Blackberry Lemon Curd Pavlova Nests – sweet blackberry syrup, fresh blackberries, sour lemon curd and crispy, ooey gooey pavlova – this is the perfect dessert! This dessert is delicious and all the elements can be done days in advance. So once you’re ready to devour these blackberry lemon curd pavlova nests you just assemble and you’re done!
This recipe happened by chance. I had all the ingredients and what could I make of it, I thought. I had a bunch of egg whites in the fridge that needed to be used. And all I could think of was pavlova. I saw the lemon curd and blackberry syrup and then I knew what I would make.
Blackberry Lemon Curd Pavlova Nests
This recipe makes 6 blackberry lemon curd pavlova nests, and if you’re only two, you’d have dessert for three days. How glorious is that! Or if you’re one, you get dessert all week… 🙂 I love the fact that meringue holds like forever in a dry space. So I just kept them covered and filled them right after dinner several times last week. I call this a success!
The Pavlova Nests
Of course pavlova takes a little time to make, but it really is simple and few ingredients. You just need to keep a few things in mind.
Tips for making meringue
- Use old, room temperature egg whites (30 minutes ish). This makes it easier to fluff!
- Everything needs to be fat free. Clean your bowl, preferably one in metal or glass, and make sure you don’t get any yolk in the egg white, or any fatty fingers…
- Don’t rush the beating process – the slower you add in the sugar, the better it will incorporate.
- Beat until glossy stiff peaks. This means you can hold your mixer and the meringue will reasonably hold its shape. If you tilt your bowl, the meringue will not slide out.
- Bake in low temperature for a longer period of time. This makes it easier not to brown the meringue.
- Cool the meringue in the oven. Just turn the oven off, crack the door open and let cool completely. About 4 hours, but overnight – or days – is fine too.
- Do not refrigerate finished pavlova, it needs to be stored in a dry place.
Instructions for Blackberry Lemon Curd Pavlova Nests
Take out your eggs from the fridge and separate the egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are still cold. One of these could be used to make the lemon curd if you don’t already have lemon curd, save the others for Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies, Wild Mushroom Ravioli or Chocolate Lava Cake. Let the egg whites rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 200C (392F). But we’ll reduce this to 100C (212F) immediately when we put the cake in. The higher initial temperature is to ensure a crispy topping to your pavlova. If you know your oven tend to be warmer than normal, you can pre-heat to 180C (356F) instead. Add parchment to a baking tray.
In a clean metal or glass bowl, whisk your egg whites on medium high speed. Add in the white wine vinegar. Mix sugar, cornstarch and vanilla bean sugar together before slowly adding it to the egg whites. Beat for 10-15 minutes. I needed about 14 minutes for it to become glossy and stiff peaks form (check if the meringue holds its shape when you turn your beater upside down).
Pour the meringue into a piping bag with a large round tip. If you don’t have this you can also snip the tip off of a plastic bag, or even just form them with a knife or spoon. On the parchment covered baking tray, with the piping bag (or other) begin in the center of each nest and make a circular pattern around and then continue the circle on the edges to form walls to the nest.
Reduce the temperature in the oven to 100C (212 F)
Reduce the temperature in the oven to 100C (212F). Place the baking tray at the bottom rack of the oven and bake for around 80 minutes. You want it to be crispy on the outside, not browned, gooey on the inside, and they will easily let got of the parchment paper. This will obviously not be easy when you aren’t supposed to get them out of the oven before they are cool.
What I do is I check if I can visibly see any wet parts, if I do, I just continue to bake. If I see it begins to brown I turn the oven off. Once you think they are done, crack the oven door open, turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature inside the oven. It will take around 4 hours to overnight. They can also stay in the oven for days (side note: not always a good idea, I did this with some other pavlovas and I forgot them whenever I needed the oven and so I burned them – however they were still super delicious so I ate them, yum).
Luscious Lemon Curd
Pavlova nests are done! While they are baking and cooling you can make the lemon curd. You can also use store bought. Here’s my recipe for luscious lemon curd, it’s easier than you think! This recipe makes a lot of lemon curd, but you can use the leftovers in a pie or in a berry tart!
