Aussie Joy's Life

This past weekend I made the famous Australian Dessert – Pavlova. I had so much response to the twitpic photo I sent from my phone that I thought I would share with the world my secret Pavlova recipe that I actually stole from my sister Cherie – who is by far the best home baker I know!

This seriously is a fool proof Pavlova recipe… at least the second time round.

You need: (the picture above is this recipe doubled)
1 tablespoon Cornflour (US call it Cornstarch)
1 1/2 cups of Caster Sugar (Hard to find in USA – use finest sugar you can find but not powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites
4 tablespoons of boiled water

Method
Preheat oven to 155 degree C or 302 F
Mix cornflour with sugar into a bowl, add vinegar, vanilla and egg whites. Mix until just combined and then add boiling water.

Beat until extremely thick. It must ‘hold shape’ by itself and not collapse. It’s ideal to use a bench mixer but I have used a hand beater before. Definitely takes a lot longer to mix to the required consistency.

Cover tray with baking paper and plonk mixture on and flatten into desired shape. I generally allow it to be 2 – 3 inches thick. It will enlarge when cooked

Cook for 1 and a half hours.

The longer you cook it the harder it will become. So if you prefer a marshmellowey-er inside then cook for less time.

Don’t worry if it cracks round the edge or even through the middle. That’s pretty normal. Just finish off and hide them with some homemade whipped cream and pile on strawberries, kiwi fruit, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, bananas, pineapple or whatever combination takes your fancy. My favourite is to add a sprinkling of shredded dark mint chocolate. If the centre ends up hollow and you can get to it, I’ve pipped in whipped cream too.

Fully evil and I’m sure not recommended by a doctor!