Before I get to the recipe, remember me telling you about Charlie Louie from Hotly Spiced and her series on paying it forward? I think that’s such a wonderful thing to do. She’s been making recipes from every blog she features. I won’t step on her thunder but I want to pay it forward too.
So many of us sit at our computers or work in our kitchens all alone. We don’t have anyone to offer an attagirl or attaboy. We have to be strong enough to do that for ourselves and sometimes it’s tough. Enter Charlie who’s pointing out the work of some of her favourite bloggers from around the world. What a great way to let a fellow blogger know that their hard work is noticed.
Today, I’d like to share my friend Tania from My Kitchen Stories with you. Tania is an accomplished chef, world traveler, mother of one, works at a high-end Italian import company AND produces this good blog. On top of all that, she creates wonderful, quirky cakes. Like this one for her niece the ballerina that needed to be just the right shade of aqua because that’s the birthday girl’s favourite colour. That baked ricotta with pesto up on top is her creation too.
Tania lives in Sydney and we’ve met a few times at blogger events around the country but we were fast friends before we were ever in the same room together. She’s a what you see is what you get type of person. When you ask her a question, know that her answer will be from the heart. Recently we caught up at the Eat Drink Blog conference in Brisbane. She arrived early and had dinner with John and me and we laughed all night.
If you haven’t met Tania before, please visit My Kitchen Stories. She’s great fun and an outstanding cook, plus — she makes an outstanding friend and who has too many of those?
The other day I made some lemon curd and had egg whites left over. I could have made macarons but John’s not fond of them (he’s an idiot, I know!) or I could make one of the few desserts he’ll eat, pavlova. Being the ever dutiful wife, I made the pavlova.
Before you think I’m good, I decided on the pavlova because I had three punnets of blueberries in the refrigerator (they are really inexpensive now). I love blueberries. I ended up using one in some muffins, one on the pavlova and the other I sat there and ate the berries one by one. No sharesies.
A pavlova is ridiculously easy to make. It’s just egg whites, sugar and a pinch of cream of tartar. Some people use white vinegar to stabilize the egg whites and some don’t use any stabilizer at all. I’ve never tried the vinegar because I’ve been successful with both adding nothing or a pinch of cream of tartar.
I don’t use a recipe for meringue or pavlova any more. If you know the ratio for egg whites to sugar, it’s easy! I measure my egg whites and double the number in sugar. For the cream of tartar I measure the egg whites in a measuring cup, divide that number in half and pretend it’s teaspoons. For instance, 1 cup of egg whites divided in half equals 1/2 cup and pretend that’s a teaspoon or 1/2 teaspoon.
Have I confused you yet? It seems really simple but then I was writing it down and it seems complicated. I never have a cup of egg whites leftover and eggs all weigh differently. It’s tough to cut an egg white in half. This method works for me.
- 244 grams egg whites (1 cup) at room temperature
- 2 cups caster (super fine) sugar
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¾ cup cream
- 2 teaspoons icing sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Measure your egg whites, double that number - that's the sugar amount
- Figure half the egg whites and call it teaspoons. 1 cup = ½ call it a teaspoon.
- You'll always be able to make a pavlova or meringues no matter how many egg whites you have.
- Pre-heat your oven at 150C / 300F
- Prepare a large flat baking tray and cover it with baking paper. Trace a circle the size you want and turn the paper over. This will be your guide so you don't have a lopsided pavlova.
- In a clean, grease free bowl, add the room temperature eggs and cream of tartar and whisk until they are foamy.
- S l o w l y add the sugar until all is incorporated. Whisk on high for a minute or so and then rub some of the mixture between your fingers. If you can feel the sugar, keep mixing until you can't.
- Plop the meringue into the center of the circle on your baking paper and smooth with a spatula into a cake shape.
- Run a small spatula up the sides of the cake all around. This will give the sides stability. Smooth the top and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes reduce the heat to 110C or 230F and bake for an hour. Turn the oven off and let the pavlova cool.
