About a year ago I tried a mermaid-themed cake for the first time. Back then I simply piped some meringue circles and stacked them on top of each other. But this time I thought, why not go with pavlova in order to create this mermaid pavlova instead. Why and what this all about, I will explain below.
So apparently New Zealand and Australia are still fighting about this dessert and claim it to be their national dessert. I won’t get into that, but suffice to say that this meringue nest, which is typically filled with whipped cream and fresh fruits, was created in honor of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Hence the name, pavlova.
In my opinion pavlova is the perfect dessert if you wish to make a mermaid-thymed cake. You know, the nest itself has this wave kind of feeling and it is fairly easy to pipe ocean creatures with the meringue. However, I was surprised to find very little on pavlova and the mermaid theme when I consulted Mr. Google. I don’t really understand that, but regardless I decided to go for it. If you would like to see a pavlova with lemon curd, check my recipe here.
I’m especially happy that Rachael allowed me to use her mermaid in my cake. Please be sure to check out her blog. She has such beautiful drawings, very reasonably priced in her Etsy shop.
I decided to fill my mermaid-themed pavlova with blueberry cream since I needed a little more purple. In my opinion this is the perfect dessert for summer, it is light (gluten free!), refreshing and just has such beautiful colors. Meringue tastes a lot like marshmallow, which is then combined with lght blueberry cream. What is not to like about that combination? I hope you enjoy baking it, please let me know if you make it!
For the pavlova use one of your cake pans to draw a circle on parchment paper, I use one with 15cm in diameter. Turn paper upside down and line baking sheet with it. The circle should still be visible. Then clean your bowl and your mixer thoroughly. You don't want any grease on any of your utensils for this. You can also take a slice of lemon and rub your bowl with it or put a little bit of vinegar on a paper towel and wipe everything off. Don't worry, the smell vanishes quickly. Separate the eggs, making sure no egg yolk accidently mixes with the egg whites. Remember, no grease for the egg whites. Beat the egg whites on medium high speed, add a pinch of salt and beat until soft peaks form when you take out the mixer. This takes about 2-3 minutes. Now slowly add the sugar while you continue mixing on high for another three minutes. The meringue should start looking glossy and should become stiffer. Continue beating until very stiff. This should take about 7 minutes total. There are several tests to know when you are done. Either you can turn the bowl upside down and the meringue does not get out and you can also take some meringue between your fingers and check whether you feel any sugar crumbs. If you don't, the meringue is ready for use, the sugar dissolved. Fold in vingear and sifted cornstarch, just until combined. Add food coloring, I like to create a marbled look by adding a few drops of each color and barely mixing them in to have streaks of color. Take a spoon or spatula to create a big nest inside the circle on the parchment paper, leave some meringue for the additional ornaments. I usually use two spoons to create the outer walls of the nest. Pipe stars, additional waves, etc. on the parchment paper, you can use different colors (see pictures). Bake pavlova and ornaments at 100 degrees Celsius for one hour, reduce heat to 80 degrees and bake for another hour. Leave in turned off oven for another half hour or longer. Let cool. For the blueberry cream place blueberries, sugar, and lemon in a small saucepan and simmer until very soft and reduced. Mine takes about 10-15min and I have about two big tablespoons left. Let cool. Then whip the whipping cream and add one to two tablespoons of the reduced blueberries and beat until stiff. Assemble pavlova by putting the blueberry cream inside the nest and decorate with ornaments, you can use some of the cream as glue. Carefully place the mermaid in the middle of the pavlova, fastened to a toothpick. Serve immediately. No idea what to do with the leftover egg yolks? Check out see this blog post including how to freeze them properly. Pavlova is best served fresh. You can make the meringue one or two days before, keep in an airtight container at room temperature.Mermaid Pavlova
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
2 Comments
Andrea
Sunday July 1st, 2018 at 03:45 PMLiebe Jenny,
was für eine tolle Idee. Stimmt, aus einer Baisermasse kann man wirklich tolle Wellen machen. Deine Pavlova ist ein echter Traum und hört sich lecker an. Ich freue mich, dass du damit an unserer Blogparade teilnimmst.
Liebe Grüße
Andrea
Jenny
Sunday July 1st, 2018 at 03:48 PMLiebe Andrea, lieben Dank für deine netten Worte. Ich habe sehr gerne mitgemacht und hoffe, dass ihr noch viele Beiträge erhaltet!