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Traditional pavlova

Traditional pavlova

Vegetarian
Gluten free
Nut free
Peanut free
Sesame free
Soy free
Wheat free

Create an iconic Aussie dessert with our easy-to-follow recipe. Top it with freshly whipped cream and delicious fruit for added freshness - delicious!

Serves8
Cook time1 hour 30 minutes
Prep time25 minutes, + 2 hours cooling time

A traditional pavlova with passion fruit and kiwifruit on top

Ingredients

6 Coles Australian Free Range Egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
300ml thickened cream
1 tbs icing sugar mixture
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 green kiwifruit, thinly sliced
1 gold kiwifruit, thinly sliced
3 thin slices peeled pineapple
1/2 mango, peeled, thinly sliced
2 passionfruit, halved

Nutritional information

Per serve: Energy: 1418kJ/339 Cals (16%), Protein: 5g (10%), Fat: 14g (20%), Sat fat: 9g (38%), Carb: 51g (16%), Sugar: 50g (56%), Fibre: 2g (7%), Sodium: 58mg (3%).

Check ingredient labels to make sure they meet your specific dietary requirements and always consult a health professional before changing your diet. View dietary information here.

Percentage Daily Intake information on our recipes is calculated using the nutrition reference values for an average Australian adult.

Method

Step 1
Preheat oven to 100°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Draw a 20cm circle on the paper and turn over.
Step 2
Use an electric mixer to whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean, dry bowl until firm peaks form.
Step 3
Gradually add the sugar, 1 tbs at a time, whisking well after each addition until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is thick and glossy. Add the cornflour. Stir until just combined.
Step 4
Use a large metal spoon to spoon the mixture onto the lined tray. Use a palette knife to shape into a disc, using the circle as a guide. Smooth the side.
Step 5
Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the pavlova is dry to the touch. Turn oven off. Leave the pavlova in the oven, with the door ajar, for 2 hours to cool completely.
Step 6
Use an electric mixer to whisk the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until soft peaks form.
Step 7
Place the pavlova on a serving plate. Top with the cream mixture. Use a star cutter to cut shapes from kiwifruit and pineapple. Arrange over the cream mixture with the mango. Drizzle with passionfruit pulp. Serve immediately.

Pavlova recipe

A pavlova is right at home at any Australian gathering, from Christmas dinner to a casual barbecue. With its part-crispy, part-spongy meringue base, lashings of whipped cream, and stacks of seasonal fruit (and/or lollies and chocolates), pavlovas are versatile and, above all, delicious.

When it comes to how to make pavlova, all you need is a good meringue base, swathes of sweetened cream, and toppings of your choice. This easy pavlova recipe uses a homemade meringue and makes for an impressive centrepiece on any dessert table and for any occasion. It calls for a tropical trio of passionfruit, kiwi and mango, but these fruits can be swapped out for any of your favourites.

The pavlova meringue recipe

The foundation – quite literally – of a good pavlova is a quality meringue. With just four ingredients, this pavlova base is super easy and achieves a brittle-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside meringue. This is a 6 egg pavlova recipe and uses only the whites. To separate the eggs, you’ll need two bowls and a butter knife. Over one bowl, use the back of the knife blade to crack the egg in the middle. Carefully swap the yolk between the halves of the split shell, allowing the egg white to drip into the bowl below. Use the shell to fish out any debris from the whites. Place the yolks in the other bowl – check out the FAQs for suggestions on how to use them up.

With your whites separated, add them to an electric mixer and whisk with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Stiff peaks hold their structure, and this is important because you’ll be free-forming the shape it will bake into, so make sure it’s sturdy!

Once you have the right consistency, slowly incorporate the sugar one tablespoon at a time. Whisk on high to well combine after each addition until the mixture is thick and you can’t see or feel any sugar granules on the back of a spoon. That sugary syrup that sometimes seeps out of a pavlova during baking is what’s known as weeping – to avoid this, it’s important to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the cornflour to achieve that glossy finish and fold through until just combined. Spoon the mixture onto a tray lined with the baking paper that you’ve already traced your guideline on. Use a palette knife or a regular butter knife to form the circular shape and smooth the edges out.

Bake for one-and-a-half hours until the pavlova is dry. Turn the oven off and prop the door open with a wooden spoon or other heat-proof utensil. Leave the pavlova meringue to cool completely in the oven for 2 hours. Taking it out early could cause the meringue to split, crack and possibly crumble. If your pavlova shell does bust, pretend it was on purpose and serve it as an eton mess, or try Curtis Stone’s peach and mascarpone smashed pavlova – it takes the stress out of nailing your meringue by breaking it into pieces and tossing with macerated peaches, lemon zest and thyme.

