Lova, lova, The Pavlova

Assalamualaikum.

It had been a good week since I last landed in Malaysia.The weather had been kind and gentle (not tooooo hot,not  tooooo  wet), family members are of course, amazing to be with and good Lord the FOOD had been AH-MaaazHing.I had Mee Bandung, Rendang Daging, Nasi Ayam, Bubur ChaCha, Tomyam, Ayam Pandan, Ikan Bakar and ehem Burger Kambing Bakar.Alhamdulillah for the good company, health and foooood.

My first baking project at home is the scrumptious Pavlova!I told kakak that I'll make her one once I get back and here you go Kak!Pavlova is an Australian dessert (I know a particular Kiwi who would twitch to this).It's funny how she spent the last 6 years in Melbourne and not taste a single bite of Pavlova,ever.So I had the honor to make her, her first Pavlova.Teehee.

Last time I made Pavlova, it turned out yummy BUT since I got some water in the egg mixture, it didn't rise well.So this time, I made sure that not a single drop of water touches my egg whites + sugar mixture. It took me awhile to find everything in the kitchen here at home.It feels weird to bake in someone else's kitchen,even if the someone else, is your mum. I was slightly discouraged at first when I learned that we ran out of parchment paper.Oh well...me being me..gasak je.=)
I got the recipe here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/Pavlova.html

Strawberry Glazed Pavlova 

Meringue:
4 large egg whites

1 cupsuperfine (castor) sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch 

1. Preheat oven to 250 degree Fahrenheit
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or greased foil; using 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pan as a guide, trace circle. If using paper, turn over. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar, 2 tbsp at a time, until stiff glossy peaks form. 
4. Fold in the cornstarch and vinegar, then vanilla. 
5. Spoon egg white mixture onto circle on baking sheet; spread to fill evenly. 
6. Bake oven until crisp and golden on the outside, about 60 to75 minutes.Turn off oven; let meringue cool in the oven for 1 hour. Don't open the oven door. AT. ALL. 
7. Slide metal spatula under meringue to loosen from paper; slide onto flat serving plate. 

All you need for the meringue

  

Make sure there is NO WATER or GREASE in the bowl 

Please use a parchment paper.PLEASE!

Topping:

1 cup whipping cream

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a bowl, whip cream until soft peak form.Fold in sugar.

Strawberry Glaze:

2 tablespoon of Strawberry jam

1 1/2 tablespoon of water

1. In a bowl, mix jam and water together

Fruits:

(Any not-so-sweet fruits will do)

1 mango

6-7 strawberries 

To assemble

1. Spoon the whipped cream onto the meringue . Arrange fruits on top of cream.
2. Using a pastry brush, carefully glaze the fruits with strawberry glaze.
3. Serve immediately

The fun thing about Pavlova is that you could easily make the meringue hours/days ahead!so you could save a lot of time before serving them when you're entertaining.Easy peasy. But really. don't open the oven door at all.The cold air that rushes in the hot oven would break the meringue. Learned this the hard way guys!

Please use a parchment paper.Please.Or else it'll stick to the bottom of the pan.Meringue, fragile as it is, will break even more.Oh So Not Pretty!

In my opinion, the meringue in this recipe is too sweet.I'd definitely reduce the sugar even more next time.I think I'll go to the length to omit the sugar in the whipping cream as well!We're not getting any younger guys!We don't want diabetes at the age of 30 do we?You could omit the Strawberry Glaze of course.The glaze is just for the effect of..well..glazing the fruits I suppose.

On the other hand, you can be as creative as you like with Pavlovas!If vanilla flavoured meringue is not a favourite of yours, omit the vanilla essence,add chocolate powder to it, rose essence or banana essence even, if you're trying to reconnect with your ape roots.Also for the fruits and glaze, you could use any that you like.Really.ANY FRUIT YOU LIKE.Since strawberries,kiwis and other berries are quite expensive in Malaysia, using local fruits would be the best option.That's why I used mangoes.Nice, beautiful,ripe,juicy mangoes.Oh yeah=)

Tomorrow is the first day of Ramdhan.Ramadhan Kareem to all muslims.May we achieve our goals and become better muslims!InsyaAllah!

Wasalam.


Till then,Bonsoir,
Love,
Anggerik