Sunday, 19 August 2012

Summer Pavlova


Back from a lovely week of holiday in Devon at Upcott Farm  and back to reality at home. I had my sister's 20th Birthday lunch and have been busy looking for jobs, catching up with friends & earning some pennies.  With the weather pretty darn fine at the moment I've made this pudding two weekends in a row now. Last weekend for my sister's birthday & this weekend for a dinner party at home. It is a fab summer pudding for two reasons ... Firstly, for the maker it is not a taxing or hot bake to make in the heat. Secondly, for the eaters it is not a heavy pudding to manage & perfect after a barbecue banquet! I somehow always manage to find room for pudding ... the cream filling alternative (I'm not cream's biggest fan) is a much fresher option. So if you have an occasion coming up & you need an impressive but simple pudding ... opt for this! 

Serves 10-12
Pre-heat the oven to 150°C
Bake to perfection for 40 minutes 
Cool in the oven for 1 hour

You will need the following:

4 Egg Whites
225g Golden Caster Sugar

500g Fromage Frais
200g Marscapone 
400g-ish Strawberries (as many as you like really)

Method:

Separate your eggs & place the whites in a bowl ... whisk!
Start on a low setting for the first 2 minutes then whack up to the highest speed setting for a good 3 or 4 more minutes

You want to whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, stick with it, be brave, it will take a while. 

When it looks like this spoon in the sugar, one spoon at a time, whilst continuing to whisk the meringue mix

Continue on for another couple of minutes until all of the sugar has been mixed in and the mix forms stiff peaks. 
You should be able to tip your beaters & the mixture stay still on the beaters

Line a baking tray with baking parchment & then grease the baking parchment with butter ...

Form the base of the pavlova by dolloping 2 heaped tablespoons of the mixture the baking parchment & spread it out into a circle using the back of a spoon


The base will be roughly 1cm in depth

Like in my meringue recipe make dollops of mixture around the edge of your base.
You want to make sure the dollops are half on the edge of the base and half off the edge of the base
 

 Before putting your meringues into the oven turn it down to 140°C
Bake to perfection in the oven for 40 minutes. 
When you reach this time turn your oven off and leave your meringues inside to cool down 

Mix together the fromage frais & marscapone


Then pour it into the centre of the meringue

Top with strawberries & any other fruit of your choice 

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