Eggs, sugar, and fresh seasonal berries are pretty much all it takes to make this easy, IMPRESSIVE dessert. Mini Pavlovas with juicy berries, whipped cream and raspberry compote. Hellooooo summer!
In the thick cloud of summertime heat, talk up at my community garden always turns to one of two things: Do you think I need to water today? And, Any idea what I can do with all these raspberries? The answers are typically yes, you should always water and yes, you can make jam.
I don’t know about the rest of the gardeners, but I have enough jam. I still have jam from 2015. Even my peanut butter is sick of the raspberry jam.
Last week, however, a chain of events occurred that changed the way that second question would be answered for years to come.
I was outside of my house pulling weeds when a neighbour walked over under the pretense of saying hello. It was later confirmed he really only came over to see how loud his air conditioning sounded from afar but thought it would be creepy to come stand next to me and not say anything.
That led to another neighbour walking over and I can’t pinpoint when in the conversation things turned to booze but I feel like it was immediately. I walked away from the impromptu get together with a fistful of weeds and a new answer to the raspberry question.
RASPBERRY GIN. But nope. We’re not making raspberry gin today. Up at the garden the next night, raspberry gin talk turned to raspberry compote and THAT is how we got to this point today.
Making a crisp on the outside, marshmallowy on the inside pavlova with fresh berries and a tart/sweet raspberry compote.
The Raspberry Gin recipe my neighbours and I were talking about if you’re interested is from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (circa 1861). Drunkie.
Gather up all your stuff.
This is where I tell you to to use the freshest, freshy, farm-fresh eggs you can get. And then you’ll all scatter and use whatever eggs they carry at the grocery store because only hipsters, homesteaders and lunatics have farm-fresh eggs within arm’s reach at all times. You’re gonna need 4 of them.
Pavlova is really just meringue that’s been baked until crisp. So whipped egg whites with sugar. You can do that, can’t you?
They get beaten until thick and glossy.
Then you just plop the meringue onto a piece of parchment paper with circles drawn on it to give you a guide.
Pro tip: Put a dab of meringue on each corner of the cookie sheet before you place the parchment paper down. It’ll act like a glue to keep your parchment paper from slipping all over the place as you’re dolloping the meringue onto it.
This recipe makes enough for 8-10 individual meringues (depending on how big you make your circles). And remember, don’t make your meringues too thin. Really plop it on there.
Once you’ve plopped your meringues, press the back of a spoon into the top of each of them to make a bit of a well for the berries and whipped cream. You can stick them in the oven at this point and make the raspberry compote, which is just raspberries and sugar.
My raspberries haven’t come in at full force yet so I used frozen raspberries (totally acceptable) for the compote, and my fresh picked raspberries for topping the pavlovas.
Like I said. Raspberries and sugar (also you need a bit of acidity so I’ll have you add lemon juice or red wine vinegar.)
The trick to knowing when to pull the Pavlovas out of the oven (they get cooked on a very low temperature for an hour or so) is if they feel dry to the touch. Once they feel dry like the outside of a marshmallow, they’re done and you can turn the oven off.
If you overcook them don’t worry about it, they’ll just be crispy all the way through instead of crispy on the outside and marshmallowy on the inside.
Top everything with a dollop (official term approved by anyone who has ever eaten it) of whipped cream.
Easy Pavlova with Raspberry Compote
Easy Pavlova with Raspberry Compote.
Ingredients
Pavlova
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 2 tsps cornstarch
- 1 tsp lemon juice can use vinegar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Raspberry Compote
- 400 grams raspberries fresh or frozen
- 400 grams sugar
- 2 1/2 tsps red wine vinegar can use lemon juice
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Pavlova
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
- Draw 3.5" circles on a piece of parchment paper cut to the size of your baking sheet. Use a vegetable can as a guide. You can flip your parchment over and see the circles from the underside. This way you won't be putting your meringue right on the lead pencil markings.