Easy Blackberry Syrup
Hello blackberry season! Blackberries are the last berries we can pick this year, and so they are even more important to harvest. I have a ton of blackberry recipes coming up, and you can also check out my earlier blackberry recipes. This blackberry lemon curd pavlova nests recipe does use blackberry syrup (click the link for recipe) which is super simple and done in around 10 minutes. You can also use frozen blackberries if you can’t find fresh.
Time to Assemble the Pavlova Nests
We have our pavlova nests, cooled lemon curd and blackberry syrup. Snuggle one tbsp of lemon curd into each nest, or more depending on the size of the nest. Drizzle with 1 tbsp blackberry syrup (can be warm if you wish), cover with fresh blackberries, lemon verbena or mint and powdered sugar.
I had lemon verbena in my garden and didn’t really know what to use it for. I tried it on these blackberry lemon curd pavlova nests, and I actually think it was super delicious, not only for garnish. However, I have never seen it in the store before, so I completely understand if you don’t have this. Mint will be delicious too.
These blackberry lemon curd pavlova nests are so pretty and perfect in every element! I deeply hope you will enjoy this. Do not decorate more than will be eaten at that time, as the meringue will begin to soak up the liquid and will not stay crispy anymore. However, it is super quick to assemble, just keep your lemon curd and blackberry syrup in the fridge and these pavlova nests could be made for days and days!
Excuses for Your Leftovers After These Pavlova Nests
- Easy Homemade Luscious Lemon Curd – also needs 1 egg yolk, bonus!
- Dreamy Creamy Vanilla Pastry Cream – uses 4 egg yolks
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies – uses 1 egg yolk, perfect after this!
- Wild Mushroom Ravioli – needs 6 egg yolks, so at least you got a head start
- Chocolate Lava Cake – uses 1 egg yolk, and you can pour the blackberry syrup on top
- Blackberry and Lemon Cream Cheese Crepes
- Red Currant and Lemon Curd Brûlèe Tart – another use for your lemon curd and you can exchange the red currants for delicious blackberries and blackberry syrup!
Let me know in the comment section below if you have any comments, or tag me @thegingerwithspice on Instagram. And don’t forget to Pin it for later!
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Blackberry Lemon Curd Pavlova Nests
Ingredients
Pavlova Nests
- 4 egg whites 180 g / 6.3 oz
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp caster sugar 170 g / 6 oz
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla bean sugar optional
Assembly
- 6 tbsp lemon curd store bought or see recipe in link below
- 6 tbsp blackberry syrup see recipe in link below
- 6 handfuls fresh blackberries or other berries
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting
- lemon verbena or mint for tasty garnish
Instructions
Pavlova Nests
- See notes below: Take notice of the tips for making meringue in the notes below. Take out your eggs from the fridge and separate the egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are still cold. Let the egg whites rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat to 200C (392F): Preheat your oven to 200C (392F). But we'll reduce this to 100C (212F) immediately when we put the cake in. The higher initial temperature is to ensure a crispy topping to your pavlova. If you know your oven tend to be warmer than normal, you can pre-heat to 180C (356F) instead. Add parchment to a baking tray.
- Whip meringue: In a clean metal or glass bowl, whisk your egg whites on medium high speed. Add in the white wine vinegar. Mix sugar, cornstarch and vanilla bean sugar together before slowly adding it to the egg whites. Beat for 10-15 minutes. I needed about 14 minutes for it to become glossy and stiff peaks form (check if the meringue holds its shape when you turn your beater upside down).
- Form pavlova nests: Pour the meringue into piping bags with a large round tip. If you don't have this you can also snip the tip off of a plastic bag, or even just form them with a knife or spoon. On the parchment covered baking tray, with the piping bag (or other) begin in the center of each nest and make a circular pattern around and then continue the circle on the edges to form walls to the nest.
- REDUCE temperature to 100C (212F): Reduce the temperature in the oven to 100C (212F). Place the baking tray at the bottom rack of the oven and bake for around 80 minutes.*
- Cool in the oven: Once you think they are done, crack the oven door open, turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature inside the oven. It will take around 4 hours to overnight.
