To Die For Pavlova (Dedicated to Stuart and Bradley)

Its been a long time since I have blogged about cooking, but the new year has brought new excitement and inspiration and I am eager to share this recipe with you all. This really is a delicious dessert and even though would serve 6, we were 4 at dinner, scoffed the lot and relished every bite!

I made this up all by myself through a culmination of different recipes. You can use any fruit topping, but I was in the mood for raseberries and bluberries (plus the blueberries were on offer - bonus!)

Tips for making meringue:

1. Any vinegar, or lemon juice will do, its the acid that makes the mallowy centre.

2. Add the sugar AFTER you have whisked the egg whites into soft peaks.

3. DO NOT get any grease or egg yolk in the egg white otherwise you will never form any peak and it will be a disappointing goo!

Ingredients:

For the meringue

4 egg whites

250g caster sugar

2 tsp corn flour

2 tsp vinegar

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

For the topping;

300ml whipping cream (or double cream, but it is ever so slightly heavier)

1 punnet of bluberries

1 can on rasberries (you can use fresh or frozen, but I was being extremely lazy!)

icing sugar

1 or 2 tbsp caster sugar (depending on how sweet you like the cream)

To make the meringue:

Preheat oven to 180'c

Draw around a 8inch tin on greaseproof paper.

In a bowl whisk the egg whites into soft peaks, then whisk in the sugar until firm peaks are formed when the whisk is removed. The mixture will look shiney at this point. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down without the contents moving.

Sprinkle in the vinegar, corn flour and vanilla and gently fold in using a metal spoon. Do not over do it at this point, otherwise the mixture will go flat.

Spread mixture onto the greaseproof, inside the circle, smoothing the top and sides.

Place the meringue into the oven and immediately turn the heat to 120'c, cook for 1h. Turn off the heat and leave in the oven to cool.

When completely cool, remove from oven and build up the pavlova (you can make the meringue a few days in advance and keep in an airtight container).

Remove the meringue from the greaseproof paper and place on a serving dish

For the topping:

Whip the cream and sugar (depending on how sweet you want the cream, I chose 1)

Spread over the meringue

Sprinkle over the blueberries

For the rasberries:

Drain syrup

Place in a bowl

Add a sprinkle of icing sugar to sweeten to taste

Blend into a pulp, this can be done with a folk.

Spoon over the blueberries and meringue.

Eat and Enjoy. We certainly did!!!