Tom and I recently hosted two other couples at our house for dinner and Tom was nice enough to take care of almost the entire dinner menu. My only responsibilities were dinner rolls (I made Japanese Milk Bread Rolls) and dessert. I wanted to make a light dessert and a pavlova seemed like a great option.
I had never made a pavlova before, but I was certainly familiar with the dish -- and I had always encountered it as a single layer of meringue, generally free-form in shape. I had never seen a three-layer pavlova, much less one with straight-sided meringue baked in a pan. I love baking layer cakes and I think that's why this particular pavlova recipe appealed to me -- it's basically the pavlova version of a layer cake.
To make the pavlova batter, you beat egg whites with salt until they hold soft peaks; gradually add a mixture of granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch that has been run through a food processor; add a mixture of white vinegar and vanilla; and beat until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks. You divide the meringue between three 8-inch pans that have been buttered, dusted with powdered sugar, and lined with a circle of parchment. You bake the meringues and cool them in the turned-off oven with the door ajar.
After the meringues were cool, I turned them out of the pans. They were quite fragile and cracked easily, so I decided to minimize handling and left the layers upside down instead of inverting them back to right side up.
For the fruit I used a mixture of raspberries, blackberries, and quartered strawberries; the berries gave off quite a bit of juice after I tossed them with sugar and left them at room temperature. Right before our dinner guests arrived, I assembled the pavlova. I put one meringue layer on a serving platter, spread on a mixture of sour cream beaten with heavy cream to soft peaks, spooned on some fruit and juice, and then repeated this process with the remaining two layers. I put the assembled dessert in the fridge until we were ready to eat dessert, which was almost three hours after I assembled it.
The pavlova was a mess to serve. The layers didn't stay together after I sliced it and everyone received a jumbled pile of meringue, fruit, and juice on their dessert plates. Even though it could have been mistaken for an Eton Mess, the pavlova was a huge hit. The meringue was so light, with a crisp exterior and soft interior. I could taste the brown sugar, which imparted a hint of caramel-y flavor to the meringue. And while the meringue was sweet, it was balanced out by the unsweetened sour cream-heavy cream filling and the fruit. Our guests raved about this dessert and the six of us finished the entire pavlova down to the last crumb.
I love decadent sweets as much as the next person, but sometimes it's so nice to finish dinner with a light and refreshing dessert. And while I'm usually finicky about my desserts looking beautiful, I didn't mind that this turned into a total mess after I served it. Every disheveled bite was fantastic.
Recipe: "Three-Layer Berry and Brown Sugar Palova" from epicurious.com.
I had never made a pavlova before, but I was certainly familiar with the dish -- and I had always encountered it as a single layer of meringue, generally free-form in shape. I had never seen a three-layer pavlova, much less one with straight-sided meringue baked in a pan. I love baking layer cakes and I think that's why this particular pavlova recipe appealed to me -- it's basically the pavlova version of a layer cake.
To make the pavlova batter, you beat egg whites with salt until they hold soft peaks; gradually add a mixture of granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch that has been run through a food processor; add a mixture of white vinegar and vanilla; and beat until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks. You divide the meringue between three 8-inch pans that have been buttered, dusted with powdered sugar, and lined with a circle of parchment. You bake the meringues and cool them in the turned-off oven with the door ajar.
For the fruit I used a mixture of raspberries, blackberries, and quartered strawberries; the berries gave off quite a bit of juice after I tossed them with sugar and left them at room temperature. Right before our dinner guests arrived, I assembled the pavlova. I put one meringue layer on a serving platter, spread on a mixture of sour cream beaten with heavy cream to soft peaks, spooned on some fruit and juice, and then repeated this process with the remaining two layers. I put the assembled dessert in the fridge until we were ready to eat dessert, which was almost three hours after I assembled it.
The pavlova was a mess to serve. The layers didn't stay together after I sliced it and everyone received a jumbled pile of meringue, fruit, and juice on their dessert plates. Even though it could have been mistaken for an Eton Mess, the pavlova was a huge hit. The meringue was so light, with a crisp exterior and soft interior. I could taste the brown sugar, which imparted a hint of caramel-y flavor to the meringue. And while the meringue was sweet, it was balanced out by the unsweetened sour cream-heavy cream filling and the fruit. Our guests raved about this dessert and the six of us finished the entire pavlova down to the last crumb.
I love decadent sweets as much as the next person, but sometimes it's so nice to finish dinner with a light and refreshing dessert. And while I'm usually finicky about my desserts looking beautiful, I didn't mind that this turned into a total mess after I served it. Every disheveled bite was fantastic.
Recipe: "Three-Layer Berry and Brown Sugar Palova" from epicurious.com.
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