This recipe is a real myth-buster. After years of making meringue by standing over an electric mixer, patiently (sometimes impatiently!) adding a tablespoon of sugar at a time to my egg whites, I finally came to the conclusion that you don’t have to do this. That’s right, everything you’ve been taught about meringue, you can throw out the window. All you need for this recipe is a good standmixer and you’ve got this made. Add your sugar and eggwhites to the bowl and let the mixer do the work for you.

Pavlova with lemon and raspberry cream and lemon balm

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 6-8

6 egg whites
1 ½ cups (330g) caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white vinegar
500g mascarpone
¼ cup pure icing sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g raspberries
¼ cup freeze-dried raspberries
Baby lemon balm leaves, to serve

Preheat oven to 110C. Grease a flat baking tray. Draw a 20cm circle on a sheet of baking paper and flip over and press onto the baking tray.

Place egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with a pinch of salt. Whisk on medium-high speed for 15 minutes until thick and glossy and the sugar has dissolved (test this by turning off the mixer, scooping out a teaspoon of meringue and rubbing it between your fingers, it should feel smooth and not grainy.) Gently fold through the cornflour and vinegar, then dollop mixture onto baking paper inside the circle, and use a palette knife to make beautiful peaks of meringue. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 90C and cook for a further 40 minutes until outside is crisp. Turn off the oven and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven (the gradual reduction in temperature will stop your meringue from cracking.) Leave in the oven for 6 hours or overnight, if you have time.

When ready to serve, transfer your pavlova to a serving plate. Whisk mascarpone and icing sugar together in a bowl. Fold in lemon zest and vanilla. Roughly crushed half of the raspberries and fold into cream, then dollop on top of pavlova. Scatter with remaining raspberries, freeze-dried raspberries and lemon balm leaves.