Pavlova

I’ve been away a long time. It’s only thanks to Kaja that I’m back.

I’ll just say it cost me dearly to get this recipe. Let me merely mention that I was called “a spoilt generation”. While we were at it, a curse was put on my microscopic garden by the house (by the flat, actually), which was dragged through the mud, and my flowers were slandered in the most dreadful way. That last bit hurt the most.

I even got a poem (from Anonymous ;):

Pry’s rhyming,

I’m fuming.

And I haven’t the faintest idea what it means. Nothing good, I’m sure 😉

So today my mood is rather like the song I do best in SingStar duels.

I can’t remember if I’ve already told this story, but it went like this:

“What are you picking?”

“Ain’t No Sunshine.”

“Marcin, do you know who my favourite band was in the blissful days of my youth?”

“Course I do.”

“Who?”

“Budka Dilera, of course.”

“And do you know my favourite song of theirs?”

“I’m guessing ‘Sen o dolinie’.”

“Riiiight, and you know what?”

“What?”

“That IS ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’.”

“Oh.”

My mate was quite taken aback. Well, that’s cheered me up a bit, so over to Kaja:

(this’ll be quick as usual. Ah, the younger generation, rushing through life, rather like a Paczkomat parcel locker. You walk up to it and it says, “That took us 48 seconds today, but maybe next time we can be faster.” Who came up with that?):

“Really, it’s a very quick, simple dessert. Especially as you can get the components ready even a day ahead. I’d assemble the cake just before serving so the moisture doesn’t soften the meringue.”

At a glance: 

Prep time: 20 minutes

Baking time: 1.5 hours

Oven temperature: 130 degrees Celsius

Serves: Kaja didn’t report back (she just wrote that it was so good she had two helpings)

Calories: this is a very light dessert. Meringue, whipped cream… mostly air, really.

Ingredients for a beautiful pavlova (pavlova… how do you decline that in Polish?):

• 5 hen’s egg whites
• 200 g icing sugar
• 1 litre of whipping cream (this is the fattening version, you can use less)
• a glassful of jam (whatever you like, I used my homemade strawberry jam)
• fresh fruit (I used strawberries, blueberries and apricots)

Method (meringue and company):

Make the meringue ahead as it needs time to cool. I made mine the day before. Preheat the oven to 130 degrees Celsius. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites until stiff. Keep beating and add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time. Lay a sheet of baking paper on a tray and spread the meringue in a circle (I traced round my springform tin on the paper first). Bake for an hour and a half.

Then open the oven door and leave the meringue to cool completely. It should be crisp on the outside and a little chewy inside. Meanwhile, whip the cream and cut up the fruit (you can whip the cream a few hours ahead and keep it in the fridge).

All that’s left is to put the cake together. Spread the jam reasonably evenly over the meringue (careful, the surface is very delicate), then add the whipped cream and finish with the fruit. All done. Enjoy!