Pavlova with Salted Caramel & Strawberry Pearls (the Upgrade Australia Deserves)

We are not going to relitigate whether the pavlova is Australian or a New Zealander on a working visa. We will say this: the topping conversation stalled somewhere around 1987. Cream, kiwifruit, passionfruit, done. The base got all the attention and the top got a fruit salad. Australia’s most famous dessert deserves a finish with more imagination than tinned passionfruit — and it finally has one.

Here is the upgrade. Salted caramel flavour pearls and strawberry flavour pearls — little glossy spheres that sit on the cream like jewellery and burst on the tongue. Caramel, salt, strawberry, pop. Suddenly the pavlova looks like it came from a patisserie with opinions. And this is still assembly, not baking: if you can whip cream and open two jars, you can plate like a professional who charges accordingly.

The base is your call: bake your family recipe or buy a good one. It’s December. We’re not checking. (If you are baking: six egg whites, 330 g caster sugar, a low oven and no peeking. The jars neither know nor care.)

What you need

• 1 pavlova base, about 20 cm (home-baked or bought)
• 600 ml thickened cream
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 g strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1 jar salted caramel flavour pearls
• 1 jar strawberry flavour pearls

Method

1. Whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla to soft peaks — soft, so it settles into the meringue’s crevices instead of sitting on top like a hat.
2. Pile the cream onto the base just before serving.
3. Scatter the strawberries over, cut side up.
4. Spoon over the salted caramel pearls, then the strawberry pearls, letting a few tumble down the sides for effect.
5. Serve within half an hour, while the contrast of crisp shell and soft cream is at its peak.

Keep the jars moving through summer: tangerine pearls over dark chocolate desserts, and the whole flavour pearl range for everything from oysters to G&Ts. The jars keep in the pantry until the moment of need, which makes this the rare Christmas trick you can shop for in July, long before the panic sets in.