It was so easy and so simple and tasted absolutely yummy. For an easy tasty dinner, give this one a go.
For dessert I was craving one of my sisters amazing pavs that she just seems to whip up on a whim. They too are so delish and the combination of pav, fresh berries and cream is to die for.
It was my first attempt at creating meringue and it wasn't too bad. My sister shared a pav secret afterwards and told me that once you have cooked the meringue you should leave it in the oven until stone cold or even better, over night. I pulled mine out too early, so the middle was a little soft and undercooked. But we managed to pick at the outside on Sunday morning until it was all but finished.
I again used the great book that my friend Katie gave me for the pav, Country Classics.
Here is the recipe.
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
1.5 cups castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons cornflour
1 teaspoon vinegar
whipped cream and fruit or chocolate to decorate
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Cover the baking tray with baking paper or foil that has been slightly greased and dusted with cornflour. Beat egg whites and salt until very stiff. Slowly add sugar and keep beating for a minute or two. Fold vanilla essence, cornflour and vinegar. Heap mixture onto the baking tray in a circle about 5-cm high. Bake for 1.5 hours. Take out of the oven, remove paper and place cake on pavlova plate. Decorate with whipped cream and your choice of fruits or grated chocolate peppermint bar.
I had to jig some of the ingredients like vinegar, as there was no white vinegar here that I could fine, I opted for the üzüm sirkesi (grape) type that I had in the pantry. It did the job and didn't flavour the pav badly. I also had run out of vanilla essence so I bought vanilla sugar instead as there is no liquid essence type at the supermarket.
