1. Instructions

Pavlova Cake

1. 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 (overnight is also fine). Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Add parchment paper to a baking tray.
2. In a clean metal or glass bowl, whisk your egg whites on medium high speed. Once it's hard foam, add in the white wine vinegar or lemon juice. 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).
3. Using a spatula, just add the meringue to the parchment covered baking tray. Form your desired cake size with the meringue. You can add it all to make a thick cake (then it needs more bake time), or you can leave a little and make a slightly thinner cake. For this pavlova recipe I made a 9 inch round cake + 4 mini pavlovas.
4. Reduce the temperature in the oven to 212°F (100°C). Place the baking tray at the bottom rack of the oven and bake for around 90 minutes.***
5. Once it's done, you can slide the pavlova still on its parchment onto a cooling rack to cool completely (or it can stay in the the oven with the heat turned off and the door cracked open).

Vanilla Pastry Cream

1. Cut open the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Pour the milk, 1/3 of the heavy cream and half of the sugar into a saucepan, along with the vanilla bean and seeds. Heat up to the point of boiling, constantly stirring.
2. In another bowl, whisk together 1/3 of the heavy cream, egg yolks, cornstarch and the rest of the sugar.
3. Cool the milk mixture a little bit before slowly pouring it into the egg mixture while constantly whisking.
4. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, make sure you bring with you the vanilla seeds. Heat the mixture back up, until it is thickening. Remember to stir.
5. Place the saucepan into a tub of cold water. Add in 1 t teaspoon rum essence if you want rum pastry cream (optional).
6. Take the last 1/3 of the heavy cream and whip it. Remove the vanilla bean. Once the vanilla custard is cold, fold in the whipped cream. 

Assembly

1. Place your pavlova cake on to a cake stand. Dollop as much vanilla pastry as you want on top, spread it evenly on top. I like to leave the edges of the cake clean, to make sure it stays crispy.
2. And then add as much berries as your heart desires! You can add whatever berries you like, but go for at least one sweet and one tart, and it will be just perfect! I used strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.
3. Sprinkle with a few mint leaves and you can even dust with a little powdered sugar on top.