Assembly
- Meanwhile, get your lemon curd and blackberry syrup straight. You can use lemon curd from the store or you can follow my recipe from link in notes**
- Blackberry Syrup is super easy and takes around 10 minutes to make. You can find my recipe from link in notes***
- Snuggle one tbsp of lemon curd into each nest, or more depending on the size of the nest. Drizzle with blackberry syrup (can be warm if you wish), cover with fresh blackberries, lemon verbena or mint and powdered sugar.
- Assemble only what you eat now to ensure crisp pavlova nests. Keep lemon curd and blackberry syrup in the fridge and meringue in a dry place and assemble when needed.
Notes
- Use old, room temperature egg whites (30 minutes ish). This makes it easier to fluff!
- Everything needs to be fat free. Clean your bowl, preferably one in metal or glass, and make sure you don't get any yolk in the egg white, or fingers...
- Don't rush the beating process - the slower you add in the sugar, the better it will incorporate.
- Beat until glossy stiff peaks. This means you can hold your mixer and the meringue will reasonably hold its shape. If you tilt your bowl, the meringue will not slide out.
- Bake in low temperature for a longer period of time. This makes it easier not to brown the meringue.
- Cool the meringue in the oven. Just turn the oven off, crack the door open and let cool completely. About 4 hours, but overnight - or days - is fine too.
- Do not refrigerate finished pavlova, it needs to be stored in a dry place.
- Whenever you add liquid to your meringue (like this lemon curd), it will start to sog and crispness will disappear in a short amount of time. If you can, wait with the assembly until right before dessert time!
Looks delicious! Great idea, I’ll try to make these in this week for sure! 🙂
Thank you so much!
This looks super duper yummy! I love the special tips you provided too, really very helpful. I will give these a go at some point 🙂
We just need to keep a few things in mind for a successful pavlova, you know, and I don’t want anyone to fail! Thank you dear!
This looks so good. The blackberry and lemon curd is a great combo to put on a crunchy meringue.
Yes it was super delicious. Thank you so much!
I have never tried to make this kind of dessert but it looks so delicious and so easy to make. I will definitely try this on this weekends for my family.
Thank you, Diana. Hope you enjoy your weekend, filled with delicious blackberries 🙂
This recipe sounds and looks delicious , I can only imagine how sweet and yummy it tastes, thanks for sharing!
~xo Sheree
poshclassymom.com
Thank you so much!
I have never heard of this, let alone tasted it! It looks delicious and seems not too difficult to make!
It really isn’t that difficult as long as you keep in mind the tips I provided. And it was so delicious and very easy to assemble!
This looks amazing, too good to eat! I had pavlova for the first time back in July and absolutely loved it!
Pavlova is a staple in Norwegian desserts, we always eat it for Norway’s national day, weddings, other ceremonies etc. This is a little different however, but I am absolutely digging it. Hope you get to eat more pavlova in the future. Thank you so much!
That is stunning! My Australian friends used to bring Pavlova to all our parties. So yummy!
It really is very popular here in Norway too, we always bring them to parties, weddings etc. It is so easy and delicious. Thank you so much!
This looks soooo good. I need to try making one of these someday, I’ve been watching a lot of Great British Bakeoff and now I want to try all the things!
So now you are ready to take the spatula in your own hand! I love shows like that. Thank you so much, Angie!
Yum…reading this makes me so hungry for pavlova. I can’t believe they are actually not to difficult to make. They look so fragile so I’ve never thought of even trying to make them. With this simple to follow recipe, I have no excuse! Absolutely divine!
They are a little fragile, but with a few simple steps they will turn out amazing! Thank you so much, Rosemary! I hope you give them a try once.
Pavlova is a favourite dessert in our home and yours looks superb! Individual ones make for such fun presentation as they remain intact at serving, enhancing the dining experience. Beautiful post and useful tips on meringue.
Thank you so much! In Norway we usually serve it as a large cake, but I’ve found that I like these individual ones better as they have more crunch in each ‘slice’!
These pavlova nests are really beautiful. I love the combination of blackberry and lemon curd. Divine!
Thank you so much!