- Place cream in a bowl and whip until it's thick but not stiff. Cream on a pavlova needs to be really soft.
- Top with blueberries (or any fruit - passionfruit is really good)
- Enjoy!
There are no words to describe how much I love Pavlova! (And the photos are perfect!) Tania’s ballerina cake is right up my ally as well. THERE’S JUST SO MUCH BALLET HAPPENING IN THIS POST!
Your method makes total sense M! I get it! Lovely looking pavlova! 😀 Tania is lovely I agree!
I love pavlova and this sounds amazing Maureen.
Thanks by an amazing recipe:)
It’s funny, I always thought that a Pavlova is supposed to be a dessert that is really hard to make, but you break it down into a few simple steps. Very pretty!
At picture #1 I started salivating. At picture #2 I was drooling. By picture #3 I was slobbering. I would swim the Seven Seas, fight the sharks, swear like a seaman, and get sunburned just to get one bite of your Blueberry Pavlova!
So pretty and elegant! I’ve only made a pavlova once, so thank you for reminding it’s time to make another one!
A gorgeous version of pavlova, Maureen…. I could dive right in there! And Tania is great, isn’t she!
I love the Pay it Forward idea! =)
Your recipes are always so pretty and look delicious!! Have a great weekend!
I love the Pay it Forward idea! =)
Your recipe photos are always so pretty!
Pav looks lovely – love this recipe – haven’t come across it before – but will try it next time I am making a pav – thanks for sharing Maureen and have a happy Sunday
Maureen! Great minds think alike – my latest post is also about Tania! What were the odds! Thanks for the lovely kind words (about me, not Tania!) and I know Tania will appreciate what you’ve said about her. It’s all true – when I’m with her we always have a lot of laughs. Your pavlova looks gorgeous – love the way you shaped the sides. It has great height and yes, it’s very hard to halve an egg white. Your method makes good sense to me xx
Yum, yum! I’ve made pavlova (we actually call in schaumtorte) but I always dutifully pull out my mom’s cookbook. I love your trick, that makes it so easy. I’m already missing blueberries, your dessert looks amazing!
I love a pav – they are so speccy to look at and even if they fail, you can still make Eton Mess and have a delicious dessert.
I love making a pavlova, yours looks completely amazing!!
Your friend Tania sounds like a pretty amazing cook. I love that elegant ballet shoe cake.
My mom used to make meringues every once in a while but I had to wait til I was an adult to discover the glory that is pavlova. I think I’ll stick to my recipe cause yours just confuses me, though. 🙂 Luckily I always buy large eggs so I just add 1/4 cup of sugar for every egg white. And throw in a pinch of cream of tartar.
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/199004.html … Eton mess and meringues
I love making the pavlova, and boom diggity yours looks amazing. 🙂 But I’m not big on actually eating pac, the smell of the meringue gets me. Happy weekend. Thanks for sharing.
I love anything with meringues! We don’t make enough pavlova, though — only something we’ve done a couple of times. Shame on us! We need to do this wonderful dessert again. Good job — thanks.
I saw the picture of your Pavlova on instagram and thought it was beautiful but in full size its a stunner. I have several blue teatowl props and have never had them look as good as that one with your Pav does.
I feel very priveleged to be not only to be included in your circle of actual friends but honoured to be featured in this way. Thank you. I knew I truely adored you when you told me that I was now family, and you would pick me up from the airport when I arrived for Eat Drink Blog 5. That just made me feel so very very special. Thank you. x
Mouthwatering photos Maureen – I’ve only made pav once and it went brown maybe the oven was too hot? Will have to give this one a go.
I would think oven too hot. 🙂
G’day Love your method of pav and love blueberries!
Great recipe and photos and LOVE Pay It Forward posts too!
Cheers! Joanne
Hi Maureen, love the way your pavlova looks, the shape is beautiful, love the addition of blueberries.
