Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes A Celebration
music gemma's bigger bolder bakingchocolate pavlova with strawberries & cream hi bold bakers! today we have lots of reasonsto celebrate. first off, it's the 50th episode of bigger bolder baking. and it is the firstday of 2015 so happy new year from my home here in ireland. to ring in the new year instyle, i thought we would make my favourite dessert which is pavlova with strawberriesand chocolate. so let's get baking! so making pavlova and meringue is actuallyreally easy to do. you just have to follow a few guidelines and you're going to get perfect results everytime. one of those tips is to have room temperatureegg whites. i like to leave my egg whites
out of the fridge overnight so they whip upmuch better the next day. another important tip is that when you'recracking your eggs, make sure that no egg yolk gets into the egg white because thatwill actually stop them from whipping. another way to ensure a beautiful fluffy meringueis to make sure there's no grease in your bowl or your whisk so maybe give them anotherwash or wipeout. and then in with your eggs. before we start whipping our egg whites, let'sget our sugar ready. straight into the sugar, i'm going to add some vinegar and what thevinegar does is that it helps to stabilize the eggs and help them foam really well. youcan also use lemon juice or cream of tartar.
also to the sugar, we're going to add in cornflour. and what the corn flour does it gives you that beautiful marshmallowy pavlova thati love. some people like it a little bit chewier but i love the marshmallowy effect. great! so we're ready to whip our egg whites.we're going to start the machine on low and let it form slow bubbles and then we're goingto turn it up and then slowly add in bit by bit the our sugar. another little tip to help your egg whitesbeat is actually add in a pinch of salt at the start. perfect! so this is the stage when you startto add in your sugar. when the egg whites are kind of soft peaks and nice and firm.in my previous video for making meringues, i showed you how to heat up the sugar. soyou can heat up the sugar, or you can leave
it cold. it's up to you. when i was young, my mum would make pavlovafor dinner parties and our job was to stand by the machine and spoonful by spoonful addin the sugar. it probably took us like 15 minutes. it's one of those food memories younever forget. and that's it, all of our sugar is in there.now let's check what lovely pavlova that we made. gorgeous! now this is what you want.a beautiful stiff meringue. this is how thick your pavlova should be. beautiful look atthat! yum! the pavlova that we're making today is actuallychocolate and how you do that is simply sift in some cocoa powder. but you can also addin nuts, you can add in vanilla, any flavor
you like, or you can leave it plain. then gently fold in your cocoa powder. youdon't want to knock out any of the lovely air you created in the meringue. and you alsowant to keep some of those streaks of cocoa so you just want to do it kind of gently.perfect! look at these beautiful ripples. this is exactly what i'm going for. pavlova is another one of those recipes thati love. it's roughly two ingredients, and it's so easy to make. and man, is the endresult awesome! to bake your pavlova, you're going to linetwo trays with parchment paper and then draw an 8 inch circle because that's roughly thesize that we want. and then turn it over so
the ink is on the other side. lovely! now simply scoop your pavlova onto the trayskeeping all of those beautiful cocoa ripples intact. and then just spread it out to thecircle. try and keep it as even as possible but don't worry about it. it's rustic andhomemade. and then continue with the second layer. afterdoing 50 episodes already, you guys know that i'm obsessed with meringue. here's the important tip about baking pavlova.bake in a low oven at 240 degrees f for 90 minutes. once the 90 minutes are up, turnoff the oven. keep the door closed and leave
them in there overnight so they can dry out. here is some pavlova that i made yesterdaybecause you can make them a few days in advance. as you can see there are some cracks formingon top but don't worry about that, that will always happen. it's just part of pavlova'scharm. these pavlovas look beautiful and i can actuallysmell the cocoa by just standing here. although our pavlovas are cocoa flavored,i want an extra oomph of chocolate so we're going to serve it with plain cream and chocolatecream. go ahead and whip up some cream as you normallywould. to make your chocolate cream, add some whipped cream to your melted chocolate. addin a little bit at the start. mix it to introduce
it and then add in the rest. keep on mixingso the chocolate doesn't set. a lovely flavor that complements chocolatewell are strawberries and i'm going to put them in the center and on top of our pavlova.these strawberries are local in my hometown of wexford in ireland and they're some ofthe nicest you'll ever eat. now let's bring it all together and assembleour pavlova. because pavlova is so delicate, make sureyou assemble it on your serving dish. top this generously with your chocolate creamwhich is actually kind of like a little mock chocolate mousse. for your pavlova base, pickwhichever pavlova wasn't looking the best because you can always cover it over withthe cream. bring it all the way out to the
edges. this looks so decadent. next, add a thick layer of your freshly whippedcream. i think what i love about this dessert is actually the texture. it's the crispy andthe soft and the creamy. i'm all about textures when it comes to dessert. next top with a layer of sliced strawberries.you can be as generous as you like with these. carefully lay your second pavlova on top andgarnish with some of your chocolate cream, fresh cream, and then some whole beautifulstrawberries on top. and then for a nice finishing touch, i like to add some grated chocolate. and there you have it, a beautiful decadentdessert worthy of any celebration.
happy new year to my bold bakers everywhere!i have huge plans for 2015 so make sure you subscribe to my channel so you don't missout on any of the great episodes to come. thank you so much for watching, and i'll seeyou back here again next thursday for more bigger bolder baking.
