Easy Pavlova Recipe: Best ways to master meringue

Last week I tried my hand at meringue for the first time, and to say it didn’t go well is sort of an understatement. We’re talking more lemon meringue cow pat than pie, it was a weird brown colour and flat as a pancake. However my lovely Instagram followers came to my rescue and sent me lots of really great tips to help me master meringue. So I had another go this weekend and I’m SO impressed with the outcome! I shared this pic on Instagram and got a couple of requests for the recipe, so thought I’d share it here, along with all the easy to follow meringue tips I received!

Ingredients 
Four egg whites
250g caster sugar
300ml double cream
Berries of your choice (I used half a punnet of strawberries & half a punnet of blackberries)

Method
Before you start make sure your bowl/whisk is really clean. You can even rub salt into the bowl and whisk, then wash it off to make sure there’s no grease on them. 

Cut a circle (or whatever shape you’d like your pavlova to be!) out of greaseproof paper and lay on a baking tray. 

Separate out your four egg whites. 

Whisk them on their own until you get soft peaks that stand up on their own. You might need to whisk for longer than you think, but don’t worry just keep going!

Then start to add the caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time and keep whisking. When you’re done you’ll notice the mixture looks glossy and a bright white colour. 

At this stage you should be able to turn the bowl upside down without anything falling out. 

Spread a thin layer of mixture on the greaseproof paper, then add spoonfuls of mixture all around the edge, so you create a ‘crater’ with a hole in a middle for the fruit. 

Bake for one hour at 150 degrees (gas mark 2). 

Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn. 

After an hour turn the oven off but leave pavlova in to cool and harden inside the oven. I left mine for a couple of hours like this.

Fill the hole in the middle with whipped cream and whatever berries you like

Enjoy!

Top tips

• Keep whisking even when you think it’s too much - you can’t overwhisk! 
• Add the sugar slowly, one spoonful at a time. I added mine with the whisk still running 
• Once baked turn the heat off and leave the meringue in the oven to cool, this should help it to harden 

Hope you found this helpful! Let me know if you have a go. 

Thanks for reading, 

Sam Xx