Piña Colada Pavlova

It was my Mum’s birthday over the weekend and since we’re still in the middle of a heatwave I decided to do something a little bit different instead of baking the ol’ tried and true sponge cake.  If there’s one thing I remember about dinners in my house as a kid, it was the prepacked meringue nests my Mum used to buy from Sainsbury’s to make impromptu pavlova for afters (sorry, Mum, I know… I meant “pudding”).  So I thought I’d give it a go from scratch and make a pina colada flavoured one complete with pineapple curd, coconut cream and a healthy splash of rum.

Pina Colada Pavlova

Ingredients

For the Curd:

• 80g butter
• 80ml pineapple juice
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks (keep the whites, you’ll need those later!)
• 2 tsp cornflour

For the Meringue Layers:

• 250g caster sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp white vinegar

For the Cream:

• 300ml Double Cream
• 100ml coconut syrup
• 100ml rum

1. To make the curd, whisk together your eggs, sugar and cornflour in a pot and then transfer onto the hob.  Warm everything up on a low heat, adding your pineapple juice and butter.  Make sure you stir slowly but constantly to prevent it sticking or scrambling.  After 10 minutes the mixture will thicken and look a little bit like custard.  Take it off the heat and leave it to cool.
2. To make your meringue layers, whisk together your 4 egg whites, gradually adding the caster sugar and cornflour.  Once you’ve got nice stiff peaks, whisk in the vinegar – that’s going to give you a nice crispy meringue on the outside whilst keeping it nice and gooey in the middle.
3. Spread them out on a lined baking tray, smoothing them into disks and then bake in the oven for an hour at 120°.  Leave to cool.
4. Once you’re ready to assemble (and eat; meringue’s hate moisture and as soon as you pile them with cream they’re going to crack and then go soggy), whip up your double cream with the coconut syrup and rum and then sandwich it in between the meringue layers with the pineapple curd.  Top with chopped pistachios if you want to be fancy 😉

Tada!  I decided to give Instagram TV a go the other day, so you can catch a video of me making this recipe over there.  It was my first attempt at making a video with a voiceover, so let me know what you think! 🙂