Last night involved bubbly, old friends over for dinner, laughter and story telling, more bubbly and this:
The perfect summer pav!
They are such a simple dessert to make with stunning results.
PAVLOVA
Preheat oven to 200C.
Separate eggs and weigh the whites. Reserve the yolks for mayonnaise or custard (or both!).
In a another bowl, weigh out the same quantity of sugar. For example, my nine egg whites weighed 290gms so I measured out 290gms of sugar to another bowl.
Beat the egg whites until peaks form then continue beating gradually adding the sugar one tablespoon full at a time. When all the sugar is incorporated, and the beaters are still running add one tablespoon of rose water (if you don't have any, just leave this out).
Spread on to baking paper lined trays. Put in oven and immediately turn temperature down to 160C. Bake for 30-35mins or until lightly browning on the outside - and I do mean lightly! Don't open the oven door - just turn it off and leave to cool in oven for a couple of hours.
Decorate with whipped cream and seasonal fruit between each layer and on top.
Another favourite in our house is winter pavlova - follow the same process as above but very gently fold in one cup of dark chocolate chips and one cup of chopped roasted hazelnuts instead of the rosewater. Decorate with whipped cream, raspberries and shaved chocolate.
As I was making a layered pav, I used three round trays and divided the mix in three but you could just use one, and bake for longer.