The legendary dessert, which found a place in the works of many famous confectioners - Pavlova's cake. His recipe appeared thanks to a cook inspired by the work of the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. He created an airy dessert consisting of meringues, cream and fresh fruit.
A bit of history
There has always been an unspoken rivalry between New Zealand and Australia. This affected the history of the creation of the cake.
According to New Zealand, the dessert was created by the cook of one of the capital's hotels in order to show respect to the ballerina. In the thirties of the last millennium, Anna Pavlova gave concerts in Australia and New Zealand as part of a world tour.
Australia claims that the cake appeared a decade later. He stepped out of the hands of the cook Sasha, who at the presentation announced that the dish was as airy as Anna Pavlova.
Most likely, the truth is behind New Zealand, since it was there that Pavlova's cake became the first to become widely known. The recipe for this dessert in the late thirties ready appeared in local print media.
The basics
This cake is perfect no matter in what country the world was born: lightness and tenderness of meringues, creamy cream, astringency and bright taste of fruit ... Moreover, the base of the cake, made only from meringue, differs from the usual meringue - hollow, dry and fragile. Thanks to the addition of starch and vinegar, the cake turns out to be crispy on the outside, but tender and soft, like a soufflé inside.
It is very important not to overdry the base, since it is it that makes up the airiness that Pavlova's cake is famous for. The recipe may vary in practice, depending on the wishes of the cook, but at the output the characteristics should be the same.
Classic
In order to make a cake for 6 servings, you will need the following products:
- egg whites - 6 pcs.;
- vanillin - a pinch;
- white wine vinegar (in extreme cases, apple) - 1.5 tsp;
- sugar - 270 grams;
- corn starch - 5 tsp. without a hill;
- lemon juice - 1 tsp;
- cream fat content of 33% - 400 ml;
- icing sugar - 100 grams;
- strawberries - 200 grams;
- diced mango - 200 grams;
- passion fruit, pulp - 100 grams.
Cake "Anna Pavlova" (classic recipe) involves the use of corn starch, it is not recommended to replace it with potato.
You can make either one large cake or several portioned ones.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper, draw a circle with a pencil. Focus on the size of the desired servings at the exit. Turn the paper over so that the pencil mark does not remain on the meringue.
- Preheat the oven to 100 o C.
- Set aside 5 tsp. sugar, mix with sifted starch and vanilla.
- Pour lemon juice into a bowl with proteins and beat until soft foam.
- Pour the rest of the sugar in portions without stopping whipping. The result should be a taut, strong, shiny mass that perfectly holds its shape.
- Pour a mixture of sugar with starch and pour vinegar.
- Stir the protein mixture until smooth. Be careful, as Pavlova’s cake should be air first and foremost (the recipe requires the most gentle attitude to the formed mass).
- Lay out the protein dough according to the circles drawn on parchment paper . Try to keep the edges thicker than the middle - a kind of crater.
- Bake for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the workpiece. Cakes should be covered with a crisp on top, while remaining soft inside.
- After lay on the grid, without removing the parchment, and completely cool.
- Whip the cream until solid peaks with powdered sugar.
- Rinse, dry and chop the strawberries, mix it with the pulp of passion fruit and mango.
- Put the cream in the recess of the protein blank, garnish with fruit mass on top.
- Serve immediately, as the cake melts from moisture.
Alternatives
The composition and principle of the preparation of the cake is simple and unpretentious. Over time, options began to appear that were different from how the Pavlova cake was originally presented . The classic recipe has gained worldwide popularity, but still the variations have a right to exist. After all, there is a desire to achieve a new taste. In addition, not always for the required fruit season. Yes, and passion fruit in Russia is not easy to find. So now, forget about the dessert?
Julia Vysotskaya prepared a beautiful cake, which became a symbiosis of two desserts - Pavlova and Peach Melba. In addition, Alexander Seleznev made his changes . He added assorted red berries.
Due to the flexibility of the recipe, you can also create along with cooks, achieving amazing results. Below we will tell you how to make Pavlova orange-chocolate.
