Pavlova

Mmmm pavlova...

This is a traditional treat that my family has at Christmas and birthdays

throughout the year, and it is normally my Mum's job to make them. I decided to have a crack at it myself this year for our street's Christmas party.

Mum's tips were: Make sure the bowl is completely DRY, add the sugar SLOWLY and FOLLOW THE RECIPE. Aha. Have I ever mentioned how I don't follow recipes?

Well, I did my darndest to follow this recipe. It was the one from a Women's Weekly cook book. Look how smooth and glossy those stiff peaks are!

My failing point was that I have no idea what temperature my oven was on, because it is so old that it doesn't run true. Also it's gas, but I don't know if that makes a difference in the temp. When I pulled my pav out, it was slightly brown (see the before and after images). According to The Flavour Bender, my oven was too hot. Her site is so cool, it tells you all the things that could go wrong with your pav and how to fix them, while explaining WHY it goes wrong.

The other issue I had was umm... I didn't line the tray with baking paper... So it stuck and cracked and... so I made a new one!! I lowered the oven temp even more (literally no idea what temp it was, about halway between off and the marking for 120 degrees) and used baking paper.

Well, the new one was lovely, however I allowed it to cool too quickly, causing it to collapse. This is a bit like how the recipe says to collapse the top and let it rest on the marshmallowy guts. It really did allow for plenty of cream and berries!