Pavlova (dessert)

A pavlova bought from a Foodtown in New Zealand. This example has been decorated with strawberries, wine gums and cream.

Pavlova is a meringue dessert named after the ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova.[1] It is crispy on the outside but light and fluffy inside.

History

Some sources claim the recipe originated in New Zealand, while others claim it was invented in Australia. However, like the Anzac biscuit, the earliest known books containing the recipe were published in New Zealand.

Professor Helen Leach, a culinary anthropologist at Otago University in New Zealand found a pavlova recipe in a 1933 Rangiora Mothers' Union cookery book.[2] Professor Leach also has an even earlier copy of the pavlova recipe from a 1929 rural New Zealand magazine.[3]

Keith Money, a biographer of Anna Pavlova, wrote that a chef at a hotel in Wellington, New Zealand, created the dish when Pavlova visited there in 1926 on her world tour.

The claim that it was an Australian invention states that the pavlova is based on a cake baked by Bert Sachse at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth on 3 October 1935. Sachse's descendants believe he may have come up with the recipe earlier than that, since Anna Pavlova visited Australia in 1926 and 1929 and died in 1931.

File:NZI pavlova.jpg

An NZI Insurance ad at Wellington Airport lampooning Australia's claim to the pavlova

Preparation and consumption

Pavlova is made by beating egg whites (and sometimes salt) to a very stiff consistency before folding in caster sugar, vanilla, and vinegar, and slow-baking the mixture to create the meringue. This makes the outside of the pavlova a crisp crunchy shell, while the interior remains soft and moist.

A homemade pavlova decorated with pomegranate seeds and Chantilly cream.

Pavlova is traditionally decorated with whipped cream and fresh fruit, notably strawberries, peach slices, passionfruit and/or kiwifruit. Raspberry is a popular topping in the United Kingdom, with the tartness of raspberries contrasting with the sweetness of sugar. Factory-made pavlovas can be purchased at supermarkets and decorated as desired. A commercial product is available that includes pre-mixed ingredients for baking the meringue shell, requiring only the addition of water and sugar.

Leftover decorated pavlova can be refrigerated overnight, but the dessert will absorb moisture from the air and lose its crispness. Undecorated pavlova can safely be left overnight in the oven in which it was baked, to be decorated in the morning.

Further reading

• Leach, Helen M. (1997). The pavlova cake: the evolution of a national dish. In Harlan Walker (ed.), Food on the Move: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1996 (pp. 219-223). Devon, England: Prospect Books. ISBN 0-907325-79-3.

References

• Boylen, Jeremy (reporter) (2004, August 20). Pavlova. George Negus Tonight, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.