Ingredients:
Parchment Paper
Glass Mixing Bowl
For the meringue.
8 egg whites
2 cups granulated raw sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I am not sure what the difference is between this and Dutch cocoa but I couldn't find Dutch Cocoa anywhere)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
For the topping.
2 cups thickened (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons strong espresso coffee
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Almond flavoring
1 10 oz jar of Maraschino Cherries (Morello cherries could not be located)
3/4 cup dark chocolate curls (To make chocolate curls run a potato peeler down the edge of a block of chocolate.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 420ºF Place a sheet of baking paper on two large baking tray and draw 8" circles.
Separate your eggs making utmost care not to contaminate the egg whites with any egg yolk. Any fat in the egg whites will prevent them from beating properly and will weigh them down.
Beat your egg whites in a glass bowl until they are stiff and add your sugar slowly along with the vanilla essence, one tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff peaks form. Turn your bowl upside down to make sure the whites are stiff enough. If not, beat another minute or so then check again.
Sift the cocoa powder into the raw meringue and fold through carefully ensuring you leave streaks of cocoa rather than fully incorporating it.
Shape the meringue into the two rounds on the baking paper/trays. Place meringues into oven and immediately turn temperature down to 240 degrees. Bake for 60-90 minutes then turn off the oven, do not remove meringues until oven is cool.
Topping:
Beat the cream, coffee, almond and sugar until stiff peaks form. With a silicone spatula spread half of the cream over the bottom meringue, place cherries on the cream and sprinkle half of the chocolate shavings over the meringue.
Place the top meringue layer over the bottom. Spread the remaining cream over it along with the cherries and chocolate shavings. Drizzle cherry syrup from the jar over the entire pavlova.
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| Some of the delicious starting ingredients |
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| Draw 8" circles on your parchment paper |
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| Beat the eggs until frothy |
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| Take a smile break of your sous chef |
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| Have a silly break |
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| Add the sugar and almond and beat until stiff peaks form (This is where my transfer to a glass bowl could not save the meringue) |
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| Taste tester |
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| Swirl the cocoa powder into the meringue and shape onto the circles (As you can see without thick meringue this didn't work out for me, so I decided to just pour it onto my baking sheets and hope for the best) |
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| Remove when oven is no longer hot (I only cooked for about 60 minutes when it started to stiffen due to the thinner surface area, I didn't want to overcook it) |
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| Mix the cream, espresso, almond and sugar |
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| Mix until stiff peaks form |
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| Excited to taste it! |
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| Lay down a layer of the meringue (Mine was crumbly but still delicious) |
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| Add a layer of the espresso cream, cherry and chocolate curls |
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| Top with more meringue |
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| Finish off with a final layer of cream, cherries and chocolate curls, serve & Enjoy! (Regardless of my meringue disaster it still tasted amazing and was a treat to eat!) |
If you would like to view the previous winning desserts they can be found here:
December's Winner: Pumpkin Tiramisu
November's Winner: Caramelized Banana Pudding
October's Winner: Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake
September's Winner: Apple Raspberry Crumble
