The Perfect Pavlova

This is one of those recipes that is great to have in your back pocket. Once you know the technique you can make dessert with a bare minimum of ingredients and such little effort. 

Pavlova supposedly gets its name from the ballerina Anna Pavlova, maybe she was a fan of meringue or maybe the restaurant owner was a little smitten and wanted to charm her with dessert. Whatever the origin the country of origin is a little controversial, some claim it can be credited to Australia, others New Zealand, some people even say it has it roots in the US. Wherever the dessert hails from it spread worldwide to become one of the most popular desserts. 

I generally tend to think of it as a summer dessert, pairing beautifully with summer berries, but there is nothing stopping this from being a great year round dessert, topping the meringue with whatever ingredients you have on hand. 

For some reason Pavlova has a reputation of being tricky and I think that is a little unwarranted. It is a very quick process with just a few ingredients. There are a few things to bare in mind though that will help make your pavlova a success every time. 

Use older egg whites. Very fresh egg whites dont whip as easily or to the same volume as older eggs, so dont pavlova with eggs straight from the supermarket. In a similar vein, dont use cold egg whites, they take longer to whisk up. 

Whisk slowly. When you are whisking the meringue with the sugar, if you whisk on high speed, you're likely get to stiff peaks before the sugar has had a chance to dissolve, which can lead to sugar leaking out of the baked pavlova. A more sedate medium speed allows the sugar to fully dissolve before getting to the perfect texture. 

Add an acid and cornflour. The perfect pavlova has a crisp exterior and a soft pillowy, almost marshmallow like inside. The acid (my preference is lemon juice, I dont really like a meringue that tastes of vinegar) helps to stabilise the meringue and the cornflour helps the pavlova retain moisture, creating the characteristic soft inside. 

Bake low and slow. To get that perfect pavlova texture you bake the meringue mixture initially at a relatively higher temperature to help set the outside of the pavlova and give a nice crisp crust. The temperature is then turned down low and baked slowly. This prevents the pavlova turning crunchy and also keeps it bright and white. 

Pavlova Recipe
6 large egg whites
350g caster sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
600ml Double cream
lots and lots of berries

To make the pavlova preheat the oven to 130c and line a baking tray with parchment paper, drawing an 8-inch circle on the back as a template.

Rub a cut lemon around the inside of your bowl, this adds a little acid to help stabilise the meringue but also remove any residual fat on the sides of the bowl. Add the egg whites to the bowl and using an electric mixer whisk on medium speed. When whisking the bubbles will start off large and the mixture will still look rather wet. When the bubbles have increased in amount but become smaller in size, slowly start adding the sugar a tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking at medium speed until the meringue is stiff and glossy. You should also be able to rub the meringue between your fingers and not feel any sugar grains. 

Add the cornflour, lemon juice and vanilla and whisk for a couple minutes to combine evenly. Scrape the meringue onto the parchment paper, pilling high in the middle of the circle. To create a decorative pattern carefully spread the meringue to the edges of the circle and like you’re a smoothing the buttercream on the sides of a cake, smooth out the sides of meringue so it is high and smooth. Use the back of your spatula to draw lines onto the sides of pavlova, at an angle, repeating around the whole side of the pavlova. Make these marks quite deep as they will lose some definition in the oven. 

Place the pavlova into the oven and bake for 10 minutes before reducing the temperature to 90C and baking for a total of about 90 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool fully in the oven. This slow cooling down helps prevent the pavlova from cracking too much. 

To serve top the pavlova with lightly whipped cream and lots and lots of fresh berries. Once topped with cream and fruit serve immediately. 

Strawberry Galette

I seem to be going through something of a pie phase at the moment. I am working on a feature that includes a few pies and it has become an obsession to make the perfect pie dough and fillings. To illustrate my obsession, as I write this I have five separate batches of pie dough in the fridge, shortly to be turned into a whole variety of pies, in fact I probably actually host a four course pie dinner at the rate I am going. Suffice to say I love making pies, but there is many an occasion that a full pie, with a lattice crust, multiple stages and a long prep time is just not what I need. This quick strawberry galette, with its quick prep time and minimal ingredients is therefore my perfect summer dessert. The pastry is quick and simple and the filling couldn't be more straight forward. Even better than the simplistic nature of this recipe is the fact that this is a simple rustic affair and perfection isn't actually desirable. No more worrying about trying to make a fancy recipe live up to the picture, there is actually something beautiful in the simplicity of this recipe, plus it will be devoured in minutes so no one is going to care what it looks like.

