Pavlova With Tropical Fruit Recipe | Dessert Recipes

Best and easy pavlova recipe: A giant meringue puff’, with a crisp outside and soft, chewy interior, filled with whipped cream and fruit. This luscious dessert was created for famous ballerina Anna Pavlova, who was a frequent visitor to Australia and New Zealand, where the dessert originated. “The meringue can be baked and kept up to 1 week in an airtight container. It can also be frozen.”#

Make The Meringue: Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Using the upturned cake tin as a guide, draw a circle on the paper. Heat the oven to 120°C (250°F, Gas 1/2)

Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Sprinkle in 75 g (2 1/2 oz) of the sugar and continue whisking until glossy to make a light meringue, about 20 seconds. Sift the cornflour and remaining sugar over the egg whites and add the vinegar.

Fold the mixture together: Cut down into the centre of the bowl with the rubber spatula, scoop under the contents, and turn them over in a rolling motion. At the same time, with your other hand, turn the bowl anticlockwise. Continue folding until thoroughly mixed.

Pile the meringue in the centre of the circle drawn on the paper, making sure the meringue keeps within the line.

With the back of the large metal spoon, spread out the meringue to an even round, making a deep hollow in the centre. Bake the meringue in the heated oven until firm and very lightly coloured, 2-2 1/2 hours. TAKE CARE: If the meringue starts to brown during cooking, lower the heat and cover it loosely with foil.

Let the Pavlova cool to lukewarm, then lift it off the baking sheet with 2 large palette knives and set it on the wire rack to cool completely. When cold, peel off the paper. “The exterior of the baked meringue will become crisp as it cools, while the interior stays moist and chewy.” “Handle carefully with palette knives to ensure Pavlova remains intact.” Prepare The Pavlova Filling# With the small knife, trim the ends of the kiwi fruit. Set the fruit upright and trim off the skin in strips, working from top to bottom. “Follow curve of fruit when removing skin”

Cut the kiwi fruit crosswise into neat slices.

Cut off the plume and base of the pineapple, then peel it, working from top to bottom following the curve of the fruit. Cut deep enough to remove pineapple “eyes”

Cut the pineapple lengthwise in half, then into quarters. Cut out the core from each quarter. Cut the quarters lengthwise into strips, then crosswise into neat chunks.

Set aside a few pieces of each fruit for decoration and put the remainder in a large bowl. Sprinkle the fruit with the sugar and kirsch. Stir gently with the wooden spoon to distribute evenly, taking care not to break up any of the fruit pieces.

Make the Chantilly cream: pour the cream into a chilled bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. “Add sugar and vanilla together, once cream has formed soft peaks” How to Peel, Stone, and Cube Mango# Removing the flat, central stone, and cubing mango flesh neatly, is easy if you use this method. Cut each mango into 2 pieces lengthwise, slightly off-centre to just miss the stone. Cut the flesh away from the other side of the stone. Discard the stone.

Slash one piece in a lattice, cutting through the flesh but not the skin. Repeat with the other piece of the mango.

Holding the mango flesh upwards. push the centre of the skin with your thumbs to turn it inside out, opening the cuts of flesh to reveal cubes. Cut the cubes away from the skin. #How to Fill A Piping Bag And Pipe Rosettes#

A large star piping nozzle is used to pipe decorations of Chantilly cream and meringue with a professional finish. Drop the nozzle into the piping bag and twist, tucking the bag into the nozzle. This will prevent any cream from leaking out at toe bottom.

Fold the top of the bag over your band to form a collar and add the cream or meringue, using a rubber spatula or pastry scraper and scraping it against the bag.

When the bag is full, twist the top until there is no air left in it. When piping, hold the twisted top of the bag between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze the bag gently to press out the cream. Do not squeeze the bag with your other hand, but simply use it to help guide the nozzle as you pipe.

For a flower rosette: Hold the nozzle upright and not quite touching the surface to be decorated. Press the bag until the flower rosette is the size wanted, then stop pressing as you lift toe nozzle upwards.

For a swirled rosette: hold the nozzle near the surface to be decorated. Pressing evenly, move the nozzle in a tight circle to form the rosette. Stop pressing before lifting the nozzle. To make a ring or border of swirled rosettes, start and stop each rosette in the same place and make them all 1 clockwise or anticlockwise.

For a rope: with the tip of the nozzle on the surface to be decorated, pipe a swirl in a clockwise movement. Do not lift the nozzle, but repeat, making another swirl next to the first. Continue until the rope is completed. For a rope of double shells: hold the nozzle at a slight angle, touching the surface to be decorated. To pipe a shell, move the nozzle forwards and then up and down, back towards you, pressing evenly. Do not lift the nozzle, but continue piping shells, first in one direction, then in another, until the rope is completed. #Assemble The Pavlova#

Put the cooled Pavlova on a serving plate and spoon in half of the Chantilly cream.

Arrange the mixed fruit over the Chantilly cream.

Put the remaining Chantilly cream into the piping bag and pipe flower rosettes over the fruit Arrange the reserved fruit on top and serve immediately. “Tropical fruit is framed by circle of meringue” #TO SERVE#