i heart cake

Masterchef. My new favourite word. Like many of you, i am so happy to have Masterchef back on our TV screens. It was by far my most favourite show to watch last year and i couldn’t wait for it to come back on. I watched it religiously and if i wasn’t home to watch it, i’d IQ it. Ironically though, i was holidaying in the U.S when the finale was on and missed it completely.

With no plans to go anywhere this time i am determined not to miss a single episode. Not only that, i have also set myself a challenge where i will try and re-create the dishes on the show.

First up last night was the pressure test. Donna Hay’s pavlova. Having never made a pavlova before i was excited by this and i think i did pretty well. I decided to top it with a berry sauce, fresh raspberries and chocolate shavings.

Pavlova

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

• 150ml eggwhite (approximately 4 eggs)
• 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream

Topping

• 1 cup frozen berries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 250g  fresh raspberries
• 1 Flake bar, crushed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F).
2. Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form.
3. Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
4. Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined.
5. Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
6. Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.
7. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.
8. Whilst the pavlova is cooling, place the frozen berries and sugar in a small pot on medium heat and heat until sugar is dissolved and allow to cool before processing in the blender
9. Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Spread over the pavlova, top with berry sauce, raspberries and Flake shavings and serve immediately.

Recipe adapated from Donna Hay

Tags: Masterchef, Pavlova

This entry was posted by jen on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 8:17 pm and is filed under Cakes & Cupcakes, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.