Strawberry Pavlova

Please know pavlova is a New Zealand creation. Australians get in a bit of a tizzy about it. But they are wrong. The eggs MUST be at room temperature. For four egg whites (rather small pav) I recommend reducing cornstarch to a bit less than 1 ½ tsp and vinegar to a scant ¾ tsp. 350 degrees is waaaay too hot~ 250 is good and never ever open the oven door. And don’t even think about sweetening the whipped cream. That’s all I got. Kia ora!

A nice option instead of the whipped topping is making any type of fruit curd for the pavlova! It's an easy way to use those leftover egg yolks.
Lemon, passion fruit, rhubarb curd - all yummy and so easy to make.

The fruit curd can also be a lovely addition to the whipped topping instead of the fresh strawberries if you don't have any fresh fruit available!

I followed the meringue recipe exactly except I heeded one note of advice here by a reader to bake at lower temperature (250). It was a disaster. A flat, beige coloured sticky mess.

So, I remade following Jamie Oliver's recipe for meringue. (6 egg whites, 300 grams of sugar, pinch of salt, bake at 300 for an hour. Ooh wow. BEAUTIFUL. Crackling crust of golden and cream meringue with meltingly fluffy interior.

This was the hit of my son's 30th birthday party.

Outstanding flavors - particularly with strawberries at their peak! The amount of meringue is tremendous and could easily serve 8. I divided the meringue into serving side rounds and baked it that way which made serving very easy.

Good idea, but he meringue was way too sweet, even as meringues go. I'd cut sugar by .25c next time and maybe bake at lower temp to get more gooeyness in the middle. The Tartine Bakery meringues are my ideal, so I might try to follow those instrux instead I added cacao nibs to meringue to good effect.

Made a pavlova yesterday for a dinner party. This was among 10 recipes I used to come up with the correct time and temperature for baking. Thank goodness for reviews!! So many people complained about the heat - and the sweet. As a result, I used 5 egg whites, 1 cup of sugar. Preheated the oven to 300°, Baked at 250° for 1hr 15 minutes, then let it sit for an hour until oven went cold. Still the tiniest bit brown in spots but crunchy, gooey, yum. If you want it to stay white - low and slow.

I haven't read through all the comments but if no one mentioned the weather factor--or even if they did, it's worth mentioning again--here it is: do not attempt to make a meringue on a humid day. Just don't do it, it will fail. You will be unhappy. Trust me. Wait for a high pressure system.

How far in advance can you make the meringue?

Delicious, fun to make and a pleasure to serve. I happen to have a convection oven (which finishes backed goods faster) and we tend to like a little gooey at the center, so I leave this in the oven for only one hour. Crisp outside, a little gooey in the center, lush with fruit. Of course, the base invites invention with whatever fruits you have on hand: mixed frozen berries in winter, oranges with liqueur...

So, it's OK to make the meringue a day before? How do I store it for dessert in the evening?

I think the 300oF temp is too high. I always bake meringues at 275 for an hour, then turn off the oven and leave them overnight. They stay pure white and beautifully crisp.

i have been making a similar pavlova for years and tried this one. agree that the oven temp is too high - i find 250-275 degrees works better. and allow the oven to go cold. sometimes i sugar down some of the berries (i use whatever i have from the garden), add a bit of those first, then whipped cream, then fresh berries. delicious. i used to have a similar recipe made with a mocha mousse filling, called mocha angel pie and published in the NYT Sunday paper in about 1970. always a hit,

I used the recipe but served it with raspberries and blackberries and also added a layer of tart lemon curd. Delicious. A great recipe to riff on -the meringue was particularly good (I decreased the sugar a bit and used a scant cup based on the comments).

Based on several of the comments on this recipe I cooked the meringue at 250 for 90 minutes and then turned the oven off and let it cool for a further hour. Turned out perfectly.

Beautiful & delicious. My first pavlova, made from another recipe cracked and I deemed too unattractive to serve so I decided to try this one. It made a lovely, glossy meringue, but the cooking temperature was far too hot and the pavlova, while still lovely, took on some color like a lightly toasted marshmallow at the one hour mark. Next time, I would cook at a lower temperature for just one hour to keep the pavlova from browning. One cup of sugar was plenty.