This crisp-on-the-outside, marshmallow-soft-on-the-inside puff, lavishly topped with cream, strawberries, and a drizzle of bittersweet chocolate, is the epitome of elegant.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate, melted
- 3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 (1 ounce) square bittersweet chocolate, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
- Beat together egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar to soft peaks in a large bowl. Beat in sugar, about three tablespoons at a time, until stiff and glossy peaks form. Sift cocoa and cornstarch over egg whites, and gently fold in. Gently fold in vinegar, vanilla, and melted chocolate.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spread the meringue into an eight inch circle. Bake in the center of the oven for 1 1/2 hours until the outside is crispy and the center is soft. Using a metal spatula, loosen the meringue from the parchment paper, and remove to cool on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely, about one hour.
- Whip cream with the sugar, and spread over the meringue. Arrange strawberries decoratively over the top, and drizzle with chocolate.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 402 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 52 g |
| Cholesterol | 62 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 133 mg |
| Sugars | 46 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This recipe is amazing. I halved it, but it still worked perfectly. Next time I might make the meringue a little bit thicker. I added some melted chocolate to the whipped cream and it was delicious. I also used kiwi and strawberries on top and they both went well with the meringue and cream. This was an overall success!
I made it just as indicated, but mine was not as high as the one in the picture. today was very humid, so maybe that was part of the issue. I noticed several others complained of the same thing in their comments. I will try again as it was tasty.
I have found that the trick to making Pavlova is that you are done mixing if you turn the bowl upside down and nothing comes out, then it is ready to be baked.
5
It was awesome,everyone loved it. I think the trouble some of you ran into is the cocoa powder is mixed into the egg whites. The melted chocolate is drizzled over the fruit.
This is a luscious, “pretty-to-look-at” dessert…I will definitely make this again.
This deserves 100 stars; it is sooooooo insanely good! Taking other reviewers’ advice, I ground some chocolate chips in a food processor vs melting the chocolate. I also used lemon juice instead of vinegar.
If you’re used to a traditional Pavolva, then this will disappoint–the chocolate does cause it to spread a little, so the result doesn’t have the same height, and it has a bit more of a chewy texture than the classic take. But if you don’t mind something a little different–and very chocolatey–then, this is perfect! To help minimize spreading, allow your chocolate to cool completely after melting, then lighten it a bit by folding a few spoonfulls of the egg-white mixture into the chocolate before folding the chocolate itself into the egg whites. I also cut the recipe in half and used 1/2 cup superfine baker’s sugar and 3 packets of stevia instead of the original sugar measurement. I baked it for 1 hour at 275, let it cool completely, then cut it into wedges and served it in dessert-cups topped with Italian meringue (our replacement for whipped cream, since we don’t eat dairy) and macerated berries. The results were gone in minutes. Thank you for the awesome recipe!
I thought it was a bit chewy but no one else seemed to notice. It was a real hit with the family. thank you!
Really…how can this go wrong? Chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream all in one package? And it doesn’t sit heavy on your stomach, now or later! Gotta try this!
Excellent Recipe! I skipped the strawberries and added a ton of my own homemade whipped cream and it was devine!
WOW! This was excellent. I followed the recipe exactly as written, except I did not let it cool the full hour. And it was still perfect. There was a little spreading, but it was still wonderful. I will definitely make this again.
The flavor was great, but like others, mine spread out a lot. This was my first attempt at a pavlova. I thought it might help with the spreading issue so I let the chocolate cool a little before incorporating into the egg whites. I spread the mixture into an 8″ circle and piled the sides high, but it still ended up about 16″ across and maybe 1″ tall. Despite my best efforts to make the move smooth and keep the weight evenly distributed, the transfer from the baking sheet to the cooling rack was a disaster. It fell apart into huge chunks. I ended up making pavlova parfaits since I was serving to guests. I would avoid trying this recipe for the first time if you’re counting on beautiful presentation. Maybe this recipe would work better if you made individual sized pavlovas. They would bake faster and probably not spread out as much. I did notice that this recipe is pretty much the same as the one from the joyofbaking website, though they call for superfine sugar instead of table sugar and used chopped chocolate instead of melting it. I bet that would fix the spreading problem. As another reviewer said, the egg whites lose their stiffness once the chocolate is added.
Oh, Yea! Follow this recipe as it says. Do not make adjustments. It is PERFECT the way it is. Yummm!
Oh wow. This was a complete disaster. Not saying this isn’t a great recipe, just that it was pretty hard for me, who has little experience with beating eggs, to get right. I beat the eggs for at least half an hour and they never got stiff. Finally I just gave up, thinking that they were probably stiff enough. Everything spread all over the pan (as I expected having read other reviews), the top came out super crispy and cracked and the middle wasn’t cooked. Hopefully some better cooks than I can give some helpful advice in their reviews that might make this a less daunting dessert to make.
I have made pavlovas for years and was keen to try this but it was a disaster, I knew it was going to spread because after adding the chocolate it lost it’s stiff texture and became too soft and it spread like a big pancake, can anyone let me know why this might have happened.
Made this to bring to my son’s girlfriends parents house. It was really beautiful and not hard to make at all. Everyone loved it and declared it a 5 star winner! Now if only we could travel to taste it in Australia or New Zealand! It would also make adorable individual servings.
I made this for a house party and it was fabulous. Easily did the 12 people and was so easy to follow. Everyone who tried it said it was lovely and more than one said it tasted like chocolate brownie.
Im a really professional chef and i bow down to this recipe!! it is absolutely devine!! it tastes sooo good, like a summers morning. I recommend this recipe to every one!!!
I loved it!
This was easy, looked elegant and tasted great! Be careful to not overbeat the eggs and mold the sides high as it does spread. I let mine cool in the open oven for an hour then transferred to cooling rack.