strawberry pavlova with a fruity Pimm’s syrup
My husband is a big fan of fruity desserts and, in particular, a classic Pavlova (in fact, its one of his mum’s signature dishes). Here, I’ve given the classic a little extra indulgent twist. I’ll admit, the Pimm’s syrup was a bit of an experiment, but after a bit of playing around, I think it works really well, adding a sweet, herby note to the strawberries, cream and meringue.
Ingredients
Serves 8
For the base
6 large eggs (whites only)
37g caster sugar
2 ½ tsp cornflour
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1tsp vanilla extract
For the topping
300ml Pimm’s
100g caster sugar (plus 2 tsp for macerating the strawberries)
2 tbsp orange juice
½ a lemon (juice only)
300g strawberries
300ml double cream
A small handful each of mint and basil, to decorate
1. Preheat the oven 180C /160 fan and line a medium sized baking sheet with baking parchment. It must be big enough for a 22cm round meringue base. In fact, you can help yourself get the size right by drawing a 22cm circle on your baking parchment.
2. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites. When they start to form soft peaks, you can start to add the sugar, whisking bit by bit until it is all incorporated and the meringue is stiff and glossy.
3. Add the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla extract and then fold in gently.
4. Once everything is incorporated, dollop the mixture onto the baking parchment and gently smooth it into your 22cm circle. Then put it in the oven.
5. As soon as the meringue is in the oven, turn the temperature down to around 150C / 130C fan and bake for 1 hour. Take out and leave somewhere to cool completely.
6. While the meringue is baking and cooling, you can prepare the Pimm’s syrup: add the Pimms, caster sugar and orange juice to a small saucepan and gently dissolve the sugar over a low heat. Once all of the sugar has dissolved put the heat up and bring the liquid to a boil. Let simmer for 15 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by about half and has thickened into a glossy, syrupy consistency. Set aside and, once it is cool enough, add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste (do make sure it has cooled before you do this as the syrup will be extremely hot when it comes off the heat).
7. About 20-30 minutes before you want to serve dessert, hull and halve your strawberries and add them to a bowl with two teaspoons of caster sugar. Leave to macerate.
8. When you are ready to serve, whip the cream until soft, and thick then spoon onto the meringue base. Top with the macerated strawberries and drizzle the Pimms syrup over everything. There may be quite a lot of syrup, so feel free to hold some back and serve in a little jug on the side, allowing your guests to add more to their taste. Finally, to make it look pretty, decorate with some mint and basil leaves.