How to make a pavlova – pavlova ingredients, assembly and decoration

When it comes to the ingredients for pavlova beyond the meringue, there are really only two: cream and fruit. Cream on pavlova is a must as it essentially acts as the icing. We’ve used thickened cream whipped with sugar and vanilla to create a dense pavlova topping into which you can lodge your fruits and whatever else you are using as pavlova decoration. Dollop your cream onto the top of the cooled meringue and spread into an even layer with an offset spatula or spoon. If your whipped cream is dense enough, you could also use a piping bag to create rosettes or another design.

Traditional pavlova toppings include kiwi fruit, strawberries, blueberries and passionfruit as these are the classic fruits of summer, which is when pavlova is most commonly enjoyed. The beauty of pavlova is its versatility, and the best pavlova recipe is the one that celebrates all of your favourite flavours. Don’t be afraid to get experimental! While there’s always a seat for the Christmas pavlova, you can make year-round meringue cakes with seasonal produce. Try pomegranates in autumn, rhubarb and custard apple in winter, melons in spring, or cherries in summer (like these individual black forest mini pavlovas – pavlova nests topped with poached cherries and dark chocolate).

Now get cooking

Pavlovas are a classic summertime dessert that never fail to bring a smile to all those who get to enjoy them. Want more pavlova recipes? Check out this lamington chocolate pavlova, which combines the two Australian favourites and is a guaranteed winner at any gathering. If you love the idea of fusing different desserts, check out our desserts category page to find more flavours to take on.

FAQs

Keep any leftover pavlova in the fridge on a cake tray if possible, otherwise a plate covered in plastic wrap will suffice. While your pav might still taste great after 2 days in the fridge (don’t keep it any longer than that), it won’t have retained its texture. The meringue tends to go soft as the cream deflates and the cut fruits bleed, so pavlova looks and tastes the best when it is made, assembled and eaten on the same day.
Use an electric mixer to whip air into the cream until it is thick, luxurious and easily spreadable. Start slow as the thickened cream will be runny and tend to slosh around the bowl. Slowly increase the speed as you add more sugar. A higher speed will whip more air into the cream, which will increase its density. It is much easier (and faster) to do this with an electric mixer than with a whisk by hand, which could take you a long time.
To make things easier, you could make your pavlova meringue recipe a day ahead and assemble right before serving. If you are making your meringue ahead, store in an airtight container at room temperature. For those extra hot days where things tend to melt quickly, ‘frost’ your meringue with the whipped cream and return it to the fridge so that the cream sets slightly. This creates a sturdier base for things like candles and cake toppers, and helps keep any fruits or other decorations from sliding around on the cake.
If you’ve used fresh eggs to make the meringue, you’ll have 6 yolks left over. You can use these the way you would use eggs in savoury dishes – try an omelette, fried rice, or scrambled eggs. You could also make a custard, which you could then use as a pavlova toppings or on other desserts like this chocolate custard cake or spiced jelly trifles. Or, put them to good use in our no churn vanilla ice cream.

