Gooey, chewy meringue, piled high with whipped cream and summer berries is the best sort of pudding to eat in the garden after a barbecue or picnic.
You can use any summer berries or fruit you love. I used strawberries and raspberries because they are in season, super ripe and cheap. And blackberries because they grow for free in my garden, they're fat, juicy and tart. It’s nice to have a bit of sourness to counteract the sweet meringue.
You can add some icing sugar (a sieved tablespoon) to the whipped cream to sweeten it, but I find the meringue already sweet enough to be able to take on unsweetened cream and fruit.
Needless to say ALL children love this pudding. They might not eat every single bit, but there is enough there for them to pick through the bits they find irresistible…..
Miraculous ingredient: Burford Brown eggs, fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries
Pavlova with berries and whipped cream (meringue)
Ingredients
Meringue
4 large egg whites
200g caster sugar (I like using golden caster)
500ml whipping cream
A punnet of strawberries, stalks removed and cut into ¼’s
A punnet of raspberries
A punnet of blackberries
Method
Pre heat the oven to 150C.
Cover a metal baking sheet with a large piece of parchment baking paper and use a large dinner plate to trace around the edge with a pencil – this is so you know how much to spread out the meringue.
In a very clean, dry mixing bowl whip the egg whites on a medium speed until they are firm (about 5 minutes). Gradually add the caster sugar and once all the sugar has been mixed into the egg whites, continue to whip at a high speed for 8 minutes. The meringue should be stiff glossy white whipped peaks.
Dot a little bit of the meringue mix onto the bottom of the parchment paper and stick it to the baking sheet – this will stop the parchment moving around while you try and shape your pavlova.
Spoon the meringue into the traced outline of the dinner plate on the parchment paper. Make the edges slightly higher than the inside (drop small blobs of meringue around the outer side of the circle) so the whipped cream and berries can sit easily in the middle of the meringue once it’s baked.
Place the meringue in the oven for 1 hour. Once the meringue has baked, remove from the oven and place the parchment paper with the baked meringue on a wooden board to cool down.
While the meringue is cooling, whip the cream, wash, dry and prepare the berries.
Just before you serve the pavlova, spoon the whipped cream into the middle of the meringue and pile on the berries.
Preparation time 20 minutes, baking 1 hour, serves 6 adults