Pavlova

Is there anything that screams out Australia more than pavlova? I've not made a pavlova for almost the whole year (pavlova and / or lamingtons were on my list for Australia Day baking) as my last place just didn't inspire me to cook that much. Its also another one of those things where you can't really make a small pavlova (else you just end up with meringue) so the key is actually having people to eat it. Apparently in this case I was meant to pile up the mango on top instead of creating a jigsaw ... oops.



Anyway since we were feeding 5 people, one of which is mega pavlova fan, I thought it was high time to put into action:

• The silicon baking mat. Ermahgerd (I think I heard some young person saying this so I'm adopting it ... is this a ridiculous way of writing omg?) ... I love how this is non stick and doesn't require the annoyance of baking paper!!!


• My cake turntable, courtesy of Miss L. Icing cakes suddenly just became sooooo much easier.


• New scrapers, courtesy of Miss L again (although I do love my palette knives still ... see the small collection below)


• Convenience of egg whites in a tetrapak - see my post here

The other thing of course is that pavlova is another easy recipe with minimal ingredients - though I do suggest making this at least several hours ahead of time (or the night before) to allow time for the pavlova to cool down. Here's the one I used which is adapted from Stephanie Alexander:

Pavlova ingredients

• 4 egg whites at room temperature (or 8 tablespoons of tetrapak egg whites or a combination)


• Pinch of salt


• 220g-ish castor sugar (recipe states 250g, but I tend to reduce this. Having said that don't reduce by too much, else the pav won't "set")


• 2 teaspoons of cornflour


• 1 teaspoon vinegar (recipe calls for white-wine vinegar but as I didn't have any I went for rice vinegar... it made no difference)


• Spoon of vanilla

Topping is just whipped cream (a tub of whipping cream will more than suffice .. if you have a tendency to overwhip cream like I do, no panic as you can always pour in some milk and regain a nice whipped consistency) and whatever fruit you like. In my case, I had raspberries and mango. I think in my ideal pavlova world I'd have strawberries, passionfruit, mango, kiwi, banana... but alas its the middle of winter in the UK. Summer fruit fail.

Method

1. Preheat to 180 degrees and put baking paper on a tray (or use a silicon mat if you have one).


2. Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form


3. Gradually add in sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks form


4. Add in cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and fold into the mix


5. Put it on the baking tray in a circle (or whatever shape you want) and smooth sides and top with a palette knife or scraper.


6. Put in oven and reduce heat to 150 degrees and bake for 30 min. Then reduce to 120 and cook for 45 min.


7. Wait for it to cool then top with whipped cream and fruit.

Note to step 5: because my oven is really dodgy, even with an oven thermometer I wasn't able to calibrate the heat properly, and I'm totally bad at keeping time (but not bad enough for me to justify buying a kitchen timer since I just monitor the food more closely instead). Make sure you watch your pavlova so it doesn't burn on top; if its looking a bit too tanned turn the heat right down (or off if its been baking for awhile already) and just leave him in there until the oven cools down.



 

Happy eating everyone!

Easy egg whites

Anyone who is into making desserts will know the value of egg whites - macarons, fluffy sponges, meringues, pavlova, mousse etc. just to name a few. Egg are the one of the most versatile foods I know of, and egg whites enable wonderfully light and fluffy textures to be achieved in desserting and caking.

Problem: what to do with the egg yolks? There's only so much ice cream and custard I make, and if I'm completely yolked out, even chucking it into fried rice or instant noodles seems unappealing.

Solution: egg whites in a tetrapak - genius! I was so excited to see a flyer about this at the Cake & Bake show last month and when I saw it quite by accident in my local Waitrose when I was looking for something else, my day was completely made. The packet was even kind enough to rattle off some of the health benefits to me...

I can't wait to be able to weigh out egg whites for macarons without having to worry about how many dozens of eggs to buy. In fact, whats even better is that the pack has 15 liquid egg whites and the expiry date for the unopened pack isn't for another 4 weeks so I can go completely nuts on the desserts next weekend (have still yet to pick up a macaron piping tip and print out some templates for piping them).

Update - Two Chicks is awesome for desserts. It whips up superfast (like 30s vs 1-2 min for freshly cracked eggs), its easy to measure to the gram, and there's no wastage. Brilliant!

On a less eggy note, my friend JLO has a few food allergies (including eggs), so whilst this has solved the egg yolk wastage problem and facilitated easier dessert making, I've still got to hunt around for an alternative before doing some vegan style baking experiments with his partner Miss E. I've found that vegan cake has tended to have a heavier and denser texture and lack the springiness and lightness that eggs provide. I think its the "glueyness" of eggs in the batter that makes a difference, and there's no ingredient like it! I have read about the Ener-G egg replacer which I've never seen in shops (but is apparently on Amazon) and see how it goes.

In the meantime, any other suggestions welcome!