As an Australian, pavlova is supposed to have a special place in my food memory bank and make me all misty-eyed with nostalgia for home. I’m afraid it doesn’t. Dangling a pair of cherries over my ears as earrings, picking mulberries in the back garden and scoffing hot, salted potato scallops in the back of the school bus, certainly. But pavlova? No.
I can’t remember anyone in my family having the slightest desire to keep the oven on for long enough during the summer to make the meringue. And passion fruits were more likely to be picked from Grandma’s vine and scoffed straight from a teaspoon, than drizzled over a confection of baked egg whites and cream.
Sure, pavs - as many Australians insist on abridging them - were sometimes made when an occasion warranted a visible display of effort. But really, my most vivid memories are of how difficult pavlovas were to cut neatly and feeling sorry for the unfortunate who got stuck with the final bedraggled slice.
I hasten to add, I adore pavlova. The food gods pretty much invented meringue, cream and fruit in order that they be thrust together in a group hug. Some Australians are quite one-eyed about how pavlova should be made, insisting it’s despoiled by any fruit other than passion, and that the meringue has to have a certain degree of squidge. That’s all just silly. As long as the fruit is fresh, ripe and soft and there’s at least some crunch to your meringue, you can’t go wrong.
Anyway, pavlova called to me for some reason last weekend. And while I don’t normally post other people’s recipes, I had such success with this one from the Bourke Street Bakery’s Ultimate Baking Companion that I wanted to share. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, the Bourke Street Bakery is a Sydney institution - a mini “chain” of artisan bakeries whose sourdoughs, pastries and coffee are always one of the highlights of my visits home. They’re dotted around the inner city, some in the most unlikely, semi-industrial areas, and people form queues to get their hands on their superlative baked goodies.
This recipe is different because the pavlova is assembled in a baking dish. This not only appeals to my sense of order but makes it neater to serve and avoids the problem of having to cook the perfect perky mound of meringue on which to pile the cream and fruit. My pavlova meringues invariably turn out like pancakes rather than C cups. Here, height doesn’t matter because the pavlova is made from layered sheets of meringue, and there’s a little tiramisu twist with the mascarpone instead of straight cream..
I’ve never actually eaten this at Bourke Street Bakery - I’m a sucker for their pastries and cakes, as is most of my family. My dear old Dad was especially partial to their sausage rolls, which he would he enjoy with a wickedly strong long black coffee. In fact, the last photo ever taken of us together was at one of Bourke Street Bakery’s long communal tables surrounded by the debris from our feast.
Now there’s a food memory.
Pavlova in a pan with mascarpone crea, mango and passion fruit
For the meringue
- 4 egg whites
- 250g caster sugar
- 1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 teaspoon white vinegar
For the mascarpone filling
- 2 egg whites
- 60g caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 500g mascarpone
- 3 ripe mangoes, peeled and cut into slices.
- 4 passionfruit
Preheat the oven to 140°C and line three baking trays with 30 x 20cm sheets of greaseproof paper.
To make the meringues, whisk the egg whites in a very clean bowl until stiff peaks form, and then slowly add the sugar while still beating until stiff and glossy. Fold through the vanilla and sugar.
Scoop meringue onto the baking trays, dividing it evenly between each, and spread out with a palette knife or spatula to cover the paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the meringue just begins to take on some colour. Cool on wire racks. You will need to careful turn the meringue over when cool and gently peel off the paper before you assemble your pavlova.
To make the mascarpone cream, whisk the 2 egg whites until soft peaks form and then very slowly pour in 25g of the caster sugar while the motor is still running. You only want soft peaks so don’t overbeat - you need to be able to fold this into the mascarpone. Chill.
In a clean bowl, whisk together the 2 egg yolks with the remaining 35g of the sugar and then add the mascarpone, mixing until only just combined - about 30 seconds. Carefully fold in the child egg whites.
In a 30 x 20 x 6cm ceramic baking dish, place one of the sheets of meringue. Spoon over half of the mascarpone mixture and spread it evenly over the meringue, right up to the edges. Top this with half the mango and the passion fruit, then add another sheet of meringue. Repeat with the remaining mascarpone and fruit, followed by the final sheet of meringue. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
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