You’ll see in the video that I whisked all my egg whites by hand, but if you’re making this in the heat of summer or you’re not confident with meringue, definitely use electric beaters or a stand mixer, as this is A LOT of work. I made this recipe the day before and it’s really the best to give the meringue time to cool completely and the lemon curd gets even better the next day. I haven’t listed fruit in the ingredients because you can add whatever and however much you like. I used white peaches, mulberries and cherries. The meringue is very sweet so it really needs quite a tangy lemon cream to balance it out.
INGREDIENTS
MERINGUE:
- 8 egg whites (save yolks for curd)
- pinch of salt
- 2.5 cups of the finest-grain white sugar you can find
- 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 3 teaspoons cornflour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
LEMON CREAM
- 3/4 cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons lemon zest (I like mine really tangy)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 170g butter
- 250g mascarpone
- 300ml cream
METHOD
MERINGUE
- Take your eggs out of the fridge (if that’s where you keep them) so they are at room temperature and preheat oven to 200degrees C or 392 F.
- Choose a very large bowl and make sure it’s very clean with no traces of olive oil or anything by wiping with some vinegar. Carefully separate your eggs, putting the yolks aside for later and the whites in the big bowl.
- Beat until the egg white have some structure and form little peaks. As I wrote above, this is a lot of work doing it by hand so perhaps opt for electric beaters if you have some.
- When the soft peaks are formed and the egg whites are super stiff but almost there, gradually add in the sugar, one spoon at a time. When you’re halfway through you can add larger amounts. You want to keep beating until the mixture has no trace of grainy sugar when you rub it between your fingers. The peaks should now be lovely and stiff, not dripping at all when you scoop up a spoonful.
- Mix in lemon juice and vanilla and sift in cornflour.
- Pour onto a large tray lined with baking paper. I like to pour my mixture all in the centre so you get the height and then you can smooth it into the right shape. Make the sides slightly higher and a little nest in the middle.
- Turn the oven down to 110degrees C or 230 F and put the meringue in to bake for 2.5 hours. At this low temperature, it’s unlikely to burn. Don’t be tempted to keep opening the oven door as it will disturb the rising process and could make your meringue deflate.
- When cooked, turn the oven off, leave the oven door closed and allow to cool in the oven overnight.
LEMON CREAM
- Put lemon juice, zest and sugar in a heavy medium sized pot and whisk in egg yolks until well combined.
- Put on a low to medium heat and stir often until it becomes thick and coats a thick layer on the back of a spoon.
- Take off the heat and add cold chopped butter. Stir until melted and combined.
- Pour into a container and refrigerate.
- Whip the cream and add a little mascarpone at a time until you get your desired consistency.
- I added half the lemon curd to the cream and kept half to spoon/drizzle on top. You will find that the lemon curd needs a good whisk to loosen it up after it’s been in the fridge all night.
Top the meringue with lemon cream, then lemon curd and then any fruits you like. When assembling the pavlova, you might find the centre collapses a little under the weight of the fruit but this is fine. It’s a messy dessert to serve but hopefully it should look pretty when you bring it to the table and it will certainly taste delicious.
