A Gorgeous Delight for Christmas Parties  The Pavlova

The Christmas season is the welcoming call for parties and well… parties. The coming out of the sun means we pick up the phone and call our mates and family, invite them over, and enjoy the heat together. We prepare our barbecue grill, grill a freshly carved out steak, and pour some Australian barbecue sauce to get the party going. 

But what’s a party without dessert? One does not simply throw a party that does not have dessert on the menu. When talking about summers and desserts, and Australia, there is only one name that springs to mind. Pavlova. It’s elegant yet simple, brilliant yet modest, and on top of it all… it tastes like something straight from heaven. Thank goodness for whoever came up with the idea of a meringue base, topped with fresh cream and fruit. 

Getting back to topic though, the pavlova is not the most difficult to make either. It’s a dessert that does not need the day to be a special occasion. The fact that we don’t always want to boast a towering cake baked with some of the most delightful ingredients in the world is what makes pavlova special. These crispy-on-the-outside, tender-and-chewy-on-the-inside meringue spectacles are the perfect recipe when you really need to bring the house down.

An Australian delight that is named after the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova for reasons unknown. While we don’t know about you, but we for one would have loved to have something this good named after us.

There are quite a few stories attached to the pavlova, but the one that seems most logical is the one that says its meringue base somewhat resembles a ballet tutu. 

Now that we know all about the pavlova, how about we tell you how we make this delicacy from Australia in the most Australian way at the Love Boomers. It’s more than just sugar, spice, and everything nice… it is a step further than that. 

What we need is four egg whites, 200 grams of golden castor sugar, lets start by whipping the egg white until they look like sea foam. Gently add the golden castor sugar gradually mixing well in between each addition. Beat until it looks thick and glossy, and continue until you could see yourself in it. Add one teaspoon of cornflour with one teaspoon of lemon juice and whisk very gently in the mix.

We then bake it in the shape you desire. After baking it for around 15 to 20 minutes, on about 140 celsius, personally I like to leave it in the oven with the heat off and the door slightly open overnight to get a great crunch on the outside. If you just want to pull it out and cool thats perfectly fine too.

Then comes the best part, the finishing touches with the topping. You can top it with absolutely anything you like. We generally use and recommend blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. Finally, dust with icing sugar on top of your fruit and fall in love with desserts all over again.

As this one is for Christmas I make two identical wreaths and sandwich them together top with sugar coated blueberries then add a giant bow.  

Enjoy Tracey x