Sunday 10 February 2013

Black Forest Pavlova

One of my all time favourites - black forest gateau and what better way to recreate this.  I recently found this yum recipe on pinterest and had to give it a go.  I am not usually a fan of meringues and often find them a little too sweet but this combination with the tartness of the cherries and the espresso flavoured cream is a real winner!!  Well, this recipe made a huge pavlova which could easily cater for 12-15 people, so when there were only 7 of us to share this between, we were definitely going up for seconds! 

Ingredients

(Meringue)
8 egg whites
500g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

(topping)
500ml whipping cream
2 tablespoons espresso coffee
1 tin of morello cherries
100g roughly chopped walnuts
250g chocolate (milk or dark) shaved/grated

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C
1.Line greaseproof paper onto 2 baking sheets or, if you have the silicone mats, these are much easier to work with.
2.  Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they are almost stiff and gradually add the sugar.  Keep mixing until they are stiff.  The best way to test this is to the hold the bowl upside down!
3. Carefully add the cocoa powder and using a metal spoon, gently fold through to create a streaky effect.



 4. Add the meringue to the 2 baking sheets and roughly keep them to 25cm round circles.

5.  Turn the tempertaure of the oven down to 120degrees C and place the meringues to the oven.  Bake for 90 minutes and turn off the heat.  Keep the meringues in the oven until they have completely cooled.  They should now be firm.  Carefully remove from the baking sheets.

The topping and assembly -  
1.  Drain the cherries keeping the juicy syrup.  On a low heat, heat the syrup until it has thickened. Set this aside.
2.  Whip the cream until it has thickened.  Add the espresso and incorporate.  
3.  Carefully spread half of the cream onto the base layer of meringue.  Add 50g walnuts and half of the cherries.  Sprinkle over 125g chocolate.
4.  Place top layer of meringue on top and repeat the process.  Drizzle the cherry syrup over the pavlova.



No comments:

Post a Comment