Despite their elegance, Pavlovas are relatively simple desserts, making them the perfect party confectionary (try saying that three times fast). If you store them in a sealed container in a single layer, they’ll even keep for a day or two, which means you can make the meringues ahead of time and do the final assembly before serving them to your guests.
But for a baking newbie, meringues can be intimidating. I’ve certainly had my share of epic meringue failures in my time. Here are a few tips to make sure your pavlovas turn out perfectly every time:
- Use old egg whites – I know, this is counterintuitive. To understand this, let’s talk a little bit about the science behind beating egg whites. When you whisk an egg white, the proteins unfold as they are hit with the whisk and bubbles of air. As you continue to beat them, the proteins start to form bonds and surround the air bubbles creating a foam.However, as the foam reaches its maximum volume, the proteins start forming tight sulfur bonds which force out the air and water trapped in between. This is what causes a grainy meringue that appears to be weeping water. In classic French technique you always beat egg whites in a copper bowl because the copper bonds with sulfur, preventing the proteins from forming sulfur bonds.When egg whites are fresh, the proteins start off tightly folded, which is why they’re more viscous. This makes it much more difficult to beat air into them, resulting in a foam with less volume. However, fresh eggs also contain more carbon dioxide, which makes the whites cloudy and more pH neutral. This is significant because a fresh egg is less likely to form sulfur bonds that lead to an unstable foam.Old eggs on the other hand have more relaxed proteins making them runnier and easier to beat into a foam with more volume. The trouble is that as eggs age, they release the carbon dioxide and become more alkaline, which results in a less stable foam. The trick here is to lower the pH of the egg white by adding an acid such as vinegar or cream of tartar as your meringue reaches maximum volume.Put simply you want egg whites that are old, clear, and runny. If you crack an egg open and it’s cloudy and viscous, don’t worry just throw the whites in the fridge for about a week and you’ll have some perfectly aged egg whites. Personally I tend to use the yolks more than the whites, so I always just keep a container of whites in the fridge that I add to until I have enough to make these pavlovas:-)To read more about the science of meringues (or really just about anything food related), check out Harold McGee’s book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. I don’t keep a lot of recipe books around but McGee’s recipe-less cookbook is one of the few books I can’t live without.
- Meringues hate fat – This includes, egg yolk and oil. Even a small amount of residual grease on a plastic bowl will prevent the egg whites from forming a stable foam. Use a glass bowl and make sure that both the bowl and whisk are completely fat free before adding your eggs. You also need to be very careful breaking the eggs as older eggs tend to have more delicate membranes holding the yolk together.
- Fully dissolve your sugar – Sugar that isn’t completely disolved in the egg white will result in sticky beads of syrup forming. Using superfine sugar along with a little starch helps fix this problem. The superfine sugar dissolves more readily and the starch helps the meringue retain moisture, which not only results in a more stable foam, it also prevents beading.
As fun as they are to use as a kid, the egg beater my family had when I was growing up was a piece of junk. It was hard to clean, jammed up all the time, and took forever to whip anything. When I left the house and discovered the Kitchenaid, I was forever sold on the wonders of an electric mixer. But after moving to an apartment with a kitchen too small to keep a Kitchenaid, I was pretty excited when I won an OXO Good Grips Egg Beater at the Foodbuzz festival last year.
It’s not going to knead bread dough for you, but for light duty whipping and emulsifying, the OXO beater is brilliant! It’s smooth and never jams, comes apart so it’s easy to clean, and best of all, the gearing (like on a mountain bike) makes it whip cream and eggs insanely fast. Since I don’t have a mixer it’s a lifesaver, but even if I had one, I’d probably just turn to the OXO for small batches of meringue or cream because it’s a lot easier to setup and clean, and takes about the same amount of time.
I like adding a fair amount of vanilla to my meringues, but it will turn the meringues a light tan color. If you’re really determined to have a white pavlova, leave the vanilla out.
Units
Ingredients
- 105 grams egg whites (aged)
- 120 grams superfine sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon white vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 C) on convection mode. If your oven can’t do convection it’s fine, but you’ll want to increase the heat by about 20 degrees F and you may need to bake the pavlovas longer. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the egg whites to a very clean glass bowl (or in the bowl of your electric mixer) and beat until it’s foamy and soft peaks start to form.
- Whisk together the sugar and potato starch in a small bowl. Add the sugar mixture in 4 additions to the egg whites, beating the mixture in between each addition. If you have an electric mixer, you can just let the mixer run while you slowly pour the sugar in.
- Once the meringue is glossy and holds firm peaks (you should be able to hold the bowl upside-down without the egg whites falling), add the vanilla and vinegar and beat until well incorporated.
- If you’re making a big pavlova, just scrape all the meringue into the center of the parchment paper lined baking sheet. If you’re making mini pavlovas, divide the meringue into 5 small mounds, each about the same height. Give each pavlova a twirl with a spatula from the outside towards the center to give them a nice shape and put the pan in the oven.
