Chocolate Easter Pavlova | GF
Chocolate Easter pavlova with a bunny head shape! This is a gluten free dessert made of a chocolate meringue, a vanilla whipped cream, a passion fruit sauce, and fresh fruits.
Pavlova is a pretty easy dessert to make, the piping being the most difficult part, especially if you want to give it a particular shape. It is better to split the work in two days : the meringue and passion fruit sauce the day before ; and the vanilla whipped cream and garnishing the pavlova the day of.
Making a chocolate Easter pavlova with a bunny head shape
To give my dessert a bunny head shape, I simply drew a circle with a ring (you can also use a plate, anything round you can find at home!), and two ears with my offset spatula, on parchment paper.
The circle has a diameter of 6-6.5 inches/16 cm, and the ears are about 5.5 inches/14 cm long, and 1.5 inches/4 cm wide.
Remember that the meringue is going to get a bit bigger when baking, so leave a small gap between the ears.
When you’re done drawing, turn the parchment paper upside down so you don’t pipe the meringue on the ink.
The chocolate meringue
Making chocolate meringue is more delicate that plain meringue, as incorporating the cocoa powder makes it more runny. Mix it in gently with a rubber spatula or a scraper (do not over mix), pipe, and bake straight away. Also, don’t forget to sift the cocoa powder or you’ll end up with lumps.
I recommend using egg whites at room temperature, and to use fresh ones instead of the carton ones.
If you don’t like chocolate, you can make a plain meringue with the same ingredients, just omit the cocoa powder.
Using a piping bag with a large tip, pipe the outside of the head first, then, the outside of the ears, and lastly, fill the inside. Since I had a bit of meringue left, I piped a few dots on the line between the ears and the head.
Bake straight away in the preheated oven at 275°F – 135°C for one hour. Turn the oven off, and leave the pavlova in the oven overnight.
The passion fruit sauce
Passion fruit sauce is easy and quick to make, remember that passion fruits are ripe when their skin is wrinkly.
It’s very important to dilute the cornstarch in cold water before incorporating to the boiling mixture to avoid lumps. Boil for a minute or two to make sure that the sauce is properly cooked.
The vanilla whipped cream
To make the vanilla whipped cream, use a cream that contains at least 33% of milk fat.
To ensure that it’s going to whip well, place the bowl you’re going to whip the cream in, in the fridge, for a few hours.
The fruits
I used a mango that I peeled, cut, and sliced finely to make a rosette. It can be replaced by strawberries, raspberries, or a mix of all of these fruits for a very colorful Easter dessert!
I crushed some freeze dried strawberries to sprinkle on top of the whipped cream right before serving.
Garnishing the pavlova
Depending on how you want to decorate the pavlova, you might want to put the fruits first (that’s what I did with the mango).
Then pipe the whipped cream around the fruits ; drizzle the passion fruit sauce over the mango ; sprinkle icing sugar all over the pavlova ; and the crushed freeze dried strawberries on the whipped cream.
Storing pavlova
Serve the pavlova right away! Unfortunately, it doesn’t keep well and is best eaten the day of, even the hour of!
Store the leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to two days.
More gluten free dessert ideas for Easter
Chocolate and Vanilla Cake : “Napolitain”
Cinnamon Meringue and Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Easter Pavlova | GF
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Piping bags and tips
Ingredients
Chocolate meringue
- 4 egg whites – room temperature (120 g)
- 1 cup sugar (220 g)
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder – sifted (15 g)
- ⅛ tsp cream of tartar
Vanilla whipped cream
- 1 cup whipping cream – 33% M.F. minimum (250 ml)
- 4 tsp granulated sugar (20 g)
- 1 tsp vanilla paste/extract
Passion fruit sauce
- 2 passion fruits
- 2 tsp granulated sugar (10 g)
- 2.5 tbsp orange juice (25 ml)
- 1.5 tbsp cold water (25 ml)
- ¼ tsp cornstarch
Toppings
- fresh fruits : mango slices, strawberries, raspberries
- icing sugar
- freeze dried fruits
- white chocolate curls…
Instructions
Chocolate meringue – make the day before
- Start by drawing the bunny head shape on parchment paper:Draw a circle with a ring (you can also use a plate, anything round you can find at home!), and two ears (I used an offset spatula) on parchment paper. The circle has a diameter of 6-6.5 inches/16 cm, and the ears are about 5.5 inches/14 cm long, and 1.5 inches/4 cm wide. Always remember that the meringue is going to get a bit bigger when baking so leave a small gap between the ears when piping. When you're done, turn the parchment paper upside down so you don't pipe the meringue on the ink.
- Preheat the oven to 275°F – 135°C.
- Put the egg whites with the cream of tartar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Whisk on medium-high speed until frothy. Add the sugar in three times, whipping the meringue for 30 seconds to a minute before adding the next third of sugar.
- When the meringue is shiny and has reached stiff peaks, incorporate the sifted cocoa powder, gently, with a rubber spatula. Do not over mix or the meringue will be too runny.
- Using a piping bag with a large tip, pipe the outside of the bunny head first, and then fill it with the rest of the meringue.
- Bake for 1 hour at 275°F – 135°C. Turn the oven off, and leave the meringue in there until the next day.
Passion fruit sauce – make the day before
- In a small pot, bring to a boil the passion fruit pulp, orange juice, and sugar.
- Dilute the cornstarch with the cold water in a small dish.
- When the passion fruit mixture is boiling, pour in the cornstarch/water, while whisking. Cook for a couple more minutes, mixing continuously.
- Allow to cool down and refrigerate overnight.
Garnishing the pavlova – the day of
- Whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla to medium peaks, and fill a piping bag with the tip of your choice.
- Clean and cut the fruits, and prepare all the ingredients you'll need to decorate the pavlova.
- Place the fruits on top of the meringue, pipe the vanilla whipped cream around the fruits, and drizzle the passion fruit sauce.
- Sprinkle icing sugar all over the pavlova, and any other ingredients of your choice : chocolate curls, freeze dried fruits, etc, on top of the whipped cream
- Enjoy right away!
Notes
For the meringue: use fresh egg whites at room temperature for best results.
If you don’t like chocolate, you can make a plain meringue with the same ingredients, just omit the cocoa powder.For the vanilla whipped cream: to ensure that the cream is going to whip well, place the bowl you’re going to whip the cream in, in the fridge, for a few hours.
For the passion fruit sauce: passion fruits are ready to be eaten when their skin is wrinkly. Dilute the cornstarch in cold water before incorporating to the sauce to avoid lumps.
Storage: pavlova doesn’t keep well and is best eaten the day of, even the hour of! Store the leftovers in the fridge for up to two days.
Calories are per one serving (total calories for this recipe: 2077).