Pavlova with soursop citrus curd

This showstopper dessert is made up of sweet meringue, vanilla chantilly cream, and bright tropical lemon curd topped off with fresh fruit; perfect for pretending it isn't cold and dark outside.

Meringue

• 5 egg whites

• 1 ½ cup granulated sugar

• ½ tsp cream of tartar

Soursop citrus curd

• 5 egg yolks

• ¾ cup sugar

• ½ cup lemon juice

• ½ cup orange juice

• Zest of 2 lemons

• Zest one large orange

• 2 tbsp butter

• ¼ tsp kosher salt

• 14 oz bag of soursop pulp

Chantilly cream

• ¾ pint heavy cream

• 3 tbsp icing sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla

• ¼ tsp salt

Fruit

Seasonal fruit is best, BUT I used:

• 1 star fruit

• ½ pomegranate

• 1 small container blackberries

Soursop is a tropical fruit with a creamy texture that tastes like a combination of strawberries and citrus (it is heavenly).

If you have leftover cranberry sauce from Christmas, swap that for the curd and use raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries for an amazing holiday pavlova– perfect for sad January days.

For the meringue:

Meringue is essentially a network of proteins from egg whites denatured by being whipped into a foam and stabilized with sugar. Acids such as cream of tartar help with this stabilization- allowing for a strong, light, and delicious treat. If there is ANY fat in either the egg whites or mixing utensils, the fat will coat the proteins and prevent them from trapping air bubbles and forming a meringue. This fat could be leftover oil in your mixer/attachment or small bits of egg yolk. Because of this, I like to wipe down my mixer bowl + whisk with a tiny amount of white vinegar, and separate my eggs very carefully, sometimes opting to separate the whites into a different container than my mixer and add them to the mixer after each separation to prevent contaminating all of the whites in the occasion of an egg yolk breaking.

Preheat oven to 245 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk the egg whites in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or by hand very ferociously.

Once foamy, add in cream of tartar. Mix until soft peaks start to form, and start adding in sugar one spoonful at a time, waiting 30 seconds in between each addition. Once all of the sugar is added, the meringue should be very thick, fluffy, and glossy (it should resemble marshmallow fluff.)

Put a small amount of meringue between your fingers and rub them to see if you feel any grains of sugar, if yes, keep mixing until fully dissolved.

Line two half-sheet trays with parchment paper, using small dollops of meringue in each corner to glue the paper down.

I like to use a piping bag to pipe an 8-inch diameter circle for the base meringue and use a spoon to artfully plop the meringue down, creating a crater in the center to hold fillings. I like to use the piping bag again to circle around the edge to gain some height. Use ¾ of the meringue for this.

If you don't have a piping bag– a spoon and knife/offset spatula work beautifully.

Repeat a smaller version of this with the remaining meringue on the second tray.

Place in the oven on the bottom two racks. DO NOT OPEN OVEN AGAIN.

Bake for 80-90 minutes, and then turn off the oven and let meringues cool in the oven. Do not open until fully cool. Opening the oven while still hot causes the meringues to crack and lose structural integrity.

Making the curd:

Rub the zest and sugar together with your fingers until the sugar is colorful and fragrant with citrus oil.

In a small sauce pot, add egg yolks, sugar, juice, and salt.

Whisk together and, turn on low heat and whisk constantly until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spatula. Add in soursop and continue cooking and whisking until the whisk leaves lines in the curd when mixed.

Place cubed butter in a medium-sized mixing bowl, with a sieve placed over top. Pour the curd through the sieve into the bowl with butter in order to remove any lumps and bits of zest.

If you wish for an extra smooth curd, you can blend the mixture with an immersion blender.

Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Making the chantilly:

Once the curd and meringue are done, it's time for chantilly.

Add in the cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or again, use your strong arms and a whisk. Whisk together until just past soft peaks.

Assembly:

Cut and wash your fruit, making sure they are dry to not dissolve the meringue.

Very carefully remove the meringue from the baking tray and place it on the serving dish. I like to pick up the parchment paper, peel it off in increments, and gently slide the meringue onto my serving dish– it is very fragile.

Spoon ¾ of the chantilly onto the top of the large meringue, then spoon on around ½ cup of the curd (or however much you want– you are in control here), then arrange however much fruit you want and do a small dollop of cream on top, place the smaller meringue over the dollop and repeat previous steps on top. I like to dust a little bit of powdered sugar for the aesthetics of it. I also sprinkle the smallest amount of flakey salt.

Toasted coconut shavings and chopped pistachios are also a nice topping.

Enjoy your tasty treat!