Mary Berry's Easter Pavlova

Like many, I jumped at the chance of indulging in some Great British Bake Off before the return of the new series and watched the Easter Masterclass (you can no longer see this on iPlayer but there are re-runs of series 2 - hoorah!). Of all the deliciousness on offer, I opted to make The Berry's Lemon Pavlova complete with mini nests and garnished with mini eggs. I've only ever made pavlova once before, it didn't turn out too badly, a little bit soggy in the middle but an ok first attempt. What I'd forgotten about my first attempt was how long it took to make.

The recipe I followed can be found here. The pavlova is made with 6 egg whites, caster sugar and a few teaspoons of cornflour and white wine vinegar. I was a bit impatient with the meringue and really thought I had gone wrong until eventually it thickened up and I was brave enough to do the "meringue over the head" test. I probably should have whisked a bit more, as when I added the cornflour mixture it became a bit runnier and this meant the piping of the nests wasn't as firm as I'd have liked.

The making of the lemon curd was also a very slow process and it felt like I was stirring for an absolute age before any transformation happened but it did thicken up eventually.  I  must say I was a bit put off of ever making lemon curd again but my Sister swears that there are easier ways of making it - we'll see!  The recipe uses 4 lemons, which created a strong zingy flavour - a bit too strong for me, but then I wasn't very good at rippling it through the cream, and probably used a bit too much.

Anyway, final verdict?  I shouldn't have tried to make a pavlova so close to bedtime!  I probably didn't spend enough time on any of the stages and the finished result reflected this - in fact I haven't taken a picture as it was a bit of a mess...This is what it should have looked like...