Posted in Baking Day

Lemon & Raspberry Pavlova

Stunning.  The presentation and contents of this jar of ‘Zinga zang-ah’ lemon curd is simply stunning.
Heaven Preserve Us Lemon Curd Jar of
Produced locally to me under the label ‘Heaven Preserve Us’ in a place called Ovens in County Cork it is sold at farmer’s markets so if you’re lucky enough to come across their stand I recommend you snap some up.
Lemon & Raspberry Pavlova 4
With Father’s Day last weekend there’s nothing says we care about you more than putting some thought and a little time into a handmade gift so in our house we decided that a lemony cream filled pavlova with raspberries would be the order of the day and I know it was appreciated.
Lemon & Raspberry Pavlova 1
Lemon & Raspberry Pavlova 3
Lemon & Raspberry Pavlova 2
Lemon & Raspberry Pavlova

You will need:
6 egg whites
300g caster sugar
pinch salt
For Filling:
200ml Fromage Frais
150ml whipped cream
4 tbsp. lemon curd
250g fresh raspberries
Method:
Line two baking trays with baking paper or silicon liners
Preheat fan oven to 150
Whisk the egg whites in an electric mixer on a medium setting until they begin to stiffen up
Gradually add in the caster sugar and salt and beat on a high-speed for around 8 minutes until it really stiffens up and looks shiny and white
Divide the mixture onto the two baking trays and smooth it out into rounds.  I kept one  smooth and then used the spatula to pull up peaks on the second which adds an interesting look and texture to the top half of the pavlova.
Cook in the oven for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and leave to cool on the trays.
When cooled carefully assemble the pavlova by filling the centre layer with the combined fromage frais, cream & lemon curd mixed together with two-thirds of the raspberries.  Top the pavlova with the remaining raspberries and drizzle over some lemon curd.

Enjoy,
‘Til next time, Sheila

Posted in Baking Day, Recipes

Fruit Filled Pavlova

A fruit and cream filled pavlova is a simple stunning dessert which always make an impressive looking centrepiece.   I love the strength of the reds in the strawberries, and raspberries but I could imagine this looking equally tempting with golden fruit colours like maybe toffee coloured caramelised pears with poached peaches and apricots.

Fruit PavlovaMaking your pavlova mixture requires an electric mixer as there’s a lot of whipping to be done to produce silky stiffly beaten egg whites combined with caster sugar.  That’s it imagine, just two ingredients whipped together and then cooked slowly to produce a crispy outer bite that melds to a fluffy inner mallowy filling.
Meringue on tray for pavlova_01_optThe blue and red tray liners above are reusable silicon that I’ve been finding extremely useful as I’m the type that grabs the roll of baking paper and tears it  by hand rather than taking the time to find the scissors which usually ends up in a lot of wasted paper.
CloseUp Fruit Pavlova_01_optYou could make your meringue bases the evening before a special event and store them somewhere cool and dry overnight to be freshly filled on the day.  This is a fail safe dessert that is a true crowd-pleaser.

Fruit Pavlova_01_optI hope you have an excuse to try this out soon and see how simple it is for yourself.

You will need:
6 egg whites
300g caster sugar
pinch salt
For Filling:
Cream, Strawberries, Dark Chocolate
Method:
Line two baking trays with baking paper or silicon liners
Preheat fan oven to 150
Whisk the egg whites in an electric mixer on a medium setting until they begin to stiffen up
Gradually add in the caster sugar and salt and beat on a high-speed for around 8 minutes until it really stiffens up and looks shiny and white
Divide the mixture onto the two baking trays and smooth it out into rounds.  I kept one  smooth and then used the spatula to pull up peaks on the second which adds an interesting look and texture to the top half of the pavlova.
Cook in the oven for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and leave to cool on the trays.
When cooled carefully assemble the pavlova by filling the centre with cream and fruit and melted chocolate and topping with some fruit and melted chocolate.
Emjoy!
‘Til next time, Sheila