Meringues are the bane of my life. It’s not so much about making the perfect macaron as getting a simple meringue to not stick to the paper. After many failures I decided to sign up for a course at Cakes 4 Fun in Putney, which was brilliant; you can read about what I did here. After the course, I made a pavlova from a Nigella Lawson recipe at home, and it turned out perfectly. Fully of confidence, I asked for the Meringue Girls book for my birthday, and recently made a pavlova from that – it was undercooked in the middle and stuck to the paper. I had to turn it into a sort Eton Mess with some Carte d’Or Eton Mess flavour ice cream, pomegranate seeds and some pomegranate molasses (which I had bought for the pavlova recipe) drizzled over the top.
It was delicious, but it seems I am back to square one as far as my meringue making ability is concerned. So this is the tale of the rather more successful cappuccino pavlova by Nigella.
The recipe is available from her website and it was really easy to make, just ensure you follow the instructions in particular about the cooking time and then leave the meringue to cool properly afterwards.
I took it from her Italian cookery book Nigellissima, as I was serving this as part of an Italian-themed buffet for my boyfriend’s family on his birthday. It tasted delicious with double cream and cocoa powder piled on top.