I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I can’t believe the
big day is over! Still, I have a few more days of R&R before returning to
work. I need it to recover from the shock of making Christmas dinner this year.
Only the second time I have done it, but I was a tad more organised than last
and made lists of everything! Everything went well apart from my garlic infused
sprouts, which I loved, but the others didn’t!
I wanted to share with you the dessert I made. We usually go
for trifle, but we all fancied something a little different this year. I know
that mum and Disneyboi love chocolate and raspberries together so that was
where my inspiration began.
And the result was layers of chocolate flavoured and flecked
chewy meringue, with layers of whipped cream and layers of raspberries! It was
delicious and simple. That’s the key to Christmas day dessert I think - simple
yet delicious. Time is precious on the day.
I made the pavlova discs a few days earlier and they kept
well in an airtight container. So I all I needed to do was whip the cream and
spoon on the rasps. I used frozen rasps (defrosted of course) as they tend to
leak more juice, perfect for such a dessert.
I don’t have many pics of the pudding as it was assembled
just as I was about to serve. And this couldn’t be layered in advance, the
cream will eventually make the meringue soggy if it sits for too long, so it
really is best eaten within a few hours of making.
Ingredients:
6 large egg whites, room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
250 grams of caster sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cornflour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
50 grams dark chocolate chopped (70% cocoa solid min)
Adapted from Joy of Baking
600 ml double cream
700 grams frozen raspberries, thawed
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two large cookie sheets with
greaseproof paper and draw two circles on each sheet of paper, about 6” in
diameter. Use a plate or upturned bowl as a template. Flip the paper over so
your piped meringue doesn’t come into contact with the pencil.
In a mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream
of tartar and once the mix holds soft peaks, continue beating adding the sugar
one tablespoon at a time. Beat until the mix holds stiff peaks. At this stage,
add the vanilla and vinegar and fold through with a spatula. Sift over the
cornflour and cocoa powder and fold this through until the cocoa has
incorporated fully. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
Either with a piping bag with a wide nozzle, or with a spoon
fill the four circle templates with the chocolate meringue mix. If using a
piping bag, spiral the chocolate until around the circle.
Place the cookie sheets into the oven for 1 and ¼ hours.
When the time is up, turn off the heat and leave the baked meringue discs until
they have cooled completely (I left mine overnight). Carefully peel the discs
from the greaseproof paper and store in airtight containers until ready to
assemble the pavlova layers.
To assemble, beat the cream until it is stiff, but
spreadable. Place one meringue disc on your serving plate and spoon on one
quarter of the cream and carefully spread out to the edges. Spoon a quarter of
the rasps on top of this. Repeat this process, until you finish with a layer of
cream and rasps. And it’s as simple as that.
The meringue tastes chocolaty, is crispy on the outside and
chewy on the inside. The folded in dark chocolate holds it’s shape and is a
nice added bite in the meringue. The tartness of the berries goes well with the
sweetness and the cream is pure indulgence. If you make, enjoy, as we did!
Yum, I adore pavlova! and the combination of chocolate and raspberry too makes this sound super tasty!!
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