Pudding Baking

Hazelnut Pavlova with Spiced Roast Fruit & Chai Cream

A triumphant dessert. We love making a pavlova, it is always impressive and it’s so easy to make – and it goes a long way too! The sweet and tart caramelised fruits infused with their warming spices, the nutty meringue and cooling cream is pure happiness, and a damn good alternative to the steaming rich Christmas pudding

15 minutes prep, 55 minutes cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

A handful of plums, halved and destoned

A handful of halved figs

A handful of blackberries

A handful of dried apricots, halved

1 vanilla bean pod

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

1 glass of white wine

1 tbsp brown sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

6 egg whites

300g caster sugar

100g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

600ml double cream

1 tbsp chai tea

Pistachios, to garnish

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Poor the wine and the sugar into a small pan and bring to a simmer, slice the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and add to the wine, along with the pod itself and the lemon juice and simmer for another couple minutes. Place the fruit into an oven proof dish, pour over the wine and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. Take out the oven and leave to cool.

Turn the oven down to 120°C. Place the egg whites in a bowl and whisk to soft peaks, very slowly add the sugar – a spoon at a time till all combined and it should be thick with a good shine to it. Add the hazelnuts and carefully fold in with a metal bowl.

Line a baking tray with parchment and spoon the meringue onto the tray – we like to make one large one, but you could make smaller ones if you wish. Place in the oven and cook for about 40 mins – you want it to be crisp on the outside yet chewy in the middle.

Place the chai tea in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder. Place the cream in a bowl and whisk till it’s beginning to thicken and add the chai powder, taste and add more if necessary. Whisk to soft peaks – don’t over whisk.

To assemble, place the cooled meringue on your serving platter, spoon over the cream then place the fruit on top and finish with sprinkling over chopped pistachios.