Adventures in Baking: My First Pavlova

My son's birthday was yesterday and he couldn't decide what kind of cake he wanted so he told me to just 'surprise him'.  I just finished reading this great book called the The Husband's Secret, which is set in Australia near the Easter holiday and in which a dessert called a 'Pavlova' is mentioned numerous times.  After I looked up what it was - a light meringue-like cake typically served with fresh fruit and whipped cream or lemon curd, named after the famous ballerina of the same name - I decided to give it a try! I've never made any sort of a meringue before, so I figured why not try something completely brand new when it's my son's birthday and I'm already a bit pressed for time? Yeah, that's just how I roll.

I based my version partly on this recipe I found in Saveur magazine and about 20 other recipes I read through in various locations on the web.  I have a little trouble following directions and thought 3 cups of sugar sounded absurd, so here's the ratio of ingredients I used:

For the Meringue:

10 egg whites

2 cups fine sugar

1 TB White Vinegar

1 TB Vanilla Bourbon Paste

1/4 C Cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350F and grab a sheet of parchment paper.  Draw a 9" circle on the parchment, - flip over a cake pan if you've got one and trace around the pan with a pencil.  Turn the parchment over pencil-side down onto a cookie sheet.  

Combine the cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla until well combined.  It's going to make this really odd, sticky blobby mess that may kind of freak you out a little.  Just trust me - it's really a strange consistency - it will pour slowly, but then if you try to stir it, it's almost like it's solid.  I couldn't resist playing with it a little.  Stop playing with it and set it aside. 

Put your egg whites into a bowl and add in the sugar.  Using a metal whisk (preferably one attached to some kind of stand mixer or other mechanical device) beat on low until sugar is dissolved into egg whites, then kick up the speed to high until soft peaks form (about 5-8 minutes).  At this point, plop in the cornstarch goo and continue beating on high until glossy stiff peaks form - maybe another 5 minutes.  

Spread the mixture gently onto the parchment, trying to keep it roughly the size of your drawn circle. 

Everything in my process went perfectly until we got to the baking part.  The directions said to place the sheet into the oven, turn down the temp to 215F and bake it for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, then shut off the oven and leave the meringue sitting in there for another 3-4 hours until cooled.  

Yeah  - I did this, but then the ceiling of my cake eventually dropped and fell into the blob of the inside which was clearly not cooked.  Could be that I used too many egg whites and not enough sugar, but who knows - I will have to research this a little more.

The top is missing because we kept picking it off and eating it - so good!

Thankfully, I've had enough of these little adventures to know that I need to have a backup on hand since what was going to be my son's cake was decidedly un-cakelike.  Good old pound cake came to the rescue there - super easy to whip together - will post that recipe later.  

So, not wanting to give up on this strange new dessert,  I turned the oven back on, popped this pavlova thingy back into the oven and baked at 200F for almost 2 more hours and then I just let it sit again in the oven until it cooled.  After all this, my final result was very strange in look and feel and yet oddly delicious and somewhat addictive.

As you can see, it's still a tiny bit gooey in the inside - still not completely done.  

The exterior layer breaks off easily and is very crisp and melts in your mouth.

My kids call it the 'styrofoam cake' because the exterior of the cake has a texture and feel very similar to a type of styrofoam - not the rubbery kind used for coffee cups but the firmer, more brittle kind used for floral displays and crafts.  The exterior of the cake is very crispy and brittle and the interior is somewhat like a marshmallow.

It melts in your mouth like cotton candy and is sweet but not overwhelmingly so and the entire thing tastes exactly like a well-toasted marshmallow.  I think I'm going to pour some melted chocolate and graham cracker crumbs on it...   mmmm.... A new twist on S'mores cake!! Deliciousness....  I will definitely do some more research and try again to see if I can get this to come out like it was supposed to, but for a first time FAIL it still came out pretty darn tasty!