Pavlova

So Mr Pink's cousin made a Pavlova recently (which although sunk a little, was of course absolutely scrumptious!!) and she made me think: I've never made a pavlova from scratch before. I've always just bought the bottom from the supermarket and put the toppings on. So, challenge set and accepted. And, now, challenge completed with High Distinction. And it was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be! Be warned however, its easy, but not so quick... 45min to bake in oven, and then 1hr to cool in oven...

Serves 6-8 people according to the recipe (so adjust estimates depending on who your intending to feed it to, for instance, 6-8 people may become 4-5 people if you have certain males around like those that I know...!)

Ingredients:
- 6 egg whites at room temperature (this is very important as I later found out with a second attempt at a Pav which saaaaaank sooo much...)
- pinch salt
- 2 cups caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vinegar (yeah I would NEVER have guessed to put that in... but somehow it works...)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- whipped cream for filling (I like to use fresh cream with about a tablespoon of icing sugar when beating)

Method:
Step 1: Preheat electric oven to "slow" (whatever that means) 150degreesCelcius

Step 2: Beat egg whites with salt at high speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1tbs at a time, beating well after each addition.

Step 3: Stop beating when all sugar has been incorporated and fold in vinegar and vanilla.

Step 4: Pile mixture

  - into a greased 20cm greased china flan dish, or
  - into a greased 20cm springform tin , or
  - onto a large baking tray (I happened to have one of these so this was my option)

...and smooth the top.

Step 5: Bake pavlova in the preheated oven for 45min. Then turn the oven off and leave with the door shut for 1hr. -This is where you see if you failed or not... with any luck, it won't sink... I must have had beginners luck with me, because mine didn't! ... the first time anyway... the second time I used a couple eggs that were not room temperature, and let me tell you, lesson learnt :-(

Step 6: Remove from oven and cool completely. Cover with whipped cream and your favourite toppings - mine are strawberries and chocolate. Some may be inclined to ruin the pavlova with horrible things like passionfruit or kiwi fruit, and although I highly recommend not doing this, each to their own so go ahead and ruin it with yucky toppings if you wish!