Summer 2023Individual pavlovas

by Natasha Brown - owner of Brown’s Cakes

These individual pavlovas are exquisite! They take a lot of mixing, and once baked need to be left in the oven overnight, so they need making in advance, but they are well worth the effort.

Crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, they leave shop-bought meringue nests for dust!

Ingredients

• 110g egg whites (from approximately 4 medium eggs)
• 175g caster sugar
• ½ tablespoon (5g) cornflour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest from a dry lemon

For decoration

• 250ml double cream
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Fruit of your choice

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 150°C . F

ind something approximately 5 or 6cm in diameter which you can draw round to create 8 circles on a piece of baking paper. Repeat on a second sheet.

Place these sheets onto baking trays with the pencil line on the back of the sheet so that when you bake the meringues the pencil doesn’t transfer onto the meringue.

Make sure all your equipment is very clean and dry as any water or grease can prevent your egg whites from thickening.

For the meringue:

Separate the egg whites making sure that you don’t get any yolk in them. Weighing the egg whites is best as eggs vary in size and weight.

Beat the egg whites at a medium speed (not a fast speed as although this would be quicker, it can cause problems with the meringue). Once the egg whites form soft peaks slow the whisk a little and beat in the caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Make sure the sugar is well mixed in before adding the next spoonful. When all the sugar is mixed in, turn the whisk back up to medium and beat the mixture until all the sugar is dissolved. If you rub a little of the mixture between your fingers, it should feel smooth, not gritty.

Mix the cornflour with the lemon juice to make a thin paste and add this along with the lemon zest into the meringue mixture and beat them together.

Spoon the mixture to fill the circles on the baking paper and swirl the meringue to create a dip in the centre.

Turn the oven down to 110°C and place the baking trays in the oven.

Bake the meringues for 40 minutes then turn the oven off and leave them in the oven to cool overnight.

To decorate:

Whip the cream at a medium speed. Once it’s thick add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth and thick.

Spoon the cream onto the pavlovas and decorate with chopped fruit. All fruit works well with pavlovas so anything in season goes.

I love the physalis that I used on these as they give such a dramatic finish to the little desserts.