I have adapted this recipe from Nigella Lawson's book "Forever Summer" (ISBN 0 7011 7381 5) for the Thermo Chef.
If making this in a TMX, just increase the speed when beating the egg whites to Speed 3.
Name of Recipe:Chocolate Pavlova (Thermo Chef Recipe)
Number of People:6-8
Ingredients:
6 egg whites at room temperature
300g Raw sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
50g dark chocolate
Pinch of salt
Topping:
600mL double cream
300g raspberries
25g coarsely grated chocolate
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 180 C
1. Grind sugar 5 seconds/speed 8. Remove
2. Grate 75g (ie all the chocolate) 5 seconds/Speed 8. Remove. Weigh out 50g and set aside. Put remaining chocolate in a small container ready for the topping.
3. Thoroughly clean the bowl to remove all traces of grease. Try adding some vinegar to the final rinse. Dry thoroughly.
4. Insert butterfly & leave MC off.
5. Add egg whites and a pinch of salt. Beat on speed 2 until soft peaks form. (approx 4-5 minutes)
6. Add sugar through the hole in the lid, a tablespoon at a time, beating well between additions. Continue until all the sugar is incorporated and the meringue is stiff and shiny. This will take approx 5 minutes.
7. Continue mixing at speed 2 & add cocoa, 50g of chocolate and vinegar through the hole in the lid. Mix until just incorporated.
8. Pour into a greased 23cm (9") springform tin, lined with baking paper, and gently smooth the top with a spatula.
OR Onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper on which you have drawn a 23cm (9") circle. Pile the mixture onto the circle, mould up the sides with a spatula and make a slight depression on top.
9. Place in oven and turn down the temperature to 150 C, and bake for approx 45min, until crisp on top. Turn off oven and leave with door shut for 1 hour, or overnight.
To Serve:
1. Invert onto a flat bottomed plate
2. Whisk the cream until it is thick, but still soft. (I usually put the cream in the freezer & the jug in the fridge for 15 minutes before whipping). Insert the butterfly, add cream and beat on speed 4 for 30-60 sec.
3. Pile the cream onto the pavlova & smooth with a spatula.
4. Top with raspberries (I use frozen raspberries and put them on semi-frozen) and grated chocolate.
Photos:
Tips/Hints:
I often make pavlovas for special occasions, and this chocolate variation is always really popular. It's really important that you have your eggs at room temperature and there are no traces of yolk in the whites. The egg whites won't whip properly unless your bowl, blades and spatula are free from grease, so i usually wipe them over with a little vinegar on a cloth first. I actually have an extra TC bowl, so I swap over to this clean, dry bowl to whip up the egg whites.
I always freeze leftover egg whites and and defrost these to make pavlovas or royal icing. It's handy to know that a average egg white measures 30ml or 1 1/2 tablespoons. I'm not always diligent in labelling how many egg whites I have frozen!
I usually make my pavlova the day before I need it and leave it in the oven overnight. It is important not to cover the pavlova with cream until a couple of hours before serving, or the crisp part of the meringue goes soggy.
The reason I invert my pavlova onto the plate is that the crisp part of the meringue then becomes the bottom and will stay crispy. The fudgy, squidgy part is them topped with cream, and you get a pavlova that has two different textures.
Margaret Fulton (one of my favourite and most reliable of recipe writers) gives the following instructions for cooking pavlovas in gas ovens:
Preheat to very hot (230C/450F) before starting to mix the pavlova. Just before you put it in the oven, turn the heat to the lowest temperature, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until crisp on top.
Enjoy!
