Archive for: egg whites

Berry-Topped Pavlova

If you like meringue, but you’ve never had a pavlova, you’re missing out. Pavlovasare sweet meringues that are baked until crisp on the outside and marshmallowy on the inside. There is some debated over when the recipe was first developed, and whether it was in Australia or New Zealand, but in either case, it has been around since approximately 1930 and is just as popular as it ever was. The meringue shell is typically very large – almost cake-sized – for a pavlova and the size helps give it its unique, cloud-like interior as it bakes. The size also allows plenty of room for whipped cream and other toppings to be piled on before serving.

Whipped cream is definitely the topping of choice for pavs. I know that some people – including myself on occasion – have mixed some whipped cream with sour cream or yogurt for a slightly thicker topping that is a bit lighter (in terms of calories) than straight whipped cream. Regardless of what type of whipped topping you decide to use, top it off with some berries.

Kiwis and strawberries are popular choices, but I used a mix of berries for mine. Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries are all excellent. Fresh berries are the optimal choice, especially since fresh, ripe berries are still readily available at this time of year. If you can’t get them, however, frozen berries can work just as well. Defrost them completely before using and take advantage of the fact that they are often frozen with a bit of juice and drizzle a bit on top of the pavlova before serving for an extra splash of color.

The shell of the pavlova will crack easily under the pressure of a fork, but you should still be able to slice it and serve as you would a cake or a pie. If you want a smaller pav, try baking four smaller sizes with the recipe amount given below. They might be a bit crisper than their full-sized counterpart, but with whipped cream and berries to top them off, I highly doubt you’ll hear any complaints.
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How to Beat Egg Whites

I have decided that we need to talk about egg whites. Their chief purpose, in baking, is to lend structure to baked goods. They also add liquid to a recipe, but I’m not going to deal with that right now. Because of the unique properties of egg whites, they alone can be used to leaven things like cakes without the aid of yeast or chemical leaveners.

When recipes call for egg whites, they typically call for them to be beaten. This causes a lot of confusion for people because recipes ask you to beat the whites “until foamy”, “until the batter falls from the beaters in ribbons”, “until glossy” or “until soft/stiff peaks form”.

Here is a mini tutorial, based on making meringue (which involves beating sugar into the whites as you whip them). The texture of the whites will be similar (though perhaps slightly less glossy) when whipping egg whites alone, so the illustrations can be used as a reference in multiple situations.

Start with room temperature egg whites. I don’t use copper bowls. Though it is harder to overbeat your egg whites in one, this is because copper ions migrate into the egg whites. Egg whites beaten in a copper bowl will be slightly yellowish and more stable than ones beaten in other bowls, but I still don’t like the idea that copper ions are now in my cake/food. To give extra stabilization to the egg whites in non copper bowls, you can add cream of tartar when you are beating them, if you wish.

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