Nana’s Easy Pavlova Recipe

“Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.” 
~ Natalie Babbitt

We have a friend and her young daughters staying with us right now. The girls love to help me in the kitchen, and for their mum’s birthday I helped them to bake and decorate their first pavolava, which is a favourite dessert of their mum.

This recipe was given to me by my Nana, but it was actually her own mother’s recipe. It’s a very simple pavlova – a fluffy marshmallow-centred pav with a thin crisp meringue crust.

It’s almost impossible to stuff up, and the whole thing is prepped and in the oven in around ten minutes. An hour and a half to bake, some time to cool and then it’s ready to eat.

If a six and eight year old can master this recipe you can too! (Can you see the princess in the pavlova? Hint – her eyes are blueberries and her nose is a raspberry!)

Enjoy,

Much love, Nicole ❤ xx

Ingredients

• 6 egg whites
• 1.5 cups castor sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornflour, sifted
• extra cornflour for dusting baking paper

Method

Preheat oven to 130 degrees Celsius or 120 degrees if fan forced (That’s 260 degrees Fahrenheit or 250 degrees)

Line a large tray with baking paper and then use a plate and a pen to draw a large circle. Take the baking paper, crumple it and then lay it out flat again with the circle face down so no pen gets on your pavlova. Lightly with cornflour, which will prevent the pavlova from sticking.

Whip the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer on high speed until they reach soft peaks. Dump in all other ingredients and then keep beating for ten minutes or until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Spoon the mixture out onto the baking paper using the circle as a guide. Build from the edge in. Then use a spoon to smooth it a little and the centre a little lower – this will form the nest when you fill the pavlova later.

Bake for 1.5 hours. Turn off oven and allow to cool in over for another hour. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Fill with whipped cream (you can sweeten it slightly if you prefer. We used 300ml of cream and a tablespoon of castor sugar). Arrange sliced fresh fruit of your choice on top. Good toppings include berries, kiwifruit, mango, banana, stonefruit and passionfruit.

Best eaten soon after compiling as the meringue will soften over time from the cream.