After experimenting with lowering the amounts of sugar to egg whites, this is the lowest I have gone so far. Prepare and cook the pavlova meringue a day before decorating and serving, as it needs to cool overnight in the oven.
Ingredients:
Meringue:
Medium egg whites (at room temperature) – 4
Sugar – 200g
White wine vinegar – 1tsp
Cornflour – 2tsp
Vanilla essence – 1tsp
Filling:
Double cream (very very cold, straight form the fridge) – 150ml
Yoghurt (Greek is best, but natural will also do; just add less or it will be too runny) – 150ml
Icing sugar – 1tbsp
Decoration:
Whole berries for decoration
Blackberries – 100g
Raspberries – 100g
Sugar – 2tbsp
Lemon zest – 1/2lemon
Lemon juice – 1tsp
Cornflour – 1tsp
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 100 C Fan.
On the underside of baking paper, draw 2 circles 17cm in diameter.
Make sure the glass or metal bowl and whisk that you are using are spotless. You can always spray them with vinegar and wipe it down with a paper towel to be sure. Put the egg whites, cornflour and white wine vinegar into your bowl. The white wine vinegar and cornflour create a chewy texture inside the meringue. You can leave these out if you prefer a dry meringue, but this stops being a pavlova. Whisk until foamy. PHOTO
Start to add the sugar a little bit at a time whilst whipping to stiff and glossy peaks. PHOTO
Once stiff and glossy add the vanilla, whisk a little bit to combine.
Pipe the mixture onto your prepared baking paper, making sure that the pencil marks are on the underside. PHOTO
Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Once your pavlova is baked, turn the oven off, and leave it in there to cool overnight.
Make the sauce. Put the berries, sugar and lemon zest into a saucepan and cook for about 20 minutes. Mix the cornflour with the lemon juice, and add into the saucepan. Cook until thickened. Cool in a bowl covered in clingfilm, making sure that the clingfilm is in contact with the sauce to prevent a film from forming.
Make the cream filling. Whip the double cream until stiff, then add the yoghurt and sugar.
To decorate the pavlova, pipe the cream onto one circle, drizzle the sauce, then arrange the berries in a pretty pattern. PHOTO
Cover with the second circle and decorate in the same way. Serve immediately, the more time it stands, the more soggy the meringue will become.