For this recipe I have hopped over onto @QKatie's YouTube channel to show her how to make the galette so head over there and give it a watch. On my channel this week, Katie shows me how to make something a little unusual; black sesame cupcakes with avocado frosting, go and check it out!

Strawberry Galette
Cornmeal Crust
175g plain flour
75g coarse cornmeal
2-3tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, diced
4tbsp ice cold water

Filling
500g sliced strawberries
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
100g ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan).

To make the pastry place all the dry goods into a large bowl and mix together to combine. Add the butter and toss in the flour to coat. Using a flat edged knife or a pastry blender cut in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the water a bit at a time, using the knife to stir it into the flour mixture. Once all of the water has been added the mixture should be starting to form clumps. At this stage tip out the dough onto the worksurface and use your hands to bring together into a ball. Flatten into a disc and wrap in clingfilm, refrigerate for about an hour before using. 

When ready to bake make the filling by simply tossing together the strawberries, caster sugar and cornflour, setting aside until needed. On a lightly floured worksurface roll out the pastry into a large circle, about 3mm thick. Sprinkle over the ground almonds leaving a thick border around the outside clean. Spread the strawberries over the almonds and fold the excess pastry over the strawberry filling. Brush the pastry with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Allow the tart to cool before serving. 

No Churn Chai Ice Cream

Let me start with a caveat, when I developed this recipe we were in the middle of a heatwave, the allusive 30C was hit and Londoners abandoned trousers in favour of shorts in droves, you'd think we’d never experienced heat before! But as seems to be the case every year, we got our two weeks of sun so naturally its now back to rain and weather that seemingly changes by the hour. But the good thing is that I can happily eat ice cream whatever the weather, sometimes there is nothing better than a cosy night inside whilst it pours down outside, crashed on the sofa with a bowl of ice cream.

Now this recipe, the simplest ice cream you’ll ever make, came as a result of a challenge from Typhoo Tea. They wanted to challenge me to find out which Typhoo Tea is my favourite and how I could incorporate it into a recipe. Now if you know me you know I absolutely love tea, its the first thing I have in the morning and often the last thing at night too. I occasionally flirt with fancier blends of tea like earl grey but I always come back to the good ol’ british cuppa, strong black tea with milk; its warm and comforting and there is nothing better after a long day. But getting tea into baking? How do we do that? Infusion seems the obvious way to go as it gives lots of flavour but doesn't leave behind grainy pieces of tea. Strong black tea infused said one thing to me and thats a glorious mug of chai and as it’s the height of summer a chai ice cream was begging to be made

Now a quick note about the YouTube video that accompanies this recipe. I am well aware that for no apparent reason I keep referring to this recipe as chai tea ice cream which literally means tea tea ice cream. Now I love tea but tea tea ice cream! Stupidly this is actually one of my linguistical bugbears, its redundant and really I should have been calling this recipe Masala Chai Ice Cream which indicates it is spiced tea, not just tea on its own. Regardless of my butchering of the wording, this ice cream is still blooming delicious!

Because I wanted the tea flavour to stand up to the spices and not be overwhelmed I didn't want a light tea but something a little more robust so the classic Typhoo works beautifully, but you could also be using Typhoo extra strong if you really want to give the tea flavour extra oomph. The recipe below uses my favourite blend of spices for masala chai but everyones preference varies and there is no definitive recipe so use whatever spice blend you prefer. 

No Churn Masala Chai Ice Cream
600ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 cinnamon stick
5 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
3 cloves
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp pink peppercorns
4 Typhoo tea bags
1x395g tin of condensed milk

To make the ice cream you need first to infuse the spices and tea into the cream. Pour the cream into a medium sized saucepan and add the vanilla, ginger and cinnamon, breaking the cinnamon in half to help it infuse properly. Place the remaining spices into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and briefly pulse/bash until broken up but not yet a fine powder. Add the spices to the cream along with the tea bags and over medium/high heat bring the cream to a boil. Turn off the heat, place a lid on the pan and set aside for about an hour. Pour into a heat proof container and chill until cold (I tend to do this in the evening and allow it fully cool overnight). 

