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Pavlova

Name: Pavlova
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 785 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 6 piece egg whites; 1 pinch salt; 500 ml caster sugar (2 cups); 1.5 tsp vinegar; 1.5 tsp vanilla essence; 1.5 tsp cornflour; whipped cream and fresh fruit, to fill

A large meringue with a crisp shell and a soft, marshmallow centre, filled with whipped cream and fresh fruit. New Zealand and Australia both have a claim to it. This is the recipe from Edmonds, New Zealand's best-known cookery brand.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 8
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 45 min
Resting: 12 h
Total: 13 h 5
Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Electric mixer
Baking tray and baking paper; pencil
Two spatulas; serving plate

Servings8

Ingredients

Shopping list

Method

Heat the oven to 150 °C. Line a baking tray with baking paper, draw a 20 cm circle and turn the paper over.
Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff, then add the sugar very gradually, still beating. Beat 5 minutes more to dissolve the sugar.
Why Undissolved sugar weeps out as syrup in the oven.
Timer · 5 min5:00
Slow the mixer and add the vinegar, vanilla and cornflour.
Why Vinegar and cornflour keep the centre soft and marshmallowy under the crisp shell.
Pile the meringue in the centre of the circle and spread it to the edge, keeping it round and even. Make a slight dip in the top.
Bake 45 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave the pavlova to cool inside overnight.
Why Cooling slowly in the closed oven stops the shell cracking and collapsing.
Timer · 45 min45:00
Lift carefully onto a plate with two spatulas. Fill the dip with whipped cream and fresh fruit just before serving.

Substitutions

Fruit → Edmonds just says fresh fruit; kiwifruit, berries and passionfruit are common.

Common mistakes

Adding the sugar all at once: the whites collapse.
Opening the oven while it cools: the meringue cracks and sinks.
Filling it too early: the cream softens the shell.

Storage & reheating

Unfilled, keep the meringue in an airtight container for 1–2 days. Once filled, eat within a few hours.

Safety

Check the cornflour label for gluten: cornflour can be made from maize or from wheat.

Allergens

Egg · Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian

Two countries, one ballerina

The pavlova is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Edmonds' account is that a lofty meringue cake evolved slowly in both Australia and New Zealand, and that the name arrived in 1935 when Bert Sachse, chef at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth, named his cake after her; it adds that Sachse later acknowledged taking the recipe from a 1929 New Zealand cookery book, The New Zealand Dairy Exporter. That is the New Zealand side of a disputed story.

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Crisp outside, soft inside

Edmonds uses six whites to two cups of caster sugar, beaten for a further five minutes after the last of the sugar so it dissolves. A little vinegar and cornflour folded in at the end give the soft centre. The pavlova bakes for 45 minutes at 150 °C and then dries in the switched-off oven overnight.

[1]

How it connects

Wine region

origin New Zealand
related Australia