Deliciously crunchy with a pillowy inside this minimal ingredient Pavlova Recipe is a delicious baked treat that is full of fun flavor, textures and is absolutely eye catching.
If you’ve never tried a Pavlova before, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…you’re missing out. This Pavlova Recipe is super simple to bake up and everyone loves it.
With readily available baking ingredients this is a fun and easy recipe that takes no time at all to put together but is cooked at a low temperature for longer period of time.
There are many ways to top this recipe, we went with the traditional whipped topping and then berries which we find to be the perfect contrast of texture and flavor..
This dessert is great all year long as it is very versatile when it comes to different flavor profiles as you can cater it to what topping that you’d like, so that makes it super fun yet interesting.
Do not let this Pavlova Recipe scare you, trust me it is super easy to make and there is no need to be intimidated by it! I know it looks intimidating but it really is not!
Some of our other favorite recipes on our site that use berries include Berry Ricotta Cake, Raspberry Icebox Cake and Lemon Blueberry Danishes.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- With minimal ingredients this whips together quickly.
- You bake low and slow to get the right texture and color.
- You can add multiple different toppings to garnish this desserts.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):
Egg whites
Super fine sugar
Vanilla extract
Cornstarch
Cream of tartar
Heavy whipping cream
Granulated sugar
Mixed fruit
Mint, optional
HOW TO MAKE A PAVLOVA RECIPE, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl (that is very clean) beat egg whites until soft peaks form (about 5 minutes).
- Add superfine sugar – ½ cup at a time, beating in between. Beat on high until stiff peaks form (maybe 2 minutes).
- Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the vanilla and beat for 1 more minute.
- Using a rubber spatula fold the cornstarch and cream of tartar into the egg whites, carefully and slowly.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using a pencil and a 9” pie dish draw a circle around the dish in the center of the parchment paper. Turn the paper over – you should still be able to see the drawn circle.
- Pour the egg white mixture into the middle of that circle and spread carefully into a mound using the circular outline as a guide. Make a kind of shallow well in the middle of the egg whites.
- Place this cookie sheet into the middle rack of the oven and immediately turn down the temperature to 200°F. Bake at this temperature for 90 minutes (do not open the oven during this time).
- After the time is up turn off the oven and open the door. Leave it ajar to slowly allow the hot air to escape.
- Allow this meringue to cool completely before starting the next steps. Once cooled begin making the cream.
- Place the cream, remaining vanilla and granulated sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread this cream mixture into the well of the meringue. Be careful during this time as the meringue is quite delicate and cracks easily.
- Wash and chop the fruit and arrange as desired on top of the cream – top with the sprig of mint for decoration.
See, how hard is that! Honestly this Pavlova Recipe is simple and such a pretty dessert that you can really wow your guests with when serving.
So far I haven’t met a person who has turned down my Pavlova, so fingers crossed that means that they love it just as much as I do.
WHAT IS A PAVLOVA?
Pavlova is a dessert from New Zealand and Australia and is named after the Russian Ballerina Anna Pavlova. It is a sort of meringue, but with a difference.
Where meringue is crunchy all the way through a Pavlova Recipe has a few different textures. The perfect Pavlova is crispy on the outside but soft and marshmallowy on the inside, due to the low cooking temperatures.
It is usually topped with whipped cream and berries, but can be swapped out for many different toppings depending on the season.
WHAT IS SUPERFINE SUGAR?
Superfine sugar is granulated sugar ground more finely. It’s called for in recipes where a faster dissolving granule is needed, such as in a meringue or this Pavlova Recipe.
You can substitute superfine sugar with granulated sugar that has been run through a food processor to make it more fine. So if you cannot find it in stores, this is a great option for your average baker.
WHAT ARE SOME ALTERNATIVE TOPPINGS?
So like I said this can be made year round and you can top it with various different things at certain times of year. Some topping ideas would be:
- Lemon Curd
- Chocolate whipped cream
- Ice Cream
- Fudge sauce
- Flavored mousse
- Yogurt
Really you can top it with anything! We like to do different flavored whipped creams like a peppermint one for the winter holidays, or a pumpkin one as well.
This Pavlova Recipe is just a fun dessert to play around with, it is a base and you can build what flavors you like off of that base and that is the best part because it goes with pretty much anything.
HOW TO STORE:
This Pavlova Recipe can stay at room temperature but only for a few hours. After this, place in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This can a also be frozen, to do this do not too with whipped topping. For best results wrap the Pavlova in double wrapped plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. When thawing, remove the wrapping and let stand at room temperature, it will only take about 3 hours to thaw.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- If you can’t find superfine sugar, place granulated sugar in a food processor until it becomes very fine.
- You can top this with whatever you’d like! See some of my suggestions above.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- When making this DO NOT open the oven while it is baking, this can cause it to deflate and we do not want that.
- You can use cool whip in replacement of making your own whipped cream if desired.
If you want that perfect recipe that is fun, versatile and absolutely delicious for any time of year then you need to make this Pavlova Recipe!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried this PAVLOVA RECIPE or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Pavlova Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 Large Egg Whites
- 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
- 1 1/2 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract divided
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp cream of Tartar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tbs granulated sugar
- 2 cups mixed fruit
- Mint sprig optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl (that is very clean) beat egg whites until soft peaks form (about 5 minutes).
- Add superfine sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating in between. Beat on high until stiff peaks form (maybe 2 minutes).
- Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the vanilla and beat 1 more minute.
- Using a rubber spatula fold the cornstarch and cream of tartar into the egg whites, carefully and slowly.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using a pencil and a 9” pie dish draw a circle around the dish in the center of the parchment paper. Turn the paper over – you should still be able to see the drawn circle.
- Pour the egg white mixture into the middle of that circle and spread carefully into a mound using the circular outline as a guide. Make a kind of shallow well in the middle of the egg whites.
- Place the cookie sheet into the middle rack of the oven and immediately turn down the temperature to 200°F. Bake at this temperature for 90 minutes (do not open the oven during this time).
- After the time is up turn off the oven and open the door. Leave it ajar to slowly allow the hot air to escape.
- Allow this to cool completely before starting the next steps. Once cooled begin making the cream.
- Place the heavy cream, remaining vanilla and granulated sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Spread this cream mixture into the well of the meringue. Be careful during this time as the meringue is quite delicate and cracks easily.
- Wash and chop the fruit and arrange as desired on top of the cream – top with the mint sprig for decoration.
Notes
- If you can't find superfine sugar, place granulated sugar in a food processor until it becomes very fine.
- You can top this with whatever you'd like! See some of my suggestions above.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- When making this DO NOT open the oven while it is baking, this can cause it to deflate and we do not want that.
- If you don't want to make you own homemade whipped cream you can use cool whip.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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