Pavlova
A meringue with cornflour and vinegar stirred through, baked low and left in the cooling oven so the shell crisps over a marshmallow middle.
- Prep
- 25m
- Cook
- 1h 30m
- Waiting
- 4h
- Total
- 5h 55m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 6 | Whisk to stiff glossy peaks, then fold in the starch and acid 12m Rub a little between finger and thumb — any grit means the sugar has not dissolved. | Spread into a 20 cm disc with a shallow hollow in the middle 5m Build the sides up. The hollow holds the cream and gives you the marshmallow centre. | Bake at 120°C / 250°F for 90 minutes 1h 30m This is drying, not baking. It should stay ivory, never tan. | Cool in the switched-off oven, door shut, for at least 4 hours 4h Overnight is better. Cracks are caused by cooling faster than the shell can contract. | Top with cream and fruit no more than an hour before serving 10m Sugar is hygroscopic. Once the cream goes on, the shell starts dissolving. | |
| 330 g | ||||||
| 2 tsp | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 400 g | ||||||
| 400 g | ||||||
-
Whisk to stiff glossy peaks, then fold in the starch and acid
12m- egg whites 6
- caster sugar 330 g
- cornflour 2 tsp
- white wine vinegar 1 tsp
- vanilla extract 1 tsp
Rub a little between finger and thumb — any grit means the sugar has not dissolved.
-
Spread into a 20 cm disc with a shallow hollow in the middle
5m- from 1 Whisk to stiff glossy peaks, then fold in the starch and acid
Build the sides up. The hollow holds the cream and gives you the marshmallow centre.
-
Bake at 120°C / 250°F for 90 minutes
1h 30m- from 2 Spread into a 20 cm disc with a shallow hollow in the middle
This is drying, not baking. It should stay ivory, never tan.
-
Cool in the switched-off oven, door shut, for at least 4 hours
4h- from 3 Bake at 120°C / 250°F for 90 minutes
Overnight is better. Cracks are caused by cooling faster than the shell can contract.
-
Top with cream and fruit no more than an hour before serving
10m- from 4 Cool in the switched-off oven, door shut, for at least 4 hours
- double cream 400 g
- raspberries and passionfruit 400 g
Sugar is hygroscopic. Once the cream goes on, the shell starts dissolving.
What the cornflour and vinegar do
A plain meringue dries all the way through to a hard biscuit. Acid lowers the pH and hinders the egg-white proteins from bonding too tightly, while the starch granules absorb free water and physically block protein strands from linking. Between them they leave a portion of the interior as an unset, moist gel — the marshmallow layer that separates a pavlova from a meringue nest. The sugar matters too, at 55 g per white, because dissolved sugar holds water and stops the foam draining.
Notes
- Wipe the bowl with lemon juice or vinegar first. Any fat at all and the whites will not climb.
- Add the sugar slowly. Dumped in, it deflates the foam and weeps syrup in the oven.
- The unfilled shell keeps three days in an airtight tin. Assemble at the table.