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
- 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.
- Pile the cream onto the base just before serving.
- Scatter the strawberries over, cut side up.
- Spoon over the salted caramel pearls, then the strawberry pearls, letting a few tumble down the sides for effect.
- 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.
