Valentine's pavlovas with red fruits

Preparation – 40 minutes

Pre-heat the oven to 110 gram celsius or 230 degrees fahrenheit. Line an oven tray with parchment paper. You can draw hearts on the parchment paper for a perfect shaped pavlova, then turn the parchment paper around, this way the inkt won't stain on the pavlova.

Degrease the bowl and whisk of your standmixer using a paper towel with a few drops of lemon juice. Add the egg whites to the bowl and beat them until stiff peaks have formed.

Gradually add 100 gram sugar and beta until the egg whites are stiff and shiny. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla extract and a teaspoon of cornstarch.

Transfer the egg whites to a piping bag without nozzle and create heart-shaped pavlovas. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about half an hour, the exact time depends on the oven.

The pavlovas are done when the outside is crispy but the inside is still soft. So basically it's a meringue with a soft center.  

Finishing the Valentine's pavlovas with red fruits – 10 minutes

Meanwhile beat the heavy cream along with 2 tablespoons of powder sugar and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract to create a vanilla whipped cream. Add the whipped cream to a piping bag with star shaped nozzle.

As soon as the pavlovas are done, you let them cool off completely. Add a bit of whipped cream to the pavlovas and finish with some fresh raspberries and blue berries.

You can also use other kinds of fruit. If you're going to serve the pavlovas later on, it's better to store the whipped cream until you're serving it. Otherwise the pavlova will get a bit soggy. Enjoy!