RECIPE:
Pavlova

A Norwegian National Day favourite

Mmmm!

With its delicious summer flavours, a pavlova cake is the perfect centrepiece for any celebration.

The cake features a thick layer of cream on top of a crispy meringue crust, and is decorated with tasty berries. It's a huge favourite in Norway, especially on its National Day, the 17th of May.

Norwegians love to celebrate the National Day with a big breakfast that can last for several hours. A lot of people like to serve a pavlova for dessert.

A lot of the Norwegian wild berries match the colours on the Norwegian flag, which is perfect for National Day decoration.

Here's the recipe. Now you can make a pavlova for your next celebration!

The classic pavlova

Ingredients

For the meringue:

6 egg whites

0.5 ts salt

375 g sugar

3 ts corn starch

1.5 ts white wine vinegar

For the cream:

8 egg yolks

600 ml milk

100 ml sugar

2 tbsp corn starch

6 gelatin sheets

For the topping:

300 ml double cream

250 g rasberries

125 g blackberries

400 g strawberries

125 g blueberries

300 g cherries

A bunch of fresh mint

2 tbsp powdered sugar

Source: Matprat.no

Method

This is the perfect cake for a celebration! It takes a bit of time to make, but it's definitely worth it.

1. Add egg whites to a steel or glass bowl. Whisk slowly with a pinch of salt until they start to foam. Then carry on whisking at a higher speed until the egg whites become stiff.

2. Gradually add sugar until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture looks like shiny shaving foam. Don't over-whisk the mixture, as it will then become grainy.

3. Sieve corn starch and add white wine vinegar. Use a spatula to carefully fold the mixture and incorporate all the ingredients.

4. Line a tray with baking parchment and spread the merengue mixture evenly onto it. Make sure to leave a few centimetres of space around the cake.

5. Bake the meringue at the bottom of the oven for about 90 minutes at 120 degrees Celcius. Turn off the oven and let the meringue rest inside it until it's completely cool. Feel free to leave it overnight with the oven door ajar.

For the cream:

6. Add egg yolks, milk, sugar, and corn starch to a pot. Cut the gelatin sheets into smaller pieces and add them to the pot too.

7. Heat up the mixture while stirring constantly. Let it thicken. Once it has the texture of custard, remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into a bowl to cool.

Tip: Remove the pot from the heat if the mixture thickens too quickly to make sure that it doesn't separate. You can always put it back on the heat if it needs to thicken more.

8. Whip double cream and fold it into the egg cream. Spread the cream onto the merengue and decorate it to your heart's content with fresh berries, mint, and powdered sugar.

Tip: You can bake the merengue several days before serving as long as you store it in a dry place and cover it with some baking parchment. It's also best to decorate the cake right before serving.

Pavlova isn't a Norwegian recipe (the 'pav' is from Australia or New Zealand, depending on who you ask) but it's become such a popular cake to serve on Constitution Day, that many Norwegians feel the day just wouldn't be the same without it.

Join the Constitution Day party!

The pavlova is the perfect cake to showcase tasty Norwegian berries.

You can pick your own fruit and berries at local farms, including apple, pears, plums, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, currants, and blackberries.

Or go foraging for wild berries in the woods and mountains.

These sweet treats are at their best during the harvesting season between summer and autumn.

Sample our delicious fruit and berries