0:00

why is Pavlova one of Australia's

0:01

favorite desserts to me it's really

0:03

obvious it's sweet and light but it's

0:05

still rich and you can put whatever

0:07

seasonal fruits you want on it but there

0:09

are a few secrets to getting that mering

0:12

just perfect and I'm going to teach you

0:13

them right

0:14

now the first one is egg whites you want

0:17

these to be at room temperature don't

0:19

use them straight out of the fridge let

0:21

them sit out for at least an hour or

0:23

hold the bowl like this for a little bit

0:24

and the warmth of your hands will

0:26

actually warm up those egg whites a

0:27

little bit go ahead and dump those

0:30

straight into your stand

0:34

mixer once that whisk has been working

0:36

for about 30 seconds you'll see how

0:39

voluminous this becomes right and that

0:41

actually allows the sugar to be absorbed

0:43

in a much better way and then you just

0:44

add it in a nice slow

0:47

string let's have a little peek and see

0:49

what's going on you can see now by the

0:51

Whisk it's now probably at about a soft

0:54

peak so see how that's really floppy

0:56

which tells me we're ready to add the

0:58

other ingredients start moving

1:00

that whisk slowly it's time we're going

1:01

to add the vinegar 1/4 teaspoon of

1:04

vanilla take your cornstarch and using a

1:06

little seiv add that pick up the

1:09

pace I always add Just A

1:12

Pinch I always add just a pinch of salt

1:15

to every dessert that I make because I

1:17

think it brings out a lot of that

1:18

beautiful Flavor now the reason I check

1:20

it a couple of times is you don't want

1:22

to over whisk if you over whisk it

1:24

you'll actually start removing some of

1:26

that air again and eventually you'll

1:27

beat all of that air back out so it's

1:29

just that perfect moment in time that

1:30

we're looking for let's have a little

1:32

peek at our Peaks perfect stiff peaks

1:35

and when that happens you know you don't

1:37

need to whisk it anymore I'm going to

1:39

show you a little trick take some

1:40

parchment paper and get yourself a

1:42

cutter now whether that is a big one or

1:44

a small one choice is yours I actually

1:46

run a pencil around like this flip the

1:49

parchment over like that you'll still be

1:52

able to see through it and you can just

1:54

gently fold that beautiful light mering

1:57

around like this pop it onto your

1:59

parchment now another little way to get

2:01

those perfect mering is using one of

2:04

these guys if you've got one of these

2:05

big ice cream Scoops you can go ahead

2:08

and hit it right in the middle of that

2:10

Circle that you made and you create this

2:12

beautiful dolp of mering they might want

2:14

to be small individual ones or you might

2:16

want to do one really big one it can

2:19

kind of be in any shape that you like

2:20

use a spoon and I actually want a little

2:23

divot in the center here so I've got

2:25

somewhere to fill up my whipped cream

2:27

we've made our pavlovas now here's

2:28

another little secret if you take just a

2:30

little dollop of that mering and stick

2:32

it in all four corners it's going to

2:34

stick to your sheep tray so nothing is

2:37

going to fly around in the oven so

2:39

that's it the mering are ready to go in

2:41

the oven they go in at 150 Cel and as

2:44

soon as you put them in you turn it down

2:45

to 105 and they take about an hour and 15

2:48

minutes once your pav overs have been in

2:50

for an hour and 15 minutes turn the oven

2:52

off stick a wooden spoon in the top like

2:55

this that's going to allow the heat to

2:57

escape the oven slowly right right we

2:59

don't want to rush them because that's

3:01

when you get a little crackage once your

3:03

pavlovas have had the time to cool down

3:05

remove that wooden spoon grab the tray I

3:08

probably don't even need a towel cuz

3:09

they're cooled right down now the great

3:11

thing about a pavlova there are no

3:14

rules the really it's totally up to you

3:16

what kind of fruit you use you need a

3:17

little tartness to relieve some of the

3:20

sweetness that we've put into the mering

3:21

let me show you how you can do it as an

3:24

individual just take a tiny little

3:26

dollop of whipped cream and use it as a

3:28

glue that's now secure and put a nice

3:31

big dollop of frozen yogurt if you

3:33

wanted to add some whipped cream be my

3:35

guest got some peaches and some

3:37

nectarines could do a drizzle it's an

3:40

individual pav over maybe that's your

3:42

style or maybe it's not well don't worry

3:44

because what I'm going to show you next

3:46

you might want to layer them this one

3:48

I'll do with some whipped cream and you

3:49

might want to stick them straight down

3:51

the center of your platter like this and

3:53

put a nice big dollop of cream in each

3:56

one so you can now see just how many

3:58

different options you you've got when it

4:00

comes to plating these of course you

4:01

dress it with whatever fruits you like

4:04

the look of we're so lucky in Australia

4:06

our Christmas Falls right in the middle

4:08

of summer I've actually got a little

4:10

caramel sauce that I made with passion

4:12

fruit just imagine if something goes

4:14

slightly wrong with you pavlovas

4:16

imagine if they're a bit broken there's

4:18

a thing called an eaten mess purposely

4:20

break these babies up still leave them

4:22

in big chunks stick them into the bottom

4:24

of a glass put a little frozen yogurt or

4:27

maybe some whipped cream and now we kind

4:30

of

4:31

layer finish this with one perfect

4:34

little

4:35

raspberry that looks great I want to go

4:38

to this dinner party so whether you want

4:39

to do it as an individual pav over an

4:41

absolute showstopper or my beautiful

4:44

little messy smash pav the choice is

4:46

yours when it comes to plating the good

4:48

news is all of them look wonderful but

4:50

even better they taste delicious go to

4:58

coles.com.au come

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on