Pavlova from Vysotskaya
Ingredients:
- egg whites - 4 pcs.;
- small sugar - 150 grams;
- vanilla extract - 1.5 tsp;
- corn starch - 1 tsp. without a hill;
- white wine vinegar - 1.5 tsp;
- peaches - 2 pcs.;
- raspberries - 1 large handful;
- basil - 2 branches;
- powdered sugar - 2 tsp;
- mascarpone cheese - 250 grams;
- cream 33% fat - 150 ml.
A Pavlova cake is being prepared from Yulia Vysotskaya at the same temperature as the classic one - 100 ° C. This also applies to the preparation of baking paper.
Stir sugar with starch. Beat the whites until a firm foam. While whisking, add the sugar-starch mixture to the proteins. Add vinegar and vanilla extract. Beat another 2-3 minutes.
Put the mass on paper, put in the oven and bake for an hour. After that, turn off the heat and leave the cake for another hour, without removing it.
Cut peaches into slices, put in a bowl. Add half raspberries, finely chopped basil and 1 tsp. powdered sugar.
Whip the cream with 1 tsp. icing sugar, mix in mascarpone until smooth. Put the cream in the basis of meringue, on it is a fruit mixture. Garnish with the remaining raspberries and serve.
Pavlova from Seleznev
This recipe differs from the rest primarily in that starch was removed from the constituents and the cooking period was increased. In order to prepare the Pavlova cake from Alexander Seleznev, take:
- egg whites - 6 pcs.;
- small sugar - 330 grams;
- vanillin - 1 pinch;
- vinegar - 1 tsp;
- cream 33% fat - 450 ml;
- a mixture of red berries - 600 grams.
Preheat the oven to 120 o C. Beat the whites until lush foam, gradually pouring sugar. Add vanillin and vinegar, beat for 10-12 minutes, achieving a stable foam.
Put the protein mass in the desired form on the baking paper and bake for half an hour, then lower the temperature to 100 ° C and bake for another hour.
Turn off the oven and leave the cake to cool completely, but for at least 7 hours. Remove the protein cakes from the baking paper, whisking in parallel with this until a cream mass is stable.
Put the cream on the cake, garnish abundantly with berries and serve. This Pavlova cake (recipe, photo see above) looks very nice on the table due to the contrast of colors.
Chocolate-orange "Pavlova"
Despite the fact that the cream for this cake is almost unsweetened, in general, the dessert is quite sugary due to the large amount of sugar in the cake. However, it is impossible to reduce its amount in the recipe, since it serves as a stabilizer for proteins. That is why it is supplemented with acidic fruits in order to smooth out excessive sweetness. For those who love chocolate, there is another way to give the dessert depth:
- egg whites - 6 pcs.;
- vanillin - a pinch;
- cocoa - 50 grams;
- white wine vinegar (in extreme cases, apple) - 1.5 tsp;
- fine sugar - 270 grams;
- corn starch - 5 tsp. without a hill;
- lemon juice - 1 tsp;
- cream with a fat content of 33% - 300 ml;
- mascarpone cheese - 150 grams;
- icing sugar - 70 grams;
- oranges - 3 pcs.;
- orange liquor - 2 tbsp. l
Pavlova cake, the recipe (see photo below) which we give, has a slightly tart, "adult" taste.
Peel the slices of orange from the film and marinate in liquor with 10 grams of powdered sugar. Melt the chocolate in a water bath. Prepare the dough, as in the recipe for a classic Pavlova cake.
Before putting the mass on baking paper, carefully and quickly mix the melted chocolate. Do not try to achieve uniformity - let beautiful marble stains remain. Put it on paper and bake as usual.
Whip the cream with the remaining powdered sugar, stir in the mascarpone. Put the cream on a completely cooled cake, garnish with oranges in liquor from above (optionally they can be mashed). Garnish with chocolate if desired.
Total
Regardless of which recipe you use, you must adhere to the following rules to achieve the best result:
- Watch the temperature! For the entire baking period, the average temperature should range from 100 to 110 ° C, since the protein mass must first be dried. If the heating is too strong, the meringue will give off syrup, thereby nullifying all your efforts.
- Due to the sugary sweetness of the protein base, try to complement it with contrasting tastes. For example, minimize the amount of sugar in a cream, and take acidic fruit.
- Serve the assembled Pavlova cake immediately after assembly, as the meringue melts very quickly due to the moist cream.