If you missed the Pav Queen at the Good Food & Wine Show Christmas Market in Melbourne last month, don’t worry! Nerida has generously shared her top tips with us all… so keep reading to learn a few hints and tricks to make the perfect pavlova this Christmas.

  1. Make sure there’s no trace of egg yolk in your egg whites or they won’t whip properly.
  2. Be sure to wipe out all containers and your mixer bowl with (any type of) vinegar to remove all traces of oily residue.
  3. Don’t stop at ‘stiff peaks’. Whip your egg whites a bit longer, and get them to the point where they are flicking bits of ‘foam’ around the edge of the bowl.
  4. Make sure your oven is accurate. Invest in a little oven thermometer just to be certain.
  5. Let your cooked Pav base sit out over night (or at least for 12 hours) with a clean tea towel covering it, to dry out a little before decorating it.

Lastly… have fun with the process! Now you can create the perfect pav, just like Nerida does!

The Pav Queen story:

When COVID-19 hit, Nerida decided to spend one of her many long days in lockdown making her friend a pavlova for her birthday. It took 7 attempts to finally nail it – crunchy on the outside and very light and fluffy in the middle with lots of beautiful seasonal fruit and bursts of flavour.

When she was happy with it, she sent it over to her friend who absolutely loved it, uploaded a photo of it to Instagram and within minutes her friends were asking if they could buy one. “My friend got in touch with me to ask if I could consider selling some, so I thought why not give it a go. I roped my beautiful mother and daughter in to cook them with me, and we have not looked back!!”

If you’re based in Melbourne, you can pre-order your Christmas pavlova from Pav Queen here.