Chocolate pavlova recipe

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I made chocolate pavlova for Faiz's birthday. I've made him cupcakes to bring to school, and we had also eaten some of the cupcakes the day I baked them. As such, to be a little different, I made chocolate pavlova for his birthday celebration.

I've made pavlova before, and I noticed that the kids enjoyed chocolate pavlova even more. I personally love the chocolate pavlova better than the ordinary pavlova. Seriously, it tasted wonderful.

The recipe that I used is adapted from Nigella Lawson's website. I've made some changes to the recipe, you can view the original recipe here.

Recipe for chocolate pavlova:

3 egg whites

150 grams caster sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

30 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper. Draw a 6-inch diameter circle on the paper and flip the parchment paper over.

Beat in the egg whites until satiny peaks form, then beat in the sugar, a little at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Then, gently fold in the cocoa powder, vinegar and dark chocolate. Mound the meringue onto the parchment paper, within the circle drawn, smoothing the sides and the top with a spatula.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, and immediately turn the temperature down to 140 degree Celcius. Cook for about 1 hour, until the edges/sides look crisp. Turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly to let the meringue cool. Don't be demotivated if the meringue crack when baking, as this is pretty normal and it won't affect the taste. Besides, you're gonna cover the top with cream and fresh fruits.

As for the topping, you will need:

250 ml of cream (I used UHT whipping cream)

1 tablespoon of icing sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Fresh fruits (I used strawberry and green grapes)

Grated dark chocolate to sprinkle on top (I used Belgian dark chocolate)

When you are ready to serve, whisk the cream till thick and add in the icing sugar and vanilla essence. Pile the cream on top of the meringue. Scatter over the fresh fruits and sprinkle over the grated chocolate.