Featured comments:
“These were fantastic!! I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever made. (Thank you!)” ~Denise
A beautiful light-as-air meringue dessert invented in the 1920s and named after an elegant Russian ballerina – could this get any more romantic??
I don’t indulge often, and when I do it usually involves chocolate. Or cake. But also chocolate. So this life changing raspberry pavlova recipe only came about because I was left with 4 egg whites after making my Ballymaloe no churn ice cream the other day. I’d been wanting to make a pavlova for a long time, mostly because they’re so pretty, but I had no clue that I was about to discover a new passion. This is everything you want a dessert to be, without a speck of chocolate in sight, who knew?
tips for making the perfect pavlova
Don’t be afraid of meringue, it has an undeserved reputation for being fussy, when it’s not at all. Just go into it with confidence. You can’t fail as long as you whip your egg whites until they are stiff and glossy, (a stand mixer helps with this enormously) and bake them low and slow.
- Avoid making meringue in very humid weather because it can go soft.
- Use room temperature egg whites, they whip better than cold.
- No yolks in your whites, please! Any grease, oil, or bit of yolk will prevent the whites from whipping to the max. Use a squeaky clean bowl and beaters, too.
- The little bit of lemon juice and cornstarch help to stabilize the meringue.
- Low, slow baking is key, so make sure your oven is at 250F. I keep an oven thermometer hanging from my oven rack so I always know the actual temperature in my oven.
how to make individual pavlovas
- When the whites have been whipped to stiff glossy peaks, spoon them onto a lined baking sheet.
- Use the back of a spoon to make an indentation in the center of each meringue. That’s where the whipped cream will go. The meringue will hold that exact shape while baking, so what you put into the oven is exactly what you’ll get coming out of the oven.
- Don’t worry about being precise with your meringue, the sensual free form shape is definitely part of the charm of this dessert.
I’m convinced that the most delicious fruit to serve with a pavlova are raspberries, the flavor is transcendent – one taste of this raspberry sauce and I’m transported to the most perfect summer day.
To strain or not to strain, that’s the question only you can answer. I don’t mind raspberry seeds, but there are TONS of them, so I strained half the sauce, that way I got some seeds but wasn’t overwhelmed by them. We spooned the leftover sauce on ice cream and it was fantastic.
make it your own –
- Make it with other berries. Even though I like raspberries best, I can’t think of a berry that wouldn’t work with this pavlova.
- Make it with frozen berries. No need to thaw before using.
- Make it ahead. As long as the weather is not super humid, make the meringues and store loosely covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. The raspberry sauce can be made and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Whip the cream and assemble just before serving.
- Make it sugar free. Try Swerve sugar substitute to make a fluffy sugar free meringue.
- Make it dairy free. Use whipped coconut cream instead of the dairy cream.
- Make it vegan. Use the above coconut cream and make your meringues with aquafaba (bean water.)
more fun with meringue!
- Easy Cocoa Meringues
- Acorn Meringue Cookies
- Simple Berry Pavlova
- How to Make Meringue Mushrooms
- Toasted Almond Pavlova
Individual Fresh Raspberry Pavlovas
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric mixers
Ingredients
meringue
- 4 egg whites, at room temperature
- a pinch of salt
- seeds of one vanilla bean
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp cornstarch, sifted
raspberry sauce
- 3 small containers of fresh raspberries, about 18 ounces (set aside some of the berries to garnish your pavlovas)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp Amaretto, optional, use water instead
whipped cream
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 3 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar, sifted
garnish
- reserved whole berries
- mint leaves
- confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250F (an oven thermometer is a great tool to have in case your oven is not calibrated correctly) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until foamy. With the mixer going, add the salt and vanilla beans and then slowly add the sugar. Let the mixer go on high until the whites are stiff and glossy, see photo in the blog, above.
- Fold in the lemon juice and cornstarch.
- Spoon the meringue into 4 equal circles on the baking sheet. Use the back of a spoon to make a concave dip in the center of each, where the whipped cream will go later. (You can make 8 smaller meringues if you like.)
- Bake the meringues for 90 minutes, and don’t disturb while baking. Then turn the oven off and crack the oven door open, and leave them in the oven for another hour.
- To make the raspberry sauce put the berries in a saucepan with the sugar and the Amaretto or water and heat, stirring, until the raspberries break down and get soft.
- Use an immersion blender or a small food processor to puree the sauce. You can strain out the seeds if you like, pushing the sauce through a mesh sieve to get as much of the sauce through as possible, while leaving the seeds behind. I strained half the sauce so that I still had some seeds remaining. Set aside. Note: you can also leave the raspberry sauce chunky and skip the blending entirely.
- Whip the cream with the sugar until soft peaks form.
- Assemble the pavlovas just before serving ~ put a nice dollop of whipped cream in the center of each meringue. Drizzle generously with raspberry sauce, then top with a few whole berries and mint leaves. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
These were a great way to use up extra egg whites! I halved the recipe and used vanilla extract (all I had in the pantry) and they were lovely. I’d post a picture if I could, though it would be unnecessary as mine looked just like yours! I wonder if I’d made a deeper well in the middle of the pavlovas if the sauce and whipped cream might have swirled together better with the insides and made a nice puddle of bliss. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi. A New Zealand Pavlova has you split the merengue into layers and fill with whipped cream and fruit.. You say assemble, but it looks like you just put the filling into the center. Did you mean the split it?
I will try that with one of my next pavlovas, but this one is meant to be served intact.
You are wonderful! Your blog always make me smile as does you smiling face. Thanks for sharing with us!
You’ve made my day :))
Sue, thank you for sharing the recipe! Have you tried using more cream of tartar instead of using that and the lemon? Also, have you tried using vanilla extract instead of the beans?
Thanks in advance!
I haven’t tried leaving out the lemon juice but I think that should work fine. You could add vinegar in its place, or 1/4 tsp cream of tartar. And extract works fine, I’ve done it that way too.
Pav is one of our favorit deserts and we make it all the time with all kind of fruit. Your pictures are so pretty I had to tjeck out your recipe. I am a little surprised that you say it can be stored in three days. In my experience it is Best the same day. I have sometimes baked it a day before but it goes soft easily. This is different from regular meringue (a pav is NOT a Real meringue) that can easily last a long time.
I think the weather and humidity level makes a big difference as to how long these last. I’m here in los angeles and mine were fine for a week! Still crunchy on the outside and chewy inside. But we have such low humidity, I guess that makes the difference. Glad you enjoyed therm!
My mother used to keep merengue in a tin lined with bakers paper and they would keep fine.
omg i just found your blog and am SO in love with it! your recipes and photography are jut stunning!!! i love individual pavlovas, and these look great!
So pretty, Sue! And what a beautiful dessert for Mother’s Day!
I’ve been making these for years. No matter the size, there is a big WOW factor. Everybody love them!
I’m a newbie but I’m totally smitten with these…
We love everything and anything made with raspberries so this is our kind of dessert! Looks delicious and can’t wait to try this recipe!
Our pavlova is often served with passion fruit, kiwi fruit and strawberries
I’ve seen them with passion fruit, that makes such a pretty color combination.