Food, Food Artisans

Pavlova: An Awesome Summer Treat!

Amazing Pavlova

There are lots of things I love about summer – my birthday lands on the first day, June 21st, flowering gardens, sultry nights with singing crickets. And now I have a new love—the summer dessert Pavlova!

Pavlova photo

Pavlova is the iconic dessert of Australia and New Zealand, named after the Russian Ballerina Anna Pavlova, who performed there in the 1920s. It is a light, luscious, fruity, sweet, cloud-like dessert. It begins with piping a round of vanilla meringue and baking it until the exterior is crispy, but the interior remains soft and smooth. It’s then covered with a thick wavy layer of unsweetened whipped cream (plenty of sugar in the meringue for the entire dessert) and generously decorated with colorful seasonal fruit. In the land down under, it’s most popular in the summer, so passion fruit, mango and kiwi are common choices. Christmas is a summer holiday there and Pavlova is regularly featured as dessert at the end of the main holiday meal. It looks indulgent—totally fitting for a celebratory meal.

We learned about Pavlova from Kirsty Carre, an Australian food writer who came to Zingerman’s Camp Bacon with her husband, Steve, last June. While in town she put on a demonstration class for students at BAKE! where she taught us about Pavlova. I fell in love with it right away! We had an extra one and I spent an hour walking around the bakery, a little reluctantly, sharing samples with everyone. Trust me, it’s good. But you don’t have to take my word for it.

You’ll find Pavlova at Zingerman’s Bakehouse this July and August, made with local summer fruit. Enjoy them while you can!
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Amy Emberling is Co-Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Bakehouse