Birthday Pavlova

It was Fergals birthday today- he is one day older than I, and unfortunately for him there have been many a year that I almost forgot about our birthdays- no, actually, it was more a case of being oblivious that it was the end of April already. But this year I was organised!-ish! So I had a presents, cards, and when he came home from work: this pavlova.

Such a simple and delicious dessert!

To start, preheat the oven to 180’C. Take the whites of 5 eggs (make sure that not a speck of yellow gets in with the whites). With a balloon whisk, whip up the whites until stiff, and then, for every egg, you add in 2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk until the whites and sugar form glossy white peaks. Into this, whip 1 tablespoon of cornflour and a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Onto a tray prepared with greaseproof paper, spoon out the stiff mixture, spreading it out to cover the tray (it will be approximately 2 inches high) Put this into the oven, and turn it down to 100’C, cooking for an hour and a half.

Leave it in the oven for as long as possible once cooked without opening the door. Then, when ready, spread oodles of cream on top, decorate with fruit (I used tinned mandarins here) and delicious pieces of crumbled chocolate.

Yum!