Pavlova

Such a delicate dessert that melts in your mouth!

Ingredients :

Meringue :

• 5 egg whites
• 320 gr powdered sugar (should be the double amount of the egg whites. in my case they were 160 gr)
• 2 tsps of lemon juice

Filling :

• 250 ml whipped cream
• 250 gr mascarpone
• 30 gr powdered sugar
• few pieces of your favorite fruit (I used 1/2 mango, but other times I used fresh strawberries or raspberries)

Decorate :

• Fresh fruit (1/2 mango, 1-2 passion fruit and any other fruit you may like)
• Few leaves of fresh mint

Time :

** I recommend to prepare the meringues with 1 day in advance or at least 4 hours before serving.

• Prepare : 90 minutes (incl. fridge time)
• Bake : 60-70 minutes

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 130 degrees Celsius with fan.

2. Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks when the whisk is removed. Add sugar gradually and continue whisking until the egg whites are stiff and glossy. Add the lemon juice and continue mixing for 1 more minute or until you can turn the bowl upside down without dropping the mixture. :) Many recipes recommend the usage of cornstarch, but I never needed it with the above ingredients.

3. Take two pieces of baking paper and draw two circles with a pencil with the help of a medium plate.

4. Spread the meringues inside the circles and form one meringue with a soft whole in the middle (where you will add later the filling) and another one that will be the top (see picture for reference). Add them in the oven for 1 hour, until firm to touch being crisp outside, but feels soft yet set inside.

5. Switch off the oven and leave the meringue to cool down in the oven. I usually prepare them with 1 night in advance, but also 2 hours in the oven should be fine.

6. Now it is time to prepare the delicious filling by whisking the whipped cream with 30 grams of powdered sugar and mixing it at the end by hand with the mascarpone and the juice from the smashed fruits (100 gr mango in this case). Incorporate also few pieces of fruit, cut in very small pieces and let the filling rest in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes.

7. Add 60% of the filling between the 2 meringues and the rest on the top of the second layer and decorate the cake as per your liking with fresh fruit (in this case I cut the other half of the mango in small cubes and combined it with one passion fruit) and topped it with some fresh mint leaves.

8. Let the cake sit in the fridge for at least 45 minutes before serving it to your guests.

9. I served each piece of cake together with half of a passion fruit for more freshness and a nice balance between sweetness and sourness.