Bake of the Week: Strawberry Rose Petal and Pistachio Pavlova

THIS is a slight Middle Eastern take on one of our favourite puddings.

Lashings of sweetened cream flavoured with a dash of rose water, loaded on to a huge, sticky meringue round, filled with fresh, halved strawberries, topped with crushed pistachios and fragrant rose petals.

It’s summer on a plate!

Many thanks to BerryWorld for this seasonal stunner!

You’ll need

6 large egg whites

250g caster sugar

1 tsp rose water extract

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp corn flour

100g crushed pistachios

475ml double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

450g strawberries cut in half (keep 3-4 whole strawberries aside to garnish)

Handful of pale pink rose petals

Method:

Line a baking sheet and pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form, then slowly add the sugar, rose water, vinegar, corn flour and whisk again until the mix becomes very thick and shiny.

Gently fold in half of the pistachios then carefully spoon the mixture on to the lined baking sheet, forming a circle. Work the mixture outwards to form an edge and leave a slight dip in the centre.

Drop the oven temperature to 150C and bake for 1 hour, then turn off the oven, leaving the meringue in there to cool. If you have time, make the meringue the night before, and leave it in the cooling oven overnight. The parchment should pull away easily now and you can place the meringue on a plate.

Whip the cream, adding in the icing sugar and spread generously over the cooled meringue. Scatter the strawberries over the top, arrange the whole strawberries in the centre, sprinkle with the rest of the pistachios, scatter with the rose petals and serve.