Strawberry and Vanilla Pavlova

This was one of last year’s most successful recipes, so I’m delighted it’s being included again. Meringue can be tricky if you don’t have the right recipe, but dead easy if you do! What we’re aiming for here is light as a whisper on the outside and soft and chewy within. It’s my belief that the secret of successful meringues of any sort is to let them dry out completely, which is what this method does perfectly. It’s a given that this is one of the great desserts of all time.

Method

For the meringue, place the egg whites in a large clean bowl and whisk them until they form stiff peaks (it’s very important to whisk slowly at first and not to over-whisk the egg whites because, if you do, they will start to collapse).

Now start to whisk in the 175g sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition until all the sugar is in. Then take a metal tablespoon and spoon about one third of the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, forming a circle about 20cm in diameter.

Then, spoon round blobs next to each other so that they join up to form a circle all around the edge. Now, using the tip of a skewer, make little swirls in the meringue. Pop it in the oven, then immediately turn down the heat to 140ºC, gas mark 1 and leave it for 1 hour. Then turn the heat off, leaving the pavlova inside the oven until cold.

When you’re ready to serve the pavlova (up to an hour ahead) whisk the filling ingredients together. Now put one third of the strawberries into a mini chopper or a processor with the 1 dessertspoon of sugar. Whizz to a purée, then sieve into a bowl. Halve the remaining strawberries leaving the small ones whole.

Then lift the pavlova from the baking sheet, peel off the paper and place it on a serving dish. Next, spoon the vanilla cream into the centre, arrange the strawberries on top, dust with a little sifted icing sugar and
pour the purée over just before serving, cut into wedges.

Notes on ingredients
You can make this recipe using 3 medium whites and 155g sugar.

Nutrition 361kcals/41.9g carbohydrate/41.9g sugars/20g fat/13.7g saturated fat/0.2g salt per serving