Mum’s Pavlova Recipe
When my parents first migrated to Australia, they were put up by a nice Aussie couple while they found their feet. The couple (now a family) have since moved up to Gosford, but my parents still keep in occasional contact with them. It was from them that mum learnt how to make a pretty darn good Pavlova. The recipe is fairly easy to follow.
Meringue case
4 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
0.5 teasp corn flour
0.5 teasp vinegar
1 teasp vanilla essenceTopping
300mL whipped cream (you can whip fresh cream yourself)
3 teasp icing sugar
0.5 teasp vanilla essence
1 large passionfruit
strawberries, kiwifruit, etcDirections
- Beat egg whites (with a mixer) until quite stiff.
- Add sugar in little bits at a time (maybe one fifth of a cup at a time),
beating well after each addition.- Mix in the cornflour with the last amount of sugar which is added in.
- When the sugar and cornflour is all added, fold in the vinegar and
vanilla essence. This mixture is the meringue casing.- Put greaseproof paper on a greased baking tray and sprinkle the paper
with cornflour so it reduces the case sticking to it.- Dump all the meringue made onto the paper into one big dollop and, using
a spatular, gently shape it. Typically, it’ll be into a circle about 20cm in
diameter. Note that the meringue will expand a fair bit in the oven, so take
that into account.- Bake in a preheated oven at 120-130°C (for a fan forced oven. Try a
slightly higher temperature for a conventional oven). Leave for 1.5 to 2
hours or until meringue is crisp.- Turn oven off and allow casing to cool. Loosen the casing from the paper.
- Mix the icing sugar and vanilla essence with the whipped cream and spread
on top of the meringue.- Decorate with sliced fruit and passionfruit pulp.
Serves 8-10
Cooking time: 2-2.5 hours, including waiting time
Refrigerate to keep fresh. If bringing over to a friend’s house, make the case
first and only top it once over there.
4:19pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow 
