If you're going to go all out with a dessert, this is definitely the season to do it. A pavlova not only looks beautiful but tastes absolutely divine too. Chef Claire Heitzler, one of the world’s foremost pastry chefs and Alain Ducasse protégé, has created an extra-special pavlova to help you dazzle your nearest and dearest.
French cream, which is 100 percent natural and can be used to enhance aromas and balance all kinds of flavours, and fresh raspberries are two of the star ingredients in the award-winning and former Park Hyatt Dubai pastry chef’s mouthwatering recipe.
“One of the main qualities of French cream is it can help reduce the bitterness of cocoa, the acidity of lemon, temper certain fruits and the astringency of others, which makes it the perfect ingredient this festive season,” said Chef Claire, who has partnered with French Dairy Board and the European Union to showcase to Middle East consumers why European cream is the perfect ingredient while baking around the holidays.
Here’s her step-by-step guide to creating the perfect pavlova!
Ingredients:
Meringue
- 100g egg white
- 100g sugar
- 100g icing sugar
- Beat the egg whites until stiff while progressively adding the powdered sugar. Once the eggs are in stiff, softly add the icing sugar with a spatula.
- Poach the meringue in a flower shape and cook for 10 minutes at 100°C, then one hour at 80°C.
Vanilla Chantilly
- 250g French cream
- 25g sugar
- 1/2 vanilla pod
- Cut the vanilla in two and peel it in the cream.
- Add the sugar and beat with the whisk.
Assembly
- 1 lime
- 500g raspberries
- 20g sugar
- Squeeze half of the raspberries with the sugar to obtain a marmalade.
- Fill the bottom of the meringue flower with marmalade.
- Add the fresh raspberries and lay a beautiful rose window with chantilly. Peel green citrus zest on the top of the pavlova.
About Chef Claire Heitzlerhas
After an apprenticeship in retail patisserie, Chef Claire Heitzlerhas went on to gain experience in many Michelin star restaurants. In 2004, the pastry maestro was contacted by fellow French Chef Alain Ducasse to work as a patisserie chef in his Tokyo restaurant. Chef Claire, who was voted Pastry Chef of 2018 (Omnivore), then took her dessert expertise to acclaimed success at the Park Hyatt Dubai. The award-winning chef returned to Paris in 2009, where she led the pastry team at the Ritz Hotel, working alongside Michel Roth. More recently, Chef Claire worked as a creative pastry director at the famous French luxury bakery and sweets maker LaDurée before starting her own consultancy.
