There are times in life when you need to pull out the big guns and give it all you’ve got and most often for me, that means cooking something spectacular, impressive and drop dead delicious. But listen, I’m still me and I don’t like spending more time in the kitchen than is absolutely necessary so I look for shortcuts. That’s when I came up with the idea for this chocolate cream. Now, if you are in a hurry and you don’t really care for chocolate (who are you even?!), you could of course make this with simple sweetened whipped cream and call it a day. It’s still going to taste absolutely awesome. But if you want to go that extra mile, this chocolate cream is the bomb. It’s the small details that elevate things we are accustomed to to new heights and it doesn’t always have to require a boat-load of work or genius ideas, although, that of course helps.
What I love most about pavlova is all the contrasting textures. The crisp case of the pavlova gives way to a soft, marshmallowy interior. The soft clouds of whipped cream add to the lusciousness and then you get the sharp bite of the strawberries. I mean, can you even? Now I know everyone has their own way with meringues/pavlova but I always like to add a little cornstarch and vinegar to mine. I don’t actually know if it does anything but my meringues/pavlova are always soft and squidgy on the inside and that’s the way I like it. If you like crispier meringues, simply bake them for a little longer to dry them out more. This pavlova will also be fab topped with raspberries but I would stick to those two if you’re going the chocolate cream route. After all, there’s nothing like red berries and chocolate, right? And if you’re looking to impress, nothing will do so more than this pavlova recipe. Topped with its mountain of fresh strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar it is worthy of any celebration.
