Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

In a case of blogger imitates blogger, I decided to make a Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova after I saw Cin's beautiful photo at A Few Of My Favourite Things!. The recipe is actually from Nigella "Domestic Goddess" Lawson. I got the recipe from her Nigella's website. Here's a gratuitous photo of Nigella, just because I can. :-)


Today as I was about to post the recipe, I was checking my sitemeter when I saw that someone can clicked through to my site from Swee's A Self Proclaimed Foodaholic blog. And guess what recipe that had jumped from, yep, none other than Nigella's chocolate pavlova that Swee had made a while back.

Well here was my attempt at the Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova. It was really really easy to make. I, like Swee, had added 50% to the recipe so made it with nine egg whites. I still need to find a recipe to use all the yolks in the fridge. I made two pavlova's a smaller one that was about 20cm in diamter and a huge one that was like 35cm in diameter.

The pavlova is sweet and chocolatey, with the outer crust being really light and airy and the centre being more chewy. Eaten alone, the pavlova is quite sweet. But when you eat it as a whole, with the double thick cream and the sour raspberries, the flavours combine to give a burst in your mouth. There is the richness of the smooth cream with the sharp tang of the raspberries combined beautifully with the chocolate. And then lastly, you get the chewiness of the base with the final sensation being the crunch of the outer crust. A very good summer dessert I think. It looks very stunning as well, especially the huge one I made.



Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

for the chocolate meringue base:
6 egg whites
300g caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sieved
1 teaspoon balsamic
50g dark chocolate, finely chopped


for the topping:
500ml double cream
500g raspberries
2-3 tablespoons coarsely grated dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form, and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cocoa and vinegar, and the chopped chocolate. Then gently fold everything until the cocoa is thoroughly mixed in. Mound on to a baking sheet in a fat circle approximately 23cm in diameter, smoothing the sides and top. Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150C and cook for about one to one and a quarter hours. When it's ready it should look crisp around the edges and on the sides and be dry on top, but when you prod the centre you should feel the promise of squidginess beneath your fingers. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the chocolate meringue disc cool completely.

When you're ready to serve, invert on to a big, flat-bottomed plate. Whisk the cream till thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over the raspberries. Coarsely grate the chocolate so that you get curls rather than rubble, as you don't want the raspberries' luscious colour and form to be obscured, and sprinkle haphazardly over the top, letting some fall, as it will, on the plate's rim.

Serves 8-10.