Summer Pavlova Cake

It’s 30 C degrees in Sweden!!! And oh my gosh is it lovely! The one thing every house has for dessert is pavlova! Or at least once or twice during the summer. It’s a perfect summer dessert with fresh fruits and cream and the crunch of the merengue … just mouthwatering and lovely!!! You can make a pavlova in anyway but I’ve decided to make it in a petal cake. It takes a while, but it’s well worth the wait!

Here’s how you make it!

INGREDIENTS:

For the Pavlova :

6 egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated/caster sugar
pinch salt
3 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the Mascarpone Cream Fluff :

1 cup cream, for whipping
250g mascarpone, room temp

Berry & Fruit Compote :

2 cups of berries and fruits of your choice, chopped (frozen works – I used blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cloudberries and mango)

1/4 cup sugar
75ml water

Topping :

1/2 cup of berries and fruits of your choice

METHOD :

For the Pavlolva :

Preheat oven to 150C

In a large, clean bowl, whisk together the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.

Gradually add sugar, 1/4 of a cup at a time and whisk after each addition for about 1 minute. Whisk until sugar has dissolved. To test to see if it’s dissolved, gently rub a little bit of the meringue mixture between your fingers. If it’s grainy, keep whisking.

After the last of the sugar has been added, whisk on high for 3 minutes. The mixture should be very thick and glossy.

Combine the cornflour/cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla essence in a very small bowl.

Add to the meringue mixture and whisk until just combined.

Line a baking tray with baking sheet (parchment paper). I drew a circle on the backside of the baking sheet so I could get a perfect circle but of course you can go free hand! 🙂

Start scooping out the meringue mixture, forming a circle roughly 8-9″ in diameter.

Then I pipe the remaining Meringue, around the edge of the circle and keep piping it up so it becomes a very big Meringue cup/nest.

Then take a spatula or the back of a large metal spoon, and spread the merengue from the bottom upwards on the outside. (See the images below for reference) do this all the way around creating a beautiful petal shape around with a hole in the center to be filled later.

Reduce oven temperature to 120C and place pavlova in the oven on the middle shelf.

Cook for 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Turn on oven light to see the pavlova. The pavlova should be lightly browned. You can open the oven door to check the pavlova, but quickly. It should be dry to the touch.

Turn off the oven, and leave the pavlova in the oven with the door closed for 3 hours until the pavlova is cooled down.

For the Cream Mascarpone Fluff :

whip the cream, and gently spoon in the Mascarpone cream cheese (make sure it’s soft at room temp) and whisk again until combined. Add in the vanilla extract and whisk until combined.

To make the Fruit Compote :

Add all the fruits and berries into the sauce pan with the sugar and water.

Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer for about 15 min. Let the mixture reduce a little.

The sieve the sauce into a clean bowl to catch all the seeds. Place into the fridge until ready to use.

Assembly :

Once you pavlova has set and is cooled through. Pipe of spoon in the cream fluff half way, then pour in 1/4 of the berry Compote. Then add the rest of the cream fluff. Cover the top with the fresh berries and fruits and pour over the remaining Compote.

And voila! You summer pavlova cake is ready to be devoured!