- Whip the egg whites (be very careful to not get ANY yolk into your egg whites when separating) and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer (with whisk attachment). Beat the egg whites on high speed until they firm up. (1 minute or so)
- With the mixer still on high, slowly add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon and beat until firm, glossy, peaks form. To make sure the sugar is completely dissolved rub some meringue between your fingers to check for graininess. Beat it a bit more until the texture is smooth.
- Once beaten, sift the cornstarch evenly onto the beaten egg whites. Add the lemon juice (or vinegar) and vanilla and carefully fold it all together with a rubber spatula.
- Dab a little bit of meringue between the parchment paper and your baking sheet to help stop the paper from moving around when you form the pavlovas.
- Plop the meringue into the middle of the circles on the parchment paper. Using a spoon press a well into the centre of each one. Bake for 45 minutes then test the pavlovas for doneness by touching their sides. If they're sticky bake another 15 minutes. Once they're dry and starting to feel firm and not completely wobbly turn off the oven BUT keep the pavlovas in the cooling oven for another hour. Remove them from the oven after an hour and build your pavlovas or store them in an airtight container on the counter for a few days.
- To build the pavlova, drizzle with Raspberry compote, top with fresh berries and a large dollop of whipped cream.
Raspberry Compote
- Bring all three ingredients to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.
- Strain the mixture with a fine sieve, pressing it out with a rubber spatula. Rinse the remaining mixture and seeds in the sieve with 3/4 cup of very hot water. The rinsing will get every last bit of berry flavour out and thin your compote to the right consistency.
- Stir and bring to the boil again, then bottle and keep refrigerated for several days or indefinitely in the freezer.
Whipped Cream
- Whip heavy cream until it shows signs of thickening then add sugar and vanilla.
- Continue whipping until soft, pillowy peaks form. Don't over whip or you'll end up with butter.
Notes
Nutrition
Now. Do you think I need to water today?
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“drunkie” 😂😂😂😂😂
You never fail to make me laugh 😆
It’s my job. 😉 Well that and trying to eliminate ants from my house apparently. WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?? ~ karen!
I know!!! Personally, I think they drop outta the sky/ceiling 🙄. I’ll be standing at the counter making lunch and suddenly there’ll be one right beside the bread board. Yesterday I was having a pee (in the bathroom in the MIDDLE of my freekin house) and there was a 🐜huge one on my big toe. Uch. Hate them.
Forgot to say how much sugar in the Pavlova?
Thx! Another reader alerted me to that. It’s updated now. (1 cup) ~ karen!
Omg Karen, that looks delicious!!
I’d add that the egg whites should be at room temperature. And, I like to serve these with yogurt rather than whipped cream. I find the tang of the yogurt tempers the sweetness of the pavlova and berries…
Yes! I’ve often done this too – it’s so much nicer to have a bit of a tangy contrast and if you use lovely thick Greek (or Greek-style, for those of us who prefer cow’s milk) yogurt you still get the creaminess. Also applies to serving with cake – cake + cream is too much for me, but cake + yogurt is fantastic.
Yes, it’s a VERY sweet dessert! You’re right about needing something to offset that. I’m not sure I’d like personally like yogurt on it, but the whipped cream just barelyyyy needs to be sweetened. ~ karen!
Oh YUM!
I have been wanting to make Pavlova for several years and now thanks to you, I have a recipe to pin and make! Thank you!
Of course that means that I will need to use my new oven, something I have been putting off for a few months – HA!
I lived in France and Belgium for many years and often the Pavlovas would be served with a Creme Anglais rather than chantilly. I think the theory there is using the eggs entirely.
That’s a wonderful idea to make yes if the egg yolks. Lemon curd would work here too, I think.
I think you left the sugar off the ingredients list.
Note to self – see if the U-Pick places have raspberries yet
Hi, Margaret. The sugar is on the list (1 cup). Another reader alerted me to the missing ingredient and I added just as soon as the post went up. I’m wondering if you need to reload my site. Or clear your cache? ~ karen!
Beautiful, easy recipe. My raspberries have just finished their 1st offering, so I’ll have to wait a while to make this.
