with the remaining almonds. Bake for 60 minutes in the preheated oven, turn the oven off and leave the meringues for at least another 60 minutes in the oven to cool. Leave the door closed during the cooling. (you can keep the meringue for maximum one day in an airtight container or cover in various layers of foil and freeze for max. 1 month.
4. Puree 600 gr of the strawberries for the strawberrysauce, in a magimix or blender. Mix it with two tablespoons of the icing sugar.
Whip the cream with the remaining icing sugar to soft peaks. Spoon 2/3 of the strawberry sauce through the cream. For a marmereffect don’t mix it completely.
5. Shortly before serving put the cream on top of the meringue. Put the two meringue on top of each other and top with the remaining strawberries. Cover with icing sugar and serve the remaining strawberry sauce separately.
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
That looks awesome!!!
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uugg, I’m droooooling! I love pavlovas! I only made and ate my first one a month or two ago but ever since I have been dreaming about them.
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 4th, 2009 at 19:59
Dreaming about pavlova’s….
Hmmm, can’t blame you… They are heavenly!!
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hi simone, your creamy pavlovas look awesome
. I’ll definitly put those on my to-do- list for may. Lovely colors in your pictures! XOXO
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Nothing to be frightened of, Simone! You did a spectacular job … these are just gorgeous!
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Wow, that’s one of the prettiest pavlovas I’ve seen. Just gorgeous, especially the strawberry cream.
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Wow, this is just wonderful! Bravo!
Just out of curiosity, what kind of camera do you use?
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 5th, 2009 at 07:25
Thanks Julia. I use a Canon Eos 5D with (mostly) a 100mm 2.8 macro lens….
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MMMMMM…Simone! Your pavlova does look good though! Looks very yummie!!
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I LOVE Pavlovas and they are definitely show stoppers!!! I don’t think there is anything wrong with these photos, they made me drool!!!
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Great looking pavs. These desserts are much loved in Australia and New Zealand (it was created in Perth about 1935 in honour of the famous Russian ballet dancer Ánna Pávlova) nearly every party I go to in Australia has a pav covered in strawberries and passionfruit. Yours are very yummy to me.
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Simone (junglefrog) — May 5th, 2009 at 19:32
Thanks for the historical background Audax! That is so very interesting and I never knew that the name was based on a Russian ballet dancer!! So fun!
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I have always wanted to make Pavlovas. They look delicious and inspire me to make them myself. Your photography is stunning!!!
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I like your pictures very much. I have never made a pavlova, but I’m thinking hard about it.
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I think it’s absolutely stunning!
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I think your shot is beautiful and Pavlova is definitely the thing to make now as strawberries are in season!I make meringues very often, as my mother love it and I always have egg whites left over from ice cream. Depending on how long you cook them for they can keep up to a week in an airtight container!
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Just added the english text on the steak!
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Gorgeous!! It may be time for me to make another batch of pavlovas. Once the summer berries are in season, I plan to have them all the time. They are one of my favorite things!
These are really beautiful, and I’m glad they turned out so well!
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Wow, this looks gorgeous! Your photography is beautiful.
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This is just too gorgeous! I can’t wait to use up some of the fresh strawberries I got in the store today!
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Oh, I adore strawberries so much… And the way you photographed them makes them seem to sparkle in the sunlight. Gorgeous!
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Wow that just scrams elegance ! Thats one hot looking pavlova girl, would love to dive right into it.
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Simone, I’ve actually never made pavlovas..I mean, I know how, just never attempted it for some strange reason. However, seeing yours makes me want to go try it now! As usual, your talent shines through in all areas! You’re an amazing cook/baker and photographer!
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Hi there I love your recipes! I run a soul food site and was wordering if you mind if i use some of them on my site?
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Yum! And no matter what you think, the photos are gorgeous! What makes a food photo a success? It makes people want to eat that food! I love Pavlova and haven’t made my chocolate Pavlova in far too long. Now I want! With strawberries on top!
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That looks amazing! So light and refreshing! Nice job on the challenge!
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I’ve been meaning to make a strawberry pavlova, now I think i’ll do it tonight!
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