Brown Sugar Pavlova with Salted Caramel & Figs

Pavlova is a classic Aussie dessert, and this recipe gives it a lovely wintry twist. The golden castor sugar – in this case mixed with some brown sugar – gives the pavlova a gorgeous caramel flavour. Add to that, a super simple caramel sauce and some roasted figs and you have a winter winner.

If figs are not available, I paid a premium for them unfortunately, roasted pears and raspberries would also work well.

We’re pavlova’d out in this house, I’ve made a heap of them before getting the recipe right - crisp outside and a marshmallow inside. The problem with using brown sugar is it’s high moisture content, so I’ve have cut it back to a minimum, and used Golden Caster sugar instead of plain.

Ingredients

Pavlova Ingredients

• 4 egg whites at room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 210g golden caster sugar
• 40g brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbs cornflour
• 1tbs vinegar
• 300ml whipped cream to serve

Salted Caramel Sauce

• 75g butter
• 50g brown sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g golden syrup
• 125ml cream
• 1 tsp good quality sea salt, not table salt

Method

Pavlova

1. Preheat the oven to 150C fan
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper, and mark a 20cm circle on it.
3. Make sure your mixing bowl is absolutely clean, as any residual grease will stop the eggwhites from whipping properly.
4. Whisk the eggwhites, with a pinch of salt, in a stand mixer at half speed, until they are standing in soft peaks.
5. Combined sugars  and add to the mixture a little at a time( should take 2-3 minutes), until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Turn the speed up to full, and beat for a couple of minutes.
6. Fold in the cornflour, vanilla and vinegar.
7. Mound onto the prepared baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes at 150C, then turn the temperature down to 120C and bake for a further 30 minutes.
8. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue to cool in the oven.
9. When cool, store in an airtight container until you are ready to serve it. It will last for at least 2 days.

Super Quick Salted Caramel Sauce

10. Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium low heat to melt. Once melted simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring now and again. Taste, and add more salt if necessary.

Figs

11. Halve or quarter the figs, dip the cut surface in brown sugar. Heat a non-stick frypan over medium heat with a little butter and add the figs, cut side down. cook gently for a few minutes until nicely caramalised.

Notes

When cool, store in an airtight container until you are ready to serve it. It will last for at least 2 days. Transfer the pavlova to a serving plate, spoon on some whipped cream, drizzle with caramel sauce and top with roasted figs