When ready to make the ice cream pour the condensed milk into a large bowl and set aside for the moment. Pour the cream mixture into a large bowl through a fine sieve to remove the spices and tea bags. The important part here is to press firmly on the tea bags as they hold a lot of cream and therefore a lot of flavour. Using a balloon whisk, whisk the cream until it holds soft peaks (if you whisk to stiff peaks it wont combine with the condensed milk very easily and you will lose a lot of volume). Working in thirds fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk until no white streaks remain. Pour the ice cream into a freezer safe container, cover and freeze for a few hours before serving. Because this is a cheat ice cream it doesn't keep very long, a week at the most. 

This post is sponsored by Typhoo Tea but opinions are mine

Peach Pie Cocktail

It is cocktail time! After last week’s recipe showing you how to use a jam in a bake, I thought I would show you something a little more grown up, a peach pie cocktail using homemade peach jam. 

It is such a simple but slightly unusual way of using jam but it actually is playing two roles. Firstly, the jam acts as a sweetener so you need less sugar syrup and then the more important part, it adds flavour. It is a great way of using those last little bits of jam you have at the back of the fridge and there would be so many different cocktails you could using jam in, use blackberry in a bramble, or maybe strawberry jam in a daiquiri? 

The jam itself in this recipe is super simple, just like the others I have shown you over the last few weeks. What I hope you've learnt is that jam making is a lot easier than you thought and that you will all give it a go, especially now when so much wonderful fruit is in season. 

Don’t forget that the Tate and Lyle Great British Jam Awards are still open until the 6th July so there is still plenty of time to enter and try your hands at winning! As a quick reminder, there are three categories you can enter ‘traditional jam with a twist’ ‘jam bake’ and ‘jam on the rocks’. You can find the full details for the competition and of course the important prize details at facebook.com/welovebaking 

Peach Jam
Makes 2x380g jars

500g peaches, stoned and diced (skin on or off)
500g Tate & Lyle Jam Sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 vanilla bean

First things first it is time for a basic but incredibly important step, sterilising the jars. Wash the jars and lids with hot soapy water then place onto a roasting tray and place into an oven heated to 180C for about 15 mins. This is a boring step, I know, but it just means the jams you are lovingly making will last 6 months without needing to refrigerate the unopened jars. Just before you start making the jam pop a couple plates into the freezer.

Place the pan with all of the ingredients onto the hob, set over medium/low heat and cook, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to medium/high and bring the jam to a rolling boil and cook for about 10 minutes. 

To test if the jam is fully cooked there are a few simple ways you can check. The first is the flake test. Lift the wooden spoon above the pan and allow the jam to drip back into the pan, if some drips,  cling to the spoon rather than running off back into the pan you're good. My preferred way of testing the jam is to take one of the plates out of the freezer and spoon on a little of the jam. Pop the plate aside for a minute or so before pushing the jam with your finger and if it wrinkles it will set, if it is still liquid, cook it for a little longer. 

Once the jam has finished cooking turn off the heat and leave for a minute or so then transfer carefully to a jug, to ease pouring it into jars. If there is any foam on top carefully skim that off and discard (there is nothing wrong with the foam, you could happily stir it back into the jam if you are feeling lazy, but technically the foam is full of air and can make the jam spoil a little quicker, also it just looks ugly so skim away). Remove the jars from the oven and carefully divide the jam between the jars, sealing tightly. Kept in a cool place they should keep for up to 6 months. 

Peach Pie Cocktail
Makes 1

1 tbsp peach jam
1/2 tsp cinnamon
50ml vodka
1 tsp sugar syrup
juice 1/2 lemon

To make the cocktail place all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for about 30 seconds. 

Pour the cocktail into a glass filled with ice and garnish with a couple slices of peach. Serve immediately. 

Post sponsored by Tate & Lyle but recipe content/words/opinions are my own.