Lavender pavlova – which I like to call Provence pavlova

I took a simple pavlova recipe from the MasterChef website, but added lavender at the end.

Lavender pavlova – aka la Provence pavlova

Here is the recipe:

4 – 5 eggs or 150ml egg white
1 cup caster sugar (sifted)
2 tablespoons cornflour (sifted)
2 teaspoons white vinegar

Lavender flowers – depending on how much you like, I probably used a handful.

Preheat oven to 150C.

Measure all ingredients out prior to and sift everything prior to starting. Pavlova can be a little temperamental and it helps to have all the ingredients ready.

Grease baking paper with butter and place on baking tray. You can draw a circle, I didn’t bother. Pavs can have a mind of its own, but if you have whipped it good, (I feel like duran duran right now), you will be able to shape it in a nice round circle.

Place egg white in a large bowl and whip with an electric mixture until stiff peaks form.

Gradually add the sifted sugar – about a tablespoon at a time. I know this sounds cumbersome, but when you start to build your pav on baking paper, you will thank yourself. Your mixture will start to get glossy and very thick. Its really important not to rush the sugar...this is the mistake I have been making – if it doesn’t dissolve, it will melt in the oven and the pav will look like its wet its pants with sugar syrup. When your arm feels like its about to drop off and your knuckles in your hand are in pain, then you probably have whipped it enough. I did mine for 10mins. I was so over it by then. Also, use a big bowl. The more its whipped, the bigger it gets – like a big fluffy cloud swirling under the beater. I had to be careful that my cloud wasn’t spilling out.

Add cornflour and vinegar and whip until just combined. Because my mixture was big, I added this a little at a time so I made sure the cornflour and vinegar was evenly distributed.

Place 1/2 mix on baking paper and form your shape with a flat dinner knife. Now sprinkle your lavender flowers on top...Its really important not to let the flowers be visible as they will burn. Then add the rest of mixture on top and form into shape. If you have whipped it good, it should be really stiff and sit perfectly. My top has a slight concave to eliminate air bubble and this will be filled up with cream and berries or whatever you top with...

Reduce oven to 120C and bake for 1 hour and 20 mins. Now important – do not take pav out of the oven!!! Simply turn off the oven. I know its tempting, but don’t let it come near cool air. I usually cook mine at night and take out the next morning. It must be completely cooled.

Whip cream, I added rose water (but maybe next time I'll add lavender flowers) after it has been whipped and layer on cake. Add fresh raspberries / strawberries. Sift a little icing sugar on top and sprinkle a few lavender flowers for garnish.

My tips:

If you spill egg yolk in your white – start again. Don’t attempt to salvage it. Your pav just wont turn out. Even if you think you got all of it out...You can use it for anything else but pavlova.

The egg whites must not come in contact with any grease, so if your like me and drop shells in your egg white – make sure to use a clean spoon. And always use a clean bowl, egg beaters etc. 

If your making it for a special occasion, and you’ve never made one before, its worth doing a test run to get a feel for your oven in terms of heat and “hot spots”. My oven is really hot on the right side, so I make sure to push this to the left as it will burn otherwise.
Oh and don’t whip cream with rose water or lavender in there. Whip it... then gently fold in... Mine turned into cottage cheese – so darn annoying. I had to go and buy a whole new tub of cream, because I am obviously the most incompetent person at whipping cream. This should be the easiest part of the pav right???  Clearly wrong for me.