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Delia's Strawberry and vanilla pavlova

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Delia's Strawberry and vanilla pavlova

"This was one of last year’s most successful recipes, so I’m delighted it’s being included again. Meringue can be tricky if you don’t have the right recipe, but dead easy if you do! What we’re aiming for here is light as a whisper on the outside and soft and chewy within. It’s my belief that the secret of successful meringues of any sort is to let them dry out completely, which is what this method does perfectly. It’s a given that this is one of the great desserts of all time." Delia

Serves:
 6

Ingredients

For the filling:

  • 1 x 250g tub essential Waitrose Mascarpone, chilled
  • 1 teaspoon Ndali Fairtrade Vanilla Extract Intense
  • 1 x 200g tub Waitrose French Natural Fromage Frais
  • 1 rounded dessertspoon golden caster sugar

  • Icing sugar to dust

  • You will need an electric whisk, a skewer and a medium baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

For the meringue:

  • 3 large fresh Waitrose Columbian Blacktail Free Range Egg whites
  • 175g golden caster sugar
  • 400g fresh, ripe essential Waitrose British Strawberries, hulled
  • 1 dessertspoon golden caster sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C, gas mark 2. For the meringue, place the egg whites in a large clean bowl and whisk them until they form stiff peaks (it’s very important to whisk slowly at first and not to over-whisk the egg whites because, if you do, they will start to collapse).

Now start to whisk in the 175g sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition until all the sugar is in. Then take a metal tablespoon and spoon about one third of the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, forming a circle about 20cm in diameter.

Then, spoon round blobs next to each other so that they join up to form a circle all around the edge. Now, using the tip of a skewer, make little swirls in the meringue. Pop it in the oven, then immediately turn down the heat to 140C, gas mark 1 and leave it for 1 hour. Then turn the heat off, leaving the pavlova inside the oven until cold.

When you’re ready to serve the pavlova (up to an hour ahead) whisk the filling ingredients together. Now put one third of the strawberries into a mini chopper or a processor with the 1 dessertspoon of sugar. Whizz to a purée, then sieve into a bowl. Halve the remaining strawberries leaving the small ones whole.

Then lift the pavlova from the baking sheet, peel off the paper and place it on a serving dish. Next, spoon the vanilla cream into the centre, arrange the strawberries on top, dust with a little sifted icing sugar and pour the purée over just before serving, cut into wedges.

Notes on ingredients

You can make this recipe using 3 medium whites and 155g sugar. Recipe adapted from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course published by BBC Books 1978. Copyright © Delia Smith 2010

Eton mess is another classic strawberry and cream dessert, visit Delia Online for Delia's recipe.

Comments and images

Average user rating 4 stars out of 5

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RuneyT

RuneyT 21 July 2011 18:52

brilliant recipe. Kids devoured it!

 27 June 2011 22:31

MMMMmmm have just finished eating this wonderful dessert. Easy to follow recipe added raspberries as well whose sharpness was offset by the sweet merange. My first and not final attempt at this. Wonderful

Fairycakey

Fairycakey 24 June 2011 10:12

This was the best pavlova I have ever made. Totally foolproof, easy as pie (no pun intended!) It went down a storm with my discerning lot and have been requested to make one this weekend too. Delicious and highly recommended!

 20 June 2011 18:59

delia you made my mums day very very nice perfect chewyness will cook again and again :)

MiriamR

MiriamR 20 June 2011 10:46

This mightn't be a classic pavlova but it was marshmallowy for me! Not as much as it would have been with cornflour and vinegar but was not like regular meringue. I thought it was fantastic, looked very impressive and was really easy to do.

hardypen

hardypen 17 June 2011 15:42

This is NOT a Pavlova. I'm shocked that Delia would call a basic meringue Pavlova.It should have cornflour , vinegar and vanilla essence added to make a marshmallow centre. This is misrepresentation!

 16 June 2011 11:56

Waitrose & Delia....this is NOT a pavlova!! Pavlova should have a crunchy meringue shell and a fluffy gooey marshmallowey centre. You need to use vinegar & cornflour to do this. As a Kiwi (Aussies like to claim the "pav" as their creation but us Kiwis know otherwise!) I'm a little bit offended that this is being described as a pavlova :-)

Dorthuuy

Dorthuuy 16 April 2011 13:41

This is great!! Absolutely stunning piece for your table and if it reaches there before being devoured on the way! We found it lasted 3 minutes after being taken out of the oven and decorated! On my first try the Kenwood Mixer broke and so mixture couldn't be mixed up stiff enough to look perfect, the swirls wouldn't stay up and it looked an total state! But after coming out of the oven and being decorated I gingerly tasted my first scoop and hey! It tasted the most yummest thing on this pure earth!! Thankyou and well done Delia!

flooorence

flooorence 06 July 2010 17:50

It is possible that I did not whisk the whites long enough buy once I added the sugar it turned into total gloop. Wondering what I did wrong! I looked okay in the oven but then found it hard to get off the baking paper. it all kind of crumbled. The filling was lovely. Wasn't sure at first but really enjoyed it.

Renee19

Renee19 05 July 2010 20:17

We entertained 19 people and had this pavalova,(doubled the qty) and it was VERY popular...comments were "it has a lovely marshmallowey texture"...it was very light and moreish.......the only problem was the meringue didnt whip quite right and it didnt go thick enough,to make peaks like Delia's - but we still made it look good.......it was delish.....will make again, definitely a recipe for the future........

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Nutritional Info

Typical values per serving:
Energy 361.0kcal
Sugars 41.9g
Fat 20.0g
Saturated Fat 13.7g
Salt 0.2g

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This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in June 2010