Mother’s Day Strawberry Cheesecake Pavlovas

Hello adventure’s and welcome back to another post. I’m well aware that Mother’s Day was a few weeks ago but as I said in my last post the last few weeks have been very hectic. So, I’m just getting around to posting my Mother’s Day dessert post. I spent the Saturday before Mother’s Day at my Aunt and Uncle’s house celebrating Mother’s Day with my Mema and Pa, my Aunt and Uncle, my three cousins, my Aunts mom and dad, and my Mom, Dad and Sister. I am the resident baker for this lovely group of people and since the majority of this group of people love chocolate anything, that what I always made. Until this get together, I decided I wanted to make something lighter, and fruity. Not heavy like most chocolate desserts tend to be. I also wanted to test my baking knowledge on a beautiful meringue dessert that originated in Australia, with a twist of course. It was also a plus that this particular dessert is naturally gluten free for my Mom who has a gluten intolerance. I used two separate recipes from two separate blogs I found on Pinterest. I used the pavlova recipe from a blog called Bellyfull, this post has some amazing tips and tricks for making pavlovas successfully. Then I used the cheesecake mousse filling and strawberry topping recipes from a blog called California Strawberries. Now onto the recipe.

Ingredients

Pavlova:

• 6 large egg whites at room temperature (take extra care not to let any of the yolk get into the egg whites)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons of corn starch

Cheesecake Mousse filling:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Strawberry Topping:

• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups of Strawberries
• a squeeze of lemon juice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a stand mixer or a handheld mixer beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Then with the mixer still on add the sugar in a tablespoon at a time, until stiff peaks form or about 10 minutes. The meringue will be smooth and glossy.

Using a spatula quickly fold in the lemon juice and vanilla extract, then fold in the corn starch and gently mix until well blended.

Add the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1M star tip. Pipe meringue into 3 to 3 1/2 inch wide nests onto the parchment paper. Indent the center with a spoon or pipe another ring on top edge of the circle to make a nest. I would recommend going with the first option because it’s much easier and you can make more meringue nests.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes then turn the oven off without opening the door, let the meringue sit in the oven until completely cooled, I let them sit in the oven overnight. (The outsides will be dry and crisp to the touch, and very pale cream colored. While the inside will still be marshmallow soft.)

Transfer the cooled pavlovas to the tray or plate you will be serving them on (it will be easier than trying to move filled pavlovas onto the tray.)

To make the filling in a stand mixer or a handheld mixer whisk the heavy cream of medium to high speed until soft peaks form. Then transfer the whipped cream into a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Next add the cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, and salt, into the stand mixer (or use your handheld mixer) and beat on medium high speed with a paddle attachment until smooth. Once the cream cheese mixture is smooth, a little at a time slowly fold in the whipped cream, gently fold in the whipped cream until smooth.

For the strawberry topping mix together all the ingredients into a bowl and once fully incorporated put the strawberries in the fridge for at least 10 minutes before putting together your dessert.

To put together take an empty meringue shell, and pipe in or spoon in the cheese cake mousse and top with a few of the strawberries. Continue that process until all the pavlovas are complete. Serve as quickly as possible so that the pavlovas are still crisp and not softened by the mousse.

Comment down below any recipes that you would like to be featured in an upcoming post. Until the next adventure,

Love, Payton