Maureen this Pav looks amazing so do your pictures.
I’ve never attempted a genuine Pavlova (unless an egg magic pavlova counts?), your post has inspired me to give it a go. Our eldest who’s 9 loves homemade meringue and I know he loves blueberries so…..I’ll keep you posted! Have a great week 🙂
Tania is such a laugh and such a lovely lady too Maureen. I monopolized her for a whole evening the other day and she kindly pretended to be interested 🙂
Great looking pavvy indeed, it’s one of my all time favourite desserts ever, fantastic job!
Charlie and Tania both have great blogs which I visit often. Friends are very special.
I like your method of measuring the ingredients for a pavlova. The lemon curd with the pavlova would have made a great combination – I love the sweet with the sour of the lemons. But then blueberries are one of my favourite fruits so they will do nicely.
Yes Charlie is such a great person for doing what she is doing. =)
I might have come across Tania’s blog, but I am not sure. I will follow your word.
By the way your pavlova is eye candy. =P I am drooling!
Oh wow I love pavlova there is something so decedent about it and you are right its crazy simple to make wish I had a slice right now 😀
Maureen, I have 36 frozen egg whites in my freezer. I should make a pavlova. Love your little formula.
Whoa. This looks amazing!
I like how you have developed your measurements. It really does make sense…as you say each egg is different.
Gorgeous pavlova, the cream and blueberry topping looks luscious!
I made a pavlova once when I was in my 20’s, for a dinner party…and it failed horribly. I never tried it again but I think your tip about the eggs might just be the trick to success!! How simple you made it seem!
Great pictures, and thank you for sharing the recipe. It doesn’t look as complicated as I always imagined it to be!
I made Pavlova only a couple of times, but it never looked as pretty as yours! Your photos are beautiful! I’m sure enjoying reading pay it forward on Charlie’s site. Great idea to follow the theme!
If I could eat pavlova all day everyday without losing my hips to fat, I totally would 😛
Beautiful dessert!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Looks like a dream! Never made Pavlova before…
Maureen – you and Charlie are pretty darn amazing at highlighting other bloggers – just wanted to let you know that!
As for this pavlova – I’ve never made or eaten pavlova before and you make it sound so easy -not to mention, make it look mouthwatering!
What a towering pavlova! It’s perfect! And I love the ratio recipe you gave…so handy! Thanks.
Such a nice classic! Definitely a surefire winner from where I am 🙂
What a great thing to make with leftover egg whites! And so pretty! I’m not sure what a pavlova is but is it crispy, does it crunch when you bite into it? If so, then I think I may have had something like it when I lived in Louisiana. I’ve never seen anything like it here in NM. If I remember correctly, it tastes as good as it looks and this looks awesome!
It’s dry and crunchy on the outside and the inside is like meringue you’d put on a pie. It’s like eating a bit of heaven. 🙂
Your pavlova looks neat and pretty, Maureen! Great job! I agree – we need to keep those who are a true friend, what-you-see-is-what-you-get character 🙂
Gourmet Getaways
i just adore pavlova but never think to make it at home. Your looks divine and so beautiful!
I’ve always wanted to make this and yours is beautiful! Love the measuring – that would be easy to remember. Lovely dessert – I can see why it is a favorite.
I like the new blog design Maureen! This pavlova looks SO delicious too.. It is definitely a recipe I can see myself recreating as I can imagine it is going to be perfect for the hot upcoming Christmas season here in Sunny Qld!
I HAVE NEVER TRIED MY HANDS AT MAKING PAVLOVA!! THIS LOOKS DELICIOUS!
P.S I just realized I had caps lock on! This is the effect of this yummy looking pavlova!
I LOVE a good pavlova! 🙂 And yours looks absolutely divine!
Maureen, thanks for the tip of egg white and sugar…I just learned about pavlova recently and I am loving it!
Beautiful with the blueberries.