Laughed out loud at the “dollop” official term. It reminded me of being at a cookery demo given by Neven Maguire (he has a fab restaurant in Co. Cavan, Ireland). So Neven was making soup, and adding cream, a lady in the front row asks “how much cream”. Nevin’s response: “Och share who even measures cream?”.
So whether it’s a dollop, or just keep adding it until you’re fed up, who even measures cream!!!!!
LOL! Yes! It’s true. ~ karen!
Can’t wait to make this once my raspberries come in! (Also I just realized that raspberries has a P in it, who knew! )
I’m a fairly new Canadian follower and I love your blog! I’m wondering if you switched the lemon juice and vinegar, ie. Vinegar is supposed to be in the pavlova, and lemon juice in the compote, since that’s what your instructions say. Don’t ever stop blogging.
Hi Linda! Welcome to my blog! You can use either in either really. You’re just needing that bit of acidity. So the recipe says to use vinegar or lemon juice in the pavlova. And same for the compote. ~ karen!
Is it Pav-LO-vas, or Pav-lo-VAS?
Megan, the second syllable is stressed, so it’s Pav-LOH-vas. Named after the ballerina Anna Pavlova, apparently.X
Hi Karen,
For us non-Canucks why do you switch from cups to grams in the same recipe. I didn’t know I’d have to do math!
P.S. I really hope Canucks is not offensive!
I don’t think it’s offensive, lol. I didn’t even notice the cups and grams! My friend gave me the compote recipe (which is just a basic compote) and its measurements are done by weight as opposed to volume (which really is a much better method). 400 grams is 14 ounces (just shy of a pound). ~ karen!
So now when I go out to collect eggs I have to think about what kind of lunatic, homesteading, hipster I have become. It’s better than the choice of labels I had when I married my husband in the Bahamas 30 years ago…spinster or divorcee. Yet another reason to be happy about my divorce.
Another great recipe at just the right time,. I have enough raspberries for pavlovas and gin. I might try both! Think I’ll make the pavlovas tonight for friends. Thanks so much!
Your nutrition says 1g serving is 340kcal. I hope you meant 1 serving out of 8 for 340kcal each. A baked meringue alone weighs more than 1 g.
1g?? That’s very strange. Yes, it’s per serving not per gram, lol. ~ karen!
I just came in from morning weeding, took off my hat, felt my sweat drenched hair (yes you need to water), poured some tea and sat down to read your blog. Pavlova. YUM. How refreshing!
I’ve made it once before. I was trying to impress my daughter in law, they were newly moved to the farm from Boston. I took them a meal (just had our first grand-baby) and decided to include a pavlova. Since I was completely clueless about meringue, I put the topping on it before driving to their place. Bad choice! They assured me it tasted good. I plan to try your recipe, as you included lots of good tips. Thanks!
Small pavlovas are the way to go! Love them. I often look at recipes of big, cake-size pavlovas and wonder how in the world they cut and serve those things.
Don’t they crumble to pieces?
Meanwhile, yes, lemon curd and blackberries or blueberries is also great on a pavlova. Or mix a bit of curd in with yogurt or whipped cream.
Is the cornstarch in the pavlovas necessary? I can’t eat corn so I have to find substitutions for all your lovely recipes. Can I just omit it or do I need to replace it (usually for arrowroot)?
Sam, either use arrowroot mixed first with the acid, or just omit it.
Just an interesting side note. If for some reason meringues fall apart or crumble (sometimes happens when making a large one), the broken pieces and crumbs can be folded into the whipped cream and fruit compote added same way. THIS is ‘Eton Mess’ 🙂
Yes!!! ~ karen
Thanks! I made this (but with mixed frozen berries because we live on Maui where fresh raspberries cost a fortune) and it turned out great for a quick-and-easy-but-beautiful dessert for dinner guests.
Excellent! Thanks for letting me know. ~ karen!
Love Pavlova. I’ve been making it for years, but it’s been having a comeback lately. I once made it for a dinner party with lemon curd as a topping; my friend’s hubby ate his piece, went back for a second and then licked the serving plate!