Pavlova with yogurt cream and berries
115 min · 9 g protein · 182 cals / serving
A crisp-shelled, marshmallow-centered pav, made with less sugar than usual and topped with thick vanilla yogurt lightened with a little whipped cream, then piled high with berries and passionfruit. All the drama of the Christmas table centerpiece, much more fruit.
Ingredients
Meringue
- 4 egg whites, from fresh eggs, at room temperature
- 130 g granulated sugar, caster
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
Yogurt cream
- 500 g skyr, or very thick Greek yogurt
- 60 ml heavy cream
Fruit
- 300 g strawberries, hulled and halved
- 150 g raspberries
- 125 g blueberries
- 3 passion fruit, pulp only
- a few leaves fresh mint
Steps
- Heat the oven to 250°F (210°F fan-forced). Draw a 20 cm circle on a sheet of baking paper, turn it over and lay it on a tray.
- In a spotless bowl, whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking well after each, until the meringue is thick and glossy and you cannot feel grains when you rub a little between your fingers, about 8 minutes.
- Whisk in the cornflour, vinegar and 1 tsp of the vanilla for a few seconds. Spoon the meringue onto the circle and shape it into a round with slightly raised sides and a shallow dip in the middle.
- Bake for 1½ hours, until crisp and dry on the outside and it lifts cleanly off the paper. Turn off the oven, prop the door ajar with a wooden spoon and leave the pavlova to cool completely inside, at least 2 hours. It will crack a little; that is part of its charm.
- Just before serving, whip the cream to soft peaks and fold it into the skyr with the remaining vanilla.
- Spoon the yogurt cream into the dip, pile on the strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, spoon over the passionfruit and scatter with mint. Serve straight away.
Good to know
Is that enough sugar for a pavlova?
A classic pav uses close to twice the egg whites' weight in sugar. Equal weights of sugar and egg white still whip to a glossy, stable meringue with a crisp shell and a soft middle, as long as the sugar goes in slowly and the oven stays low. It comes out a little less sweet, which suits the tart yogurt cream and passionfruit.
Can I make it the day before?
Yes. Keep the cooled meringue in an airtight container at room temperature (never the fridge, where it goes sticky) and top it within an hour of serving.
My meringue wept syrup. What happened?
The sugar was not fully dissolved, or the whites had a trace of yolk or grease. Add the sugar slowly and keep whisking until the meringue feels smooth between your fingers.
Can I use vanilla skyr instead?
Yes, and skip the vanilla extract. Pick one with no added sugar (sweetened with stevia or sucralose): it scores almost as well as plain. A sugar-sweetened vanilla skyr pulls the whole dish down, because it makes up so much of it.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 102
- Protein
- (21%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (16%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (63%)
- 16 g
- of which sugar
- 13 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 32 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1456 kcal goes into the pot and 1477 g of ingredients comes out as about 1430 g of food: 102 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.