How to Make Pavlova Nigella Lawson: Recipes and Tips
What’s the best way to start your day? With a mouth-watering dessert from Nigella Lawson, one of Britain’s favorite chefs.
Nigella Lawson is famous for her delicious dishes and easy recipes. One of her most popular creations is Pavlova: an Australian meringue cake with whipped cream and fruit toppings. It can be served as a sweet or savory dish.
We’ll tell you what ingredients are needed, give you step-by-step instructions on how to prepare it, and provide tips that will help you get the perfect result every time.
Pavlova is a meringue dessert that originated in Australia and New Zealand. It’s an elegant dessert that’s easy to make with just four ingredients: eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and whipped cream.
The secret to nigella pavlova is the slow baking process, creating a crisp exterior with a marshmallow-like interior. This dish is popular because it has many flavors. It’s easy to make and keep good even after a day in the refrigerator.
Nigella Lawson is a British celebrity chef with a net worth of $30 million. She’s the author of 13 cookbooks and has been on TV shows like Nigella Bites and hosting her cooking show called The Taste. Her most popular book is “How to Eat,” which teaches readers how to cook dishes from around the world.
In 1999, She hosted her cooking series called ‘Nigella Bites’ on Channel 4. She also released another cookbook based on this show and won a Guild of Food Writers Award! In 2005 she had a chat show that was met with negative criticism from the public but still managed to keep going until its cancellation in 2007 due to low ratings.
Before becoming a TV chef, She was already an established magazine columnist and author of several cookbooks. She hosted the Food Network’s Nigella Feasts in the United States from 2006 to 2008 while hosting her own BBC series called “Nigella Express.”
Nigella’s Living Kitchen cookware range offers a whopping £7 million in value, and she has sold more than 8 million of her books worldwide.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/gas mark 4 (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks that are glossy, then beat in sugar gradually until the meringue is stiff and shiny.
Sprinkle the cornflour over the meringue, grate in a Microplane of lemon zest and add 2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Gently fold with everything thoroughly mixed in. Mound onto the lined baking tray and flatten it out to be a perfect circle, ensuring that you smooth down all sides for an attractive finish.
Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150°C/130°C Fan/gas mark 2/300°F, and cook for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven, and let cool. But don’t leave it anywhere cold as this will make it crack too quickly. If you think your kitchen is too cool, put the pavlova inside an oven with its door open for a little while longer before taking it out to serve when ready to eat.
In a small pan, fry flaked almonds on medium-high heat until they are slightly browned. Shake the pan every once in a while to ensure that they do not burn, and remove them from the skillet when finished so as not to continue cooking them.
Whip the cream until thick and airy but still with a soft voluptuousness, and set it aside for a moment.
Put the lemon curd into a bowl and beat it with a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen it just enough. Taste the lemon curd, add some more zest if you want, and fresh juice if it’s too sweet.
With a light hand, you can spread the lemon curd on top of your meringue base. Top it with whipped cream and sprinkle some zest and flake almond to finish this incredible dessert!
Serve immediately.
Nigella Chocolate Pavlova (Chocolate Raspberry)
Serves: 8 – 10
Ingredients
Chocolate Meringue Base
6 large egg whites
300 grams caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (sieved)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
50 grams dark chocolate (finely chopped)
Topping
500 millilitres double cream
500 grams raspberries
3 tablespoons dark chocolate (coarsely grated)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/gas mark 4/350ºF, and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Beat the egg whites until they form satiny peaks before adding a spoonful of sugar at a time. Once stiff and shiny meringue is formed, add the cocoa powder with vinegar flakes and chopped chocolate to incorporate everything together.
Mound onto a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 23cm / 9 inches in diameter, smoothing the sides and top.
Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150°C/130˚F fan/gas mark 2 and cook for about one-quarter hour. When it’s ready, it should look crisp around the edges and on top of crusty brown layers; when you prod at its center, there will be squidginess beneath your fingers.
Turn off the oven, open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue disc cool completely.
When you’re ready to serve, invert on one big plate-flat bottomed! Whisk the cream until thick but still soft, pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over raspberries into this nigella lawson chocolate pavlova.
Coarsely grate the chocolate, so you get curls rather than rubble, as you don’t want the raspberries’ luscious color and form to be obscured. Sprinkle haphazardly over top of berries, with some falling on the plate’s rim.
You will need 3 baking sheets lined with parchment.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC Fan/gas mark 4/350ºF and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Whisk the egg whites and salt until they become fluffy, snowy meringue in the bowl. Add the sugar by a spoonful until you have a mix of gleaming white. Sprinkle on some cornflour, a few drops of vanilla, and the vinegar on top, and fold in to combine.
Draw 6 circles of approximately 10cm / 4-inch circles(using a pint glass as a guide, if this helps) on each of the parchment-lined sheets.
Spoon the meringue onto baking parchment in circles and use the back of the spoon to create an indentation for holding cream and fruits later.
Place them in the oven, turn them down to 150ºC/130ºC Fan or Gas Mark 2 and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave them inside until they’re cooled enough so you can take them out of the oven (about another half hour). Or just transfer them onto a wire rack that is already set up with baking parchment underneath,
When you want to assemble them, dollop cream into the indentation and smooth it with the back of a spoon. Place blackberries or raspberries one by one so they look well filled but not crammed. Dust with icing sugar.
The meringue part can be made 1-2 days ahead, but the pavlova should be assembled at the last minute.
Once your meringue is cold, carefully transfer it to an airtight container and store it. If you don’t have a suitable size, wrap the meringue still on its baking sheet with clingfilm for safekeeping!
One simple way to secure the meringue in place is by “overwrapping” with clingfilm. First, wrap it around the top of your baking sheet and then at least halfway down. This will ensure no gaps within which air can seep through easily!
Leftovers of the assembled pavlova should be stored in the fridge and are best eaten within 24 hours.
How to Store mini pavlovas one day before serving?
With this recipe, making the meringues in advance is possible, but we recommend assembling pavlovas just before serving.
Once topped with cream, they will need refrigerated if left for any time, and the meringues will start getting soft.
Why is my pavlova shell thin?
If you had a pavlova shell that was very fragile, there might be some things to check. One is whether it wasn’t cooked enough, so make sure the oven isn’t too cold. Or if your fan oven cools down quickly after turning off by continuing to run the fan.
If you have one of these ovens, it’s best to bake the meringues for 30 minutes and once they’re done baking, keep them in there for another 10-15. Then turn off your oven with a low heat setting before leaving them inside while turning it down to 20 degrees Celsius without opening the door.
