Summah, babies!! Sorry, I’ve been listening nonstop to Two Dope Queens and it has been affecting my casual times Canadian vernacular. Listening to a current podcast is very 2017 of me which I am somewhat proud. Starting Breaking Bad Season 1 Episode 1 is very 2008 of me, which I am also proud, because millions of people have said to me “WHAT??! You’ve never seen BREAK-ING-BAD??” like I’m a Chinese tree dwarf with no cable (spoiler alert: I don’t have cable.) I know the reason why I never watched it before: SHIT IS INTENSE!! I had nightmares and woke up in the middle of the night mind-spiralling about the moral and ethical dilemmas in the show. K, the acting is REMARKABLE. I’ve watched three episodes so far, hehe. Ten years lattttterrrrrr! Back to baking now: strawberry pavlova! Doesn’t the word macerated just feel so medieval, so macabre, so masochistic?? No need to be so dramatic, guys. It’s simply fresh straw-babies (HELP) covered in sugar and a gentle squeeze of lemon left to sit until it becomes this juicy syrupy topping. Ice cream, pavlova, whatever you need, maceration will be there.
This is the perfect summer dessert because: LAZY EASY CRUNCHY CRISPY CHEWY SWEET CREAMY FRUITY TANGY fuggedabout it plonk it down slice in and serve seconds, should there be any left. To be honest, I could eat an entire pavlova like I was emotionally eating Hawaiian pizza.
Macerated Strawberry Pavlova
ingredients
For the macerated strawberries
- 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- pinch of salt
For the meringue
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the whipped cream
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
instructions
Prepare additional ingredients
- If using, pit some fresh, sweet cherries, rinse some blueberries or blackberries, pluck a few organic edible petals.
Macerate the berries!
- In a medium bowl, stir together the sliced strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and pinch of salt to cover the berries. Let stand at room temperature until syrupy and juicy.
Make the meringue
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- Cover a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, place the egg whites and pinch of salt in and beat on high speed until firm.
- With the mixer on high speed, slowly add the granulated sugar until glossy stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and gently fold in the vanilla.
- Using a spatula, carefully dollop the meringue mixture onto the parchment paper, spreading it with an offset spatula into a semblance of a disc, about a 9 inch pillowy round.
- Bake the meringue in the oven for 11/2 hours, then turn off the oven and leave the meringue inside the oven to dry out further and cool completely in the oven, about an hour or two.
Make the whipped cream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream on medium-high speed until it begins to thicken.
- Sprinkle the sugar in, then add the vanilla and continue to whip until stiff creamy peaks form.
Assemble the pavlova
- Carefully remove the baked and cooled meringue from the parchment paper and place on serving plate or cake board.
- Generously dollop billowy whipped cream on top, spreading the whipped cream to the edges of the meringue.
- Spoon the macerated strawberries on top, adding any other fresh fruit you might like.
- Finish with a few edible flowers or mint leaves, or leave as is!
steph
pavs are my fave, summer or not :D
SO GOOD. please make me a pav or 10?
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Oh man, yes… summer or not, agreed … ! 10 PAVS is a tall order, buddy!!! :P XO
Irina
This looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing:)
irinathayer.com
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Thanks Irina!
movita beaucoup
Have I ever told you that when I went to France I ate a lot of meringues and my family got really mad at me because I wasn’t particularly interested in eating pastries and cheese? True story.
Related: meringues are (obviously) one of my most favourite things, but Nova Scotia is like a humid armpit in the summer which means meringues are a flop for about three months. As a result, I hope you can understand how devastating it is to see this glorious pavlova in my feed.
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land
Haha! Shoot, I forgot how humidity affects poor fluffy meringues! I’m sorry my friend! But please enjoy some pavlova in the Fall!! xo