For dessert, Sydney and Joyce made a Pavlova Roll with Passion Fruit Cream for the the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors. This is a less guilt dessert as the Pavlova is made with egg whites only.

My first tasting of a pavlova was at Sweet William’s Dessert during one of the cake meet with Polly.

The Pavlova Roll with Passion Fruit Cream is delightfully light and fragrant. The passion fruit seeds give a surprising crunch to this light cake.

Passion fruit is native to South America and widely grown in India, New Zealand, the Carribbean, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, California, southern Florida, Hawaii, Australia, East Africa, Israel and South Africa. No wonder I saw a twinkle in Sydney’s eyes when he knew he is making this dessert. Sydney is borned in South Africa.

The passion fruit comes in yellow or dark purple at maturity. It has a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous edible seeds. It has a very fragrant aroma, almost like guava to me.

The purple varieties have traces of cynogenic glycosides in the skin, and hence are mildly poisonous. However, the thick, hard skin is hardly edible and if boiled to make jam, the cyanide molecules are destroyed at high temperatures.

Ingredients

Pavlova:

• 8 egg whites (about 1 cup)
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar (we substituted with cider vinegar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar

Filling:

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1/3 cup passion fruot (or pulp from 2 passion fruits)

Garnish:

• 1 mango, peeled and cut in matchsticks (or 1 cup sliced strawberries)

Please note that the whipping cream was left out in the photo above as it was kept cool in the refrigerator.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Slice open the passion fruit and scoop out the seeds and pulp into a small bowl.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites until light. Slowly add sugar and beat until whites are stiff and shiny. Beat in vinegar and vanilla. Fold in cornstarch.

Spread the meringue over a large 18 x 12 inch parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until puffy but somewhat firm. Let cool.

Dust top of meringue with icing sugar.

Run a knife around the edge to loosen and then invert the cake onto another piece of parchment paper.

For filling, in a bowl, whip cream with vanilla until light. Fold in passion fruit to taste.

Spread filling over pavlova base. Do not spread too much filling as the filling will overflow during rolling.

Roll up lengthwise. Refrigerate the roll to firm up.Slice the roll and place on serving plate, spiral side up. Garnish with fresh mango or strawberries. Joyce and Sydney, thank you for making this wonderful dessert.