- The pavlovas are done when the outside is crisp (about 45-60 minutes in a convection oven). Tapping on them should result in a hollow sound and the meringue shell should be at least 5mm thick, while the inside is still soft. Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack.
- To construct the pavlova, use a spoon to knock down the middle of the meringue making a well in each pavlova. Fill the shell with cream, then top with seasonal fruit of your choice. I used cherries, peaches, kiwifruit and passionfruit for mine, but strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are also delicious.
thailandtom says
🙂 opps I meant to add…basically (apart from a few crispy bits around the edge as described) the entire pavlova is the marshmallow. It still tastes great…but would be far better if it has a crispy outer shell too
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Tom, one possibility is that the problem is with the humidity there. I’ve never tried making pavlovas in a humid place, but I know from making macaron (which also involves a meringue) that humidity does bad things to meringues. Try lowering the heat and letting them sit in the oven longer with something fireproof wedged in the oven door to keep it opened just a crack. The other possibility is that your oven isn’t getting hot enough (most ovens are off by at least 10%, especially as they get older), in which case a longer time should also help. Best of luck!
Lorna says
I have noticed this problem when I Omega 3 eggs! (Chickens fed flax.) Try using ordinary eggs.
Julian says
Hi, will it be a problem to cook two large pavlovas at once on two layers? I have a pretty old oven, and normally i would switch the baking trays around but I know with pavlova I shouldn’t open the door halfway through baking. Is icing sugar ok to use?
Thanks for all the tips!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Julian, you can actually make these at a much lower temperature (as low as your oven will go) it will just take much longer. The reason I suggest this is because for larger pavlovas, they take longer to dry and so using a higher temperature oven will likely result in browning. This also gets around the issue of hot spots in the oven so you won’t need to rotate the trays. As for icing sugar, I haven’t tried it, but it should work.
Inka says
Ronalie, can you share the recipee?
Mine always turns too brown and is sticky.!!!
AussieInIndy says
Great post. I make pavlova about every 2 weeks. I’m Australian however I have lived in England and am currently in America. Its been a dinner favourite for years. Marc if you can ever get Wattle seed, try blending a tablespoon or two into your mix. It makes a lovely alternate pavlova with a distinct extra Australian flavour. kudos to a restaurant in Adelaide from 1992 where i first came across this.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi AussieInIndy, thanks for the idea! I’ll get my dad to bring some up to Japan the next time he comes.
Michellene Grauls says
Thankyou so much. I have been wondering how to get that beautiful tan crust. Now, every pav will have vanilla 🙂
Carrie Lynn Ingles Groneman says
Hello Marc, I’m thinking of making these for my daughter’s wedding reception. Would it be possible to make 600-700 mini ones ahead and could I pipe them into a small twisty cup style (sorry, I can’t describe it very well) and would they store after baking? If so, how long would they store. I’m in Utah, USA. Do you have a fabulous recipe for a make-ahead filling? THANKS for any help you can give me.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Carrie, congratulations on your daughters marriage. If you think you can pull these off, mini pavlovas would certainly make a stunning presentation. That said, it’s a pretty big chance you’d be taking for a number of reasons. First, the egg whites need to be pretty old for this to work well. If you do decide to do this, you may want to separate the eggs a week+ in advance to help them along. The second issue is that if you bake them until they’re still a little moist in the center (as a pavlova should be) they will not keep for more than a day since the remaining moisture in the center will seep back out and make the whole pavlova get sticky, so if you do decide to do this, I’d recommend baking them until they are completely dry (more like a meringue cookie). The last thing is all the variables that come into play with meringues like humidity, oven temp, etc. If after reading this you decide to give this a go, you probably want to do a few test runs and be very comfortable with the temperatures and times your oven requires as well as how many days they will keep before using them for your daughters reception. Good luck!
Carrie Lynn Ingles Groneman says
THANKS Marc for the advice and I think I’ll go with a soft serve ice cream bar for the reception and make this fabulous dessert for my family! GREAT recipe tutorial.
Jacquelyn Texeira says
My pavlovas are tough and gummy. What did I do wrong? I have a convection oven.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jacquelyn, the most likely culprit is that they weren’t in the oven long enough. Unfortunately it’s difficult to give an exact amount of time they need to be in the oven for as most ovens are off by +/- 20 degrees. Also things like humidity can effect baking times as well. Pavlovas should have a crisp shell on the outside and they should be soft and marshmallowy in the center. So if they’re not feeling crisp on the outside yet, leave them in the oven longer. You can also try and leave the door cracked open a bit, which should air with the air circulation.
Jacquelyn Texeira says
Thank you.
Audrey says
Hello, what temperature in F and time should I cook a large pavlova for about 20 people?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Audrey, I don’t recommend doing one large pavlova as it will take a ridiculously long time to cook I can’t tell you the the time and temperature because I’ve never done one for 20 but if I had to guess I’d say you’d want to lower the temperature at least 50 degrees and you’d be looking at a baking time of 3+ hours with another 3 hours or so with the oven door slightly propped open. But again I’ve never done this and it’s a total guess.