Pavlova or Pavlovon't

I made this dessert for the first time yesterday. I think it would be perfect for Memorial Day or 4th of July with all that red, white and blue going on, don't you?

But I made it so late yesterday that the pictures have that familiar "night time" yellow. I don't mind that so much for pictures of the progress, but I really wanted a good "after" picture for this post because this dessert is so pretty.

The cake was also too sweet and it needed something else.

You can see my somewhat failed attempt at it here. Behind the scenes - website only:



I had this cake for the first time back in the summer of 2011, when we went to visit some friends of my parents. Here is the picture of the cake from that day. You may have to wear sunglasses before hovering your mouse over the behind the scenes photo. The friend who made this is an exceptional cook and with a keen eye for detail.

Website only - behind the scenes photo:



So this morning B and I made another go of it and I amended the recipe (based on this recipe) and I LOVE how it came out. Here is what we did.



The marzipan - or almond paste that is available here in the states is much sweeter, than the one they used in the original recipe. So in the new batch B and I made this morning, we did leave out some of the sugar to off set the sweetness. That helped a lot. I also added the slivered almonds to top it off and that gave it some much needed crunch.

When you go to the store there are two kinds of Marzipan - Almond paste in the baking section. One of them has almonds in the first spot of the list of  ngredients (meaning this is what there is most of in the product), the other kind has sugar on the first space.

Here you can see a behind the scenes photo - website only - of the packaging and which one I chose:



Recipe:
3 egg whites
1 cup - packed - of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar
Half a tube of almond paste - 3.5 oz - grated
1/3 cup of slivered almonds



Mix the egg whites with half of the sugar and all of the vinegar for about 4-5 minutes until it is very stiff. The vinegar really helps.



Then sift the second half of the sugar into the mixture and continue to mix until it is all well mixed and still very stiff.



Grate and fold in almond paste with the batter.



Make 8 little nests like this. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over top of the nests. Put them into the oven at 300F for 40 minutes.

While they were baking, we made the little cake banner. We made some lucky stars using this video tutorial, which I have condensed into one view here:

1. Cut 1/2 inch strips length wise out of letter sized paper.
2. Tie knot at one end of the strip.
3. Tuck the small end behind the pentagon shape, start folding the long strip around the pentagon
4. Fold all the way to the end.
5. Tuck in the end of the strip behind the outer most layer.
6. Pinch the corners.

After I had made a couple of stars, they started looking nicer. B was already a pro. He has been folding origami since he was around 7.



We strung the stars onto some white thread and tied it to two bamboo skewers. I broke the skewers in half to make them shorter.

Between the stars, I put some Washi tape (colored Japaneese masking tape) around the white thread and cut out a triangle at the bottom.



Here are the Pavlova's all baked and nice. We let them cool on a rack.



When they were cool, we whipped some heavy whipping creme and added a dollop to the center of the Pavlova, then decorated with berries.



And struck our cake banner into the Pavlova.



This dessert should be served immediately after the whipped cream and berries have been added.

I am linking up to the DIY MAY-nia party - Make something red, white and blue for Memorial Day at Wit Wisdom and Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey

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