Passionfruit Pavlova — Nonna Lizzie

Chewy, crumbly & fruity.

Pavlova always reminds me of Christmas back home in Australia. Summer bbq lunches, white wine on ice and a fruity pavlova dessert to finish.

Although a favourite of mine, I was always too intimidated to make it. However recently here in Portugal, I’ve been upskilling in the kitchen.

Thanks to YouTube and BBC Good Food, I can confidentially say this Nonna Lizzie Pavlova recipe is achievable and super delicious. So delicious I made it 3 weeks in a row for dinner parties.

I hope you enjoy it too!

*Pavlova is made out of meringue layers and cream in between each layer. For this recipe, I am using 2 round meringue layers and adding passionfruit to the cream filling.

Ingredients

Meringue:
• 4 egg whites

• 250g caster sugar

• 1 teaspoon cornflour, white wine vinegar and vanilla essence

Whipped Passionfruit Cream:
• 5 passionfruit ( fresh pulp)

• 250g mascarpone

• Approx 50-80g cream cheese.

• 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Garnish

• Pistachios

• Edible rose petals (I use gin botanicals)

• 1 passionfruit (fresh pulp).

Method:

1. WITH a hand mixer, whisk the egg whites on low- medium speed until it creates stiff peaks.

2. ADD in your sugar in three editions, re-whisking the eggs to stiff peaks again. Then whisk in the cornflour, white wine vinegar and vanilla essence at the end.

**STEP 2:** Mixing the meringue until it reaches stiff peaks. This picture is at 80%. You want to see longer stiff peaks.

3. DIVIDE the mixture in two and dollop it on a tray lined with baking paper. It doesn’t have to be a perfect round base, just use the back of a spoon to smooth any edges you want to.

You can also save a little bit of meringue mixture, or use the leftovers in the bowl, to make small meringue bites. I usually just make fat ‘dots’ on the tray. Once baked, these ‘dots’ can be used for topping. I like to crumble some of them and sprinkle it on top.

4. BAKE both trays, low racks, for 1 hr @ 140c (fan). You’ll know when it’s cooked if you can easily take the meringue off the baking paper.

**STEP 4:** Two meringue layers. You can even pre make these the day before and keep them in the fridge.

**STEP 5:** Whisk the mascarpone and cream cheese first, before folding in the passionfruit pulp.

5. JUST before serving, whisk the mascarpone cream, cream cheese and passionfruit pulp.

6. SPREAD the passionfruit cream on top of each meringue and stack them on top of each other.

7. GARNISH the topping with crushed pistachios, edible rose petals, passionfruit pulp and extra meringue pieces (if you made some during step 3).

Best served with a chilled glass of rosé!