Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am a GUN at making pavlova. I can whip up a pav in a jiffy & one that makes a table full of guests say ooohhhhh & aahhhhh!
For those of you that are not from New Zealand or Australia, pavlova is so much more than a dessert to us. It is culture, history, our childhoods & represents the fun times that you have when you gather with your friends & family. It is made from egg whites & sugar, once it is cooked it is topped with velvety, smooth whipped cream & seasonal fruit. The perfect pavlova is crunchy on the outside with a soft, marshmallowy inside & it is as high as possible.
Pavlova is also the national dessert of New Zealand, oh I mean of Australia, no no, New Zealand! Confused… we are too. There is a HUGE rivalry between the two countries as to where the pavlova originated from. I am a kiwi living in Australia & I know the truth! We can at least agree that both countries are as equally in love with the pavlova! Here is more about the history of the pav http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlova_(food) . My Australian husband is convinced that that article is written by a New Zealander, I would have to disagree & say that Wikipedia is neutral on the subject!
It is Australia day weekend & I wanted to make a pavlova that was made from real food ingredients, that means no refined sugar. I whipped up the eggs whites in the same manner as I usually would, but used honey instead of sugar. I would usually use one cup of sugar to 4 egg whites, but it seemed sweet enough with only 1/4 cup of honey
.
The mixture looked good, it formed peaks, then it went in the oven for 1 hour at 100 degrees & then sat in the oven for one hour while the oven cooled. Phew, so far so good!
When I opened the oven after the waiting period, the mini pavlova’s looked successful. I gave one of the pav’s a tap….. fail! No hard shell on the outside. Just a sticky marshmallowy blob! Feeling optimistic, I thought I could turn them around & still present them nicely with a coconut cream topping. I proceeded to whip up the coconut cream. Whipping, whipping, whipping….. bugger, that was a disaster too! The coconut cream was runny & didn’t whip up in the way I had envisaged.
Today’s cooking lesson…. not everything converts over well from a traditional recipe using refined sugar or processed ingredients to a real food version. Not all is lost though (just 1/4 cup of honey & 4 eggs), I now know what doesn’t work & I can try again another day. Plus I still had a fun morning in the kitchen experimenting. Happy Australia day weekend everyone!
Real Food Pledge 
Good effort trying to convert the Nz pav 😉 I had a friend tell me that to whip coconut cream (or it may have even been coconut milk) put the can in the fridge first until it solidifies then pour of the watery liquid the. Whip the remainder … I haven’t tried it yet but she said it was ace!
I did it like that but it failed. It stared to look good then bombed out! I suspect that it started to warm up because I took too long. It is frustrating when I make such a good standard pav! It is pretty funny though!
Nice try 🙂 I looooove pav! I use stevia instead of honey and it seems to work ok, not the same as regular but not too bad either. Happy Australia Day!
Good tip! Maybe next time I will try that.