A classic summertime dessert with beautiful local strawberries, just picture yourself enjoying this centre court at Wimbledon. For this recipe I have created a Pavlova marshmallow style meringue, which is beautifully gooey in the centre and crisp on the exterior, you can however buy pavlova or meringue and just skip straight to assembly. Paired with the Pimm’s syrup, macerated strawberries and vanilla cream, this is definitely a winner!
Ingredients
- 200 g pavlova / meringue or shop bought
- 4 large eggs
- 225 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp vinegar
- ½ tsp cornflour
Pimm’s Syrup
- 100 ml Pimm’s No. 1
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp seedless strawberry jam
- Zest of 1/2 orange peeled into strips
- Zest of 1/2 lemon peeled into strips
- Small handful mint leaves
- 1 cucumber slice
Macerated Strawberries
- 600 g strawberries
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 50 mls Pimm’s or orange juice
Filling
- 125 g orange curd
- 400 mls fresh cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
Garnish
- 400 g strawberries
- Cucumber strips
- Dehydrated orange slice
- Mint
Instructions
Pimm’s Syrup
- Place the Pimm's and sugar in a small saucepan. and heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then bring to the boil and bubble for 4-5min or until the mixture is syrupy. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the strawberry jam. Add the orange and lemon zest, mint leaves and cucumber and swirl the pan. Leave to infuse and cool completely (at least 1hr), then strain into a small jug, cover and leave at room temperature.
Pavlova
- Separate 4 large eggs. Beat the egg whites for 5 minutes until it has formed soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar and the vinegar, cornflour until the texture is smooth, velvety, not grainy and you can confidently hold the bowl over your head without the mixture falling out. Dollop out spoonful’s or pipe them on to parchment paper. Bake in a fan oven at 130℃ for 1 hour or if you make very small individual ones , 50 minutes. Once cooked turn off the oven and allow to cool.
- To prepare the dehydrated orange wheel garnish - slice an orange into circles, place on parchment paper a flat oven tray. Pop in to the oven to dehydrate. Allow to cool.
Strawberries
- Macerate the strawberries to bring out the flavour. Wash and hull them. Cut in halves and quarters and sprinkle with castor sugar and Pimm’s. Allow to sit for only 30 minutes so prepare these just in advance of assembly.
Cream
- Whip the cream to form soft peaks, add in a drop of vanilla for extra flavour.
Assembly
- Crack the pavlovas into pieces. Place some in the bottom of the dessert glass. Dollop in the cream, dot in the orange curd, layer in some strawberries, drizzle over the Pimm’s syrup ( use a heavy hand here - just make sure you divide it out evenly for all four desserts) and repeat. To finish dollop on teaspoons of cream, small shards of pavlova, top with fresh strawberries, dehydrated orange wheels, strips of cucumber and fresh mint. Enjoy!
- Serve and enjoy.
