I made pavlova and so can you
Pavlova, fluffy and crispy and with insides that tastes like how I imagine clouds would taste like. Of course being the reasonably mature chap that I am, I know clouds would disappoint. Like snow. One always imagines snow as being fluffy essentially temperature neutral powder. Instead it is this cold crunchy stuff. How life disappoints!
On with the cooking! So, assemble the ingredients listed here. Yes yes, we all hate Donna Hay, but thankfully she is not the recipe. So we can cook it while maintaing our smug dislike of the bronzed ‘food stylist’.
Separate your eggs—you want the whites. You can do that precious from one shell to another shell transferring method, but I like doing it my hands. Egg yolks always remind me of canned apricots. Be careful however, as apparently the slightest trace of yolk etc will DESTROY EVERYTHING AND THEN YOU WILL BE SAD! The mixing bowl should be dry and clean, obvs.
Now whisk until you have the start of a range of stiff white mountains with an electric mixer or somesort. It’s a bit tricky to know when they’re exactly ready, but they shouldn’t move. You can even hold them upside down above your head and nothing will happen. Now gradually add the sugar, bit by bit and continue to whisk. They should also be fairly glossy, like the coat of Spirit, mighty stallion of the Cimarron (whatever that is.) Stiff, too. An analogy between stiffness and a horse would be in the poorest of taste.
Now add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk just a tiny bit until everything is combined. Transfer your mountains to an oven tray lined with some baking paper. I really love baking paper. I don’t love the greaseproof paper that we’ve mistakenly been using as baking paper, however. Shape into an 18 centimetre roundish sort of cake like shape.
You can taste the mixture, although doing it before adding the vinegar/cornflour is best. Mmm, sweet eggs. Oh! Get ready to have your world rocked: corn flour isn’t made form corn! It’s just fine regular wheat flour. Truth in labelling, sit on that.
Bake in the oven for an hour and 20 minutes then leave to cool. It’ll probably turn out pretty good. It’s satisfying, in a way.
I have a love/hate relationship with passionfruit seeds.
Now! You can either prepare the whole thing with cream and fruit, or cut it into individual slices and add the bits later. Whatever you choose, I recommend whipped cream and raspberries—the lazy berry—and passionfruit. Delicious. And easy. And Australian. There’s nothing like a dessert that is delicious and patriotic.
