5 Simple Steps to Perfect Pavlova: The Crunchy, Marshmallowy Meringue Dessert

Hi Bold Bakers! Pavlova is hands down my absolute favorite dessert of all time, it's something that I had a lot growing up in Ireland. And I know that because of shows like Great British Bake Off, it's becoming even more and more popular around the world. So I want to show you in five simple steps how you can make the perfect pavlova every time. It's nothing to be afraid of, it's nothing to fear, it is super easy. Kevin, until I met him, had never had a meringue or pavlova. So we are going to make this big and bold one for him today and absolutely wow him. Before I met Gemma, I thought a pavlova was a hat, but I found out it's delicious. So I'm going to start off with my first easy step, and that is talking about egg whites. So it's really important to have your egg whites at room temperature, they whip up so much better. So leave them at room temperature for maybe two, three hours. To be honest with you, I leave them out overnight and they're perfectly fine. So pour them into your stand mixer, or you can use a hand mixer. You do need a mixer for this recipe because you need to get all of that air in there with the whipping. So step number two, stabilizing egg whites. This is super, super important because it gives you a lovely thick billowy meringue and it also stops your pavlova from weeping. If you've ever made a pavlova before and you see it weeping out the side, that's because the egg whites weren't stable enough. So what we're going to do into our sugar is we're going to add in a little bit of white vinegar, maybe white wine vinegar. You can even add apple cider vinegar. And then we're also going to add a little bit of cornstarch or corn flour into the sugar. So step number three, whipping your egg whites. Now you might think, what's the big deal? All you have to do is whip them. That's not the case. There's actually a method to my madness. So what you want to do is turn on your machine to low and then whip them off until they're slightly foamy for around two minutes, just on a low speed. Let it build up the bubble, build up the structure. And after those two minutes, we're going to turn off the mixer up to like a medium speed, medium high, and then let them whip until they reach soft peaks. You want to get them to soft peaks because we can't move on until they've gotten to this stage. Okay, so it's been a few minutes and it's reached soft peaks, which means it's holding its shape. It's nice and billowy. Now at this stage, we move on to step number four. This is when you're able to add in the sugar. Don't add in the sugar until your egg whites are at this stage because the egg whites will hold them up. If they're not at this stage, the sugar will just sink down. So nice and fluffy meringue and then add in your sugar. So spoonful by spoonful, add in your sugar. Now you add in a spoon, let it mix, hang out. So just keep on adding slowly. It takes a little bit of time, but that's totally fine. It's worth it. So once all your sugar is in there, I like to let it continue beating for around another two minutes or so just to make sure it's all combined. And then we're ready to stop. Okay, perfect. This is looking great. It's nice and thick. It's grown a lot in volume. Now we're going to move on to step number five. So my recipe for pavlova is for a 10 inch round. So with a spatula, just spread it around, do a little bit of a dip in the middle and have nice high sides. Perfect. So we're going to pop this into the oven. We're going to start it at 300 degrees onto a middle rack, but then straight away, we're going to turn it down to 250. Now we're going to bake it at this temperature for around 90 minutes or so. So, you know, when you get a pavlova and it's crispy on the outside and it's marshmallow on the inside, this temperature and that length of time is going to give you those results. You want to make sure that you follow my instructions just to get the perfect, most loveliest pavlova. If you leave it in there too long, it gets kind of chalky and dry. You want to have the best of both worlds, crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. So we're going to come back and check on it in a bit. So at the hour and a half mark, turn off the oven, then open the door a jar, put in a wooden spoon and let the air circulate throughout. So our pavlova looks gorgeous. Now one big question is how do you know your pavlova's done? If it peels away from the parchment paper easily, just like this one is, that means it's done. Now do handle this with care. They are very delicate. They're crispy, they're light. So you just want to be careful. Now to top this, you can do whatever you want to your pavlova. But what I like to do is just classic cream and a lot of beautiful seasonal fruit. So an impressive dessert like pavlova is just begging to be shared. So Kevin, look what I made you. I'm ready. Oh man. The thing I don't understand is how can this dessert be creamy and crunchy at the same time? So sweet, so delicious. And the fruit just makes it. Yeah. Well, all you need are my five steps. Follow them and you will have the perfect pavlova crispy on the outside, fluffy in the middle. Absolutely delicious. Give it a go bold bakers. Let us know what you think. And we'll see you back here again really soon. Give me another bite. Oh yeah.