Blackberry Pavlovas: Easy and lovely dessert

Easy, easy, and easy, I can’t say more. If you ever make a meringue but found it soft and chewy inside, that is what we want for the Pavlova. I love this kind of dessert from its soft and rich flavors (the sweet meringue, the unsweetened whipped cream and a sweet and a little sour from the fruit compote). This recipe is from the ........ (it’s on the cover of the magazine, actually when I saw the book this is the first recipe that I wanted to try). The blackberry sauce is very easy to make too, and if you like you can use other kind of fruit but just stay on the sweet and lightly sour taste. This dessert is great for party and many part of it can be prepared in advance, even the whipped cream. Just bake the meringue, make the sauce and whip the cream in the last minute (or buy a ready whipped cream which can be used any time). So, come and enjoy the easy and delicious dessert with me.

Blackberry Pavlovas

Serves 6

4	Egg whites
300 g	caster sugar
2 tsp	white vinegar
2 tsp	cornflour
1 tsp	vanilla extract
500g	blackberries
284ml	double cream / whipped cream, whipped

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Draw 6 small on a sheet of baking parchment and put it with the draw side down on a baking sheet. Whisk the egg whites until reach stiff peaks then whisk in 250g sugar in large spoonfuls until you have a stiff, shiny meringue mixture. Whisk in vinegar, corn flour and vanilla. Dollop the mixture out on the circles on the parchment and make dips in the center.

Bake for 10 minutes then turn the oven down to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½ and bake for an hour more-the meringue should be a very pale biscuit colour. Cool a little then carefully peel off the paper and put the meringue on a serving plate.

While the meringue is cooking, put ¾ of the blackberry and the rest of the sugar in a pan and cook for a few minutes over a low heat until the blackberries begin to soften give up their juice and the sugar dissolves. Cool then stir in the uncooked blackberries.

Once the meringues are cool, spoon cream into the dips in the centre then spoon over the blackberries.

Adaptation from: Olive magazine issue September 08

Blackberry Pavlovas