Black Forest Pavlova

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC/130ºC fan. Line a large square baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Using a clean bowl and whisk (otherwise the egg whites won’t stiffen), add the egg whites to the bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Start adding 1 teaspoon of sugar at a time, while continuously whisking, until all of the sugar has been incorporated and the mixture is glossy.

3. Sieve in the cocoa powder and add the vanilla extract and white wine vinegar to the egg white mixture. Fold in with a large spatula as carefully as you can until smooth and combined.

4. Using a small dab of meringue mixture in each corner, stick the parchment paper to the baking tray. Spoon the meringue onto the tray, creating a large circular shape (the meringue will spread slightly when baking so don’t go right to the edge of the baking tray!). Bake in the oven for 1 hour – turn the oven off and leave to cool completely, without opening the door, for about 3 hours.

5. Decoration: In a large bowl, whip the double cream with the icing sugar.

6. In a separate bowl, mix together the cherry pie filling and the cherries soaked in kirsch. Alternatively, use cherry jam if you don’t want alcohol, fresh cherries, or anything similar.

7. Dollop the whipped cream onto the meringue and then add the cherry mixture on top. Add some fresh cherries for decoration and sprinkle over some chocolate shavings.

8. This dessert lasts 2+ days, in the fridge.