I adore lemon curd. The tartness pairs so well with the berries. They compliment each other to perfection.
Yes, I agree. Lemon curd with berries is a very tasty combination.
I just want to eat this desert right now ! It looks so good. Great job.
I want one too now! Thank you so much
There were a couple of red flags with this recipe, most notably the pre-heat temp and the baking time. Against my better judgement I jumped in anyway. Within 15 min my pavlovas has taken on a off brown color. After 45 min I finally gave up and threw them away. That’s an hour and a half + of my life I’ll never get back :-/
Hello Kevin. I’m so sorry you had this experience. Are you sure you read the temperatures correctly? It is first 392 fahrenheit before you put the cake in. This is to ensure a crispy topping. And immediately after you put the cake into the oven, you reduce the temperature to 212 fahrenheit. I’ve made pavlova this way many many times, and it turns out – as you can see in the pictures – not browned at all. There may be differences to our ovens. I have two fairly new ones that may go up and down in temperature more quickly than older ovens. I’ve also done my research now to find similar recipes and many recipes use this way of baking the pavlova. A higher temperature before you bake it, and then reduce immediately when putting the cake in. Thank you for letting me know, so I could add clearer instructions into the recipe.
I love pavlovas! I wanted to try an alternative pavlova recipe than what I usually make, that’s why I tried this one with blackberries a few days ago. It was so good, melt in the mouth good! ?
Thank you so much, Eli. Glad you liked it!
I love individual desserts – these are so cute, they’d be perfect at a dinner party. Look forward to trying them!
Thank you so much. I hope you’ll like them. 🙂
YUM! My mouth was watering from the first sentence! I love lemon flavored desserts and this sounds and looks phenomenal.
Thank you so much, dear Chelsea!
That looks like a colorful and delicious desert!
Thank you so much!
Your photos are wonderful, and this dessert looks so tasty! I think I may have to give it a go for my next at home date night with my husband! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much, Perri! I think that sounds like a wonderul plan, just remember that the pavlova should be made in the morning or the day before to cool down for a minimum of 4 hours. 🙂
This is so gorgeous I almost wouldn’t want to eat it! But really, I want to eat like 10 of them! I LOVE to bake and I am adding this to my list of future baking! Thanks so much for sharing. Beautiful post!
Thank you so much, Brianna! Happy baking!
Even the name itself is really interesting! Those nests look super cool too. I’d love to try something like this one day!
Thank you so much, Carolyn!
Wow! This takes some of my favorite things and combines them all into one delicious…snack? Meal? Potentially complex, your instructions do a great job at making the process pretty clear.
Thank you so much, my dear friend! I want to make it possible for everyone to make good food so hopefully it helps. Have a great weekend!
I was looking for a dessert recipe for Memorial Day weekend and I think I’ve found the perfect one! Gotta try it out this weekend!
Yess, this is perfect for Memorial Day! Thank you so much, Kasey Ma!
Oh wow. I love pavlovas but I am scared to try making my own at home. I will try your recipe and follow the procedure to the letter. Hopefully I will have some success! Your photos made me drool! What a delicious looking dessert!
Thank you so much, Annemarie and I’m so glad it made you want to make it! If you follow the instructions to the letter I’m sure you’ll do fine. I recommend a kitchen scale to be sure the ratios are perfect. I’d love to see your creation!
oh my goodness. this recipe is fascinating, i’ve never heard of pavlova nests! exactly how much cooking skill do i need to pull this off…
Thank you, Amanda! I would say anyone could pull this off as long as you follow all the instructions clearly. It isn’t a difficult thing to make, but there are certain things to be aware of (I’m thinking about the ‘Tips on How to Make Meringue’ paragraph). And I would definitely read through the recipe before beginning anything, to make a clear picture in my head of the process. Best of luck, I’m sure you’ll nail it!
I’ve not really tried my hand at this sort of cooking but these look so tasty! Huge fan of Blackberries 🙂
Me too, blackberries are fantastic. Thank you!
Oh my. You made me go into a drool fest looking at your pavlova photos. Yummy! I am totally trying this on the weekend!
Haha thank you so much, dear friend. Enjoy your weekend!