Sweet Melissa's Pavlova

Posted by - Chaya

Thanks to Jess for being late so I don't have to be the only one. I bet she did not have a fire in her oven and have three fire trucks parked in front of her house. Really. Is that an acceptable excuse. I don't want to do - one better. That was frightening enough.

If it were not for Rina being so understanding, you would not see this recipe. I had one of those silly times where everything goes wrong and the easiest solution seems to be, to give up. I am glad that I did not.

The recipe below is from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book but I made changes. I want to leave the recipe here, untarnished by my changes. Normally, I would not share a recipe from this book but because it is not part of the group, I am going to make this exception. Also, I did find it online so for anyone who is really looking, they can locate it.

I made a quarter of the recipe which was hard to do. I made the meringue in my big mixer and I thought it was going to sit there. It looked ludicrous to see the big machine and one egg's worth of whites. With the whipped cream, I got smarter and used a hand mixer. Even that didn't work. For some reason, I could not get the beaters to stay in the mixer. Never happened before. Also, even in a small bowl, there was very little cream (1/4 cup) and it refused to change for the longest time. At the end, those stiff peaks were soft and pliant but that was the best I could do.

Sweet Melissa Pavlova Peach Melba

Ingredients:

- FOR THE MERINGUE

- 4 large egg whites
- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tsp white vinegar, (I used champagne vinegar)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- FOR THE MELBA

- 2 to 3 large peaches
- 1 pint fresh raspberries
- 1 recipe raspberry sauce, see notes

- FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM

- 1 cup heavy cream, very cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon sugar


METHOD:

Before you start::

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw a 7″ circle on the paper with a pen. Flip over the paper. You will be able to see the line. (I did not draw a line and for my mini pavlova, the circle was between three and four inches.

To make the meringue:

1. In a clean, grease-free bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-high heat until they hold firm peaks, about 1 minute. Start adding the sugar, little by little, until the meringue holds very stiff glossy peaks, about 2 minutes. You should not feel any sugar grains at this point. If you do, keep beating.

2. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift the cornstarch over the meringue, and sprinkle the vanilla and vinegar on top. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the ingredients into the meringue until just fully incorporated (the goal is to do so without deflating the meringue.)

3. Gently mound the meringue in the center of the circle on the prepared parchment paper, and smooth the edges. Bake for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Turn off the oven, and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven for an additional hour or more. The meringue may crack as it cools – this is normal. When cool, carefully peel the paper from the bottom of the meringue and place the meringue on a serving platter. The meringue can be made only on the day of serving.

To prepare the fruit:

Peel, pit, and slices the peaches into a large bowl. Place the raspberries on top of the peaches. Pour over 1/2 cup of the raspberry sauce. Using a rubber spatula, gently combine.

To make the whipped cream:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whipping attachment, beat the heavy cream and vanilla on medium speed. In a slow, steady stream, add the sugar beating until the mixture forms medium-stiff peaks.

To Complete the Pavlova:


1. Mound the whipped cream in the center of the meringue and spread it just up to the edges.

2. Pile the fruit and any sauce left in the bottom of the bowl on top of the cream.

3. Drizzle a little of the remaining sauce over the fruit, and serve the rest of the sauce on the side. Using a large spoon, serve immediately.

NOTES:

To make raspberry sauce: combine two 12 ounce packages of frozen raspberries, 3/4 plus 2 TBS. sugar, and 1 TBS fresh lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer for 2 minutes. Let cool and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Chill for up to 5 days.

SOURCE: Sweet Melissa Baking Book