CHERRY PAVLOVA

Sometimes Christmas is... all about the food. As a family, we loved this so much.

Eat up, and have a merry cherry Christmas!

INGREDIENTS
oil spray
5 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
600ml cream, whipped
400g cherries, half quantity quartered and pitted
Icing Sugar, to dust
 
Cherry Sauce
1/2 cup Caster Sugar
100g Cherries, halved and pitted



METHOD
 
1 Preheat oven to 130°C or 110°C fan. Using a pencil, draw an 18cm circle on 3 pieces of baking paper. Spray 3 oven trays lightly with oil and place the paper on them, pencil side down. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar gradually, beating well after each addition, until thick and glossy. Beat in vanilla.
2 Spread the meringue onto the trays within the pencil lines. Bake for 1 hr, swapping the trays from top to bottom shelf halfway through. Turn off the oven, prop the door slightly ajar and leave to cool completely.
3 Meanwhile, to make the Cherry sauce, combine the sugar with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat without boiling until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cherries and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cook for about 7 mins, or until the liquid has become syrupy. Strain into a jug and cool completely (reserve the cooked cherries for another use).
4 To serve, place one disc of meringue onto a serving plate. Spread with one third of the cream, and top with half the quartered cherries. Top with another disc of meringue, half the remaining cream and all the remaining quartered cherries. Place the final meringue on top, and spread with the remaining cream. Pile the whole cherries on top, drizzle with cherry sauce, and dust with icing sugar.

Original recipe found here.