Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Strawberries

Ingredients

• 6 size 7 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 75g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 300ml bottle cream
• vanilla exract
• 1 punnet strawberries, sliced

Method

Preheat oven to 110 C. Carefully separate the eggs, ensuring no yolk gets into the white at all.  Place the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer (ensuring bowl and whisk are perfectly clean). Whisk until soft peaks form when the beater is lifted from the mixture. Continue to mix, gradually adding sugar at a tablespoon or so at a time and waiting between each addition, add cornflour with last of the sugar. Adding all of the sugar could take close to 10 minutes. Continue to mix until you can't feel any sugar when a small amount of mixture is rubbed between your index finger and thumb. Lastly add vinegar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of boiling water and allow to mix a minute more.

Using a pencil draw a 24cm circle with a cake pan for guidance on a piece of baking paper. Place the baking paper, pencil side down, on a baking tray. Spoon the meringue into the circle, smoothing the sides.

Place the tray in the oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the oven off without opening the door and allow to cool for at least 2 hours more or overnight.

To make the lemon curd, gently melt butter, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar.  In a separate bowl lightly mix the egg yolks.  Pour a little of the lemon syrup into the egg yolks, whisking as you do so.  Return the mixture back to the saucepan and heat, whisking, until the mixture thickens.  Allow to cool.
Prior to serving,  beat cream until softly whipped.
Invert pavlova onto a serving platter.  Spread with lemon curd and top with cream.  Cover with sliced strawberries and serve at once.