Kiwi Blueberry Pavlova

After receiving the truckload of Kiwifruit from Zespri Singapore, it became apparent that simply eating 1 Kiwifruit a day would not suffice. Did you know that you are supposed to eat at least 9 servings of fruit a day in order to maintain optimum health? 1 serving is about the size of a Kiwifruit!

Seriously, I can’t envision myself downing 9 kiwis or other fruits every single day, in addition to eating my main meals. After wracking my brain for a while, I realised that the answer might be to incorporate the fruits themselves into the main meals. This way, you get your 9 servings without feeling like you’re on a mega fruit diet.

I don’t cook all that often but with the Kiwifruits all saying Hi every time I walked into the kitchen, I managed to summon up this recipe for a Pavlova. For those of you who don’t know, the Pavlova was invented in New Zealand! Wouldn’t you agree that it would be the perfect dish to incorporate my New Zealand Zespri Kiwifruit?!?!?!?!

For the record, prior to this, I have never ever baked a Pavlova before. In fact, I was warned that it is very difficult! But the reality couldn’t be further from that! It was really EASY PEASY. I got my recipe off Joy of Baking, which is a really useful baking website if you ever want to know more about the ins and outs of baking.

Here’s a picture of the final Kiwi Blueberry Pavlova. I didn’t have any whipped cream, nor did I want to add more cream to this already sugar laden dessert so I made an impromptu Blueberry jam thingy to replace the cream. The whole combination of meringue, blueberry and kiwifruit tasted great! The tartness of the blueberries and the tanginess of the kiwifruit really helped to reduce the sweetness of the Pavlova. Asians tend to abhor Pavlovas because they can be too sweet (especially with the whipped cream and if you use sweet fruits like strawberries), but I think I can safely say that Kiwifruit and Blueberry would make a great topping that Asians would like. Scroll down for pictures of the baking process.

Whip your egg whites and sugar until you form stiff peaks. If the meringue can’t sit up like this, it’s too soft.

Place the meringue onto a greaseproof paper and make sure the sides are higher than the middle so that your toppings can sit nicely in the middle.

Bake the meringue for 1 hour at a low temperature of 130 degrees celcius. After that, let it cool in the oven itself with door slightly ajar. You will be surprised that while the outside looks crispy and hard, the insides are still soft and marshmallowy. Make sure the inner portion is cooked such that it does not still ooze liquid.

Btw, check out my Rowenta oven. Love it! They say size matters when it comes to boy toys and I certainly agree that it’s so much more fun if you have a big oven.

This is the meringue after it has cooled. It will form the base of the Pavlova. Check out the cracks!. It’s unbelievably light.

And voila! The finished Kiwi Blueberry Pavlova. I cut the meringue in half because I couldn’t finish all in one sitting. After you put the wet fruits, the meringue will get soggy so I saved the 2nd half of the meringue for another day.

This is the perfect dessert to make in advance if you are hosting a party. The meringue lasts days (might get a little soft but it’s not that noticeable), and you just need to cut up the fruits on the day itself!

Enjoy!