White Chocolate & Berry Pavlova

This is a pretty good dinner with friends recipe, it looks impressive and can be made ahead of time and assembled just before you want to eat it. Also meringue is pretty light and so most people can save a corner for it! This recipe is a slight variation on the classic pavlova; using a cheesecake style mixture instead of standard whipped cream. I call it the chee-lova. I don’t. 

Serves 6-8 people   Prep time 45mis-1hr   Cooking Time 1-2hrs

Ingredients:

For the meringue:

6 Medium eggs (please try to use free-range and older eggs are usually best for meringue)

375g Caster sugar

2 tsp White wine vinegar

2tsp Cornflour

2tsp Vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

For the filling:

100-150g white chocolate

200g Cream Cheese (at room temperature)

200ml Double cream

1tsp Vanilla Extract

2tbsp Caster sugar

Squeeze of lemon juice (around a ¼ of a lemon)

300-400g Berries of your choice (a fruit salad doesn’t look great so try to stick to 2/3 varieties; I usually use strawberries/raspberries/blackberries)

2/3tbsp Strawberry (cut into bite-sized pieces)/raspberry jam (optional)

Equipment:

Stand mixer/electric hand whisk and large mixing bowl

Weighing scales

Saucepan

Small bowl

2 Baking trays

Baking paper/parchment

Pastry brush

Spatula

Preheat the oven to 150°c/Gas 2 

In a large bowl/stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks are formed when the whisk is removed. This could take up to around 6-7 mins. 

Whisk in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture stiffens further and starts to look thick and glossy.

Add the white wine vinegar, cornflour and vanilla essence and whisk for final time.  

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper/parchment, you can steady it by blobbing some of the meringue mixture on the tray before placing the paper on top.

Spoon the meringue equally between the baking sheets; aiming for 2 circles which are around 23cm in diameter, making a slight dip in the centre of the meringue so that the outside edge is higher than the centre.

Bake the meringue in the oven for an hour, or until the meringue shell has hardened but not coloured. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside until the oven temperature has cooled completely. Please try to leave them alone whilst they are cooling, if you’re anything like me you’ll be opening the door and prodding it. But don’t!

For the cheesecake style filling, ensure your cream cheese is at room temperature; otherwise it will go lumpy and never properly be smooth in the mixture. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl to loosen and add the caster sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice. In a separate bowl whisk the double cream to soft peaks and fold this through the cream cheese mixture. Cover and pop into the fridge until you need it. 

When the meringues are completely cool you can line them with the white chocolate. Melt the chocolate in small chunks over a pan of barely simmering water and use this to brush over the top of each meringue. You will only need to do this for the sunken centre part as this is where the filling will go; you’re basically waterproofing your meringue from the creamy filling.

At this stage I also like to cover some of the fruit in the remaining white chocolate to add a final flourish to the pavlova. These can be set on parchment in the fridge until you’re ready to build.

Allow the chocolate on your meringues to completely and at this point you can either begin to build or set everything aside to build just before you serve (I recommend this for optimum crisp!). Do not fridge your meringues, they’ll go soggy and break!

When you’re ready to build, take your least attractive meringue (poor thing) and place it on your serving plate/platter (you will not be able to able to move this thing once you’re finished. Spoon half the cream cheese mixture into the middle and add a few of your less nice looking fruit, remember to cut strawberries so they’re not too big for the next layer. Then you can add the top layer of meringue and repeat the process; creamy mixture, a selection of berries and finally your chocolate covered fruit (if you made it). It’s also a nice idea to glaze the top layer of fruit with some slightly warmed strawberry jam to make the whole thing shine. But either way, serve to your anticipating guests and take in the applause!