I made Mary Berry's 'spectacular' 15-minute strawberry pavlova recipe in 3 simple steps

Before the summer weather decides to leave us, I wanted to try my hand at Mary Berry's "spectacular" strawberry pavlova recipe. Although the recipe claims to be "easy", I had never made a meringue before, so I was a little sceptical about how this would turn out. However, having made a fair few Mary Berry bakes in the past, like her classic Victoria sponge cake and lemon drizzle traybake, her recipes have never failed me.

After giving it a try, this meringue-based dessert turned out pretty amazing. I found that Mary Berry's version is forgiving if you follow a few small but critical rules. Most meringue recipes will tell you to just beat egg whites and sugar and hope for the best. But Mary's got that extra bit of wisdom: slow sugar additions and a long, low bake. I didn't realise how much the texture depends on patience.

Her ratios give you a meringue that's crisp on the outside, with a marshmallow-like centre. Not sticky, not crumbly-just right for topping with cream and fruit.

To make the meringue for the pavlova, the prep time was no more than fifteen minutes.

The longest part was waiting for the meringue to bake, cool down in the oven and set in the fridge, which took two and a half hours in total.

In Mary's recipe, she just adds strawberries to the top, but opted for raspberries to give a slightly sharp taste to the sweet meringue.

I love that this recipe called for ingredients that I already had to hand, all except double cream.

Ingredients

• Four large egg whites
• 225g of caster sugar
• Two level teaspoons of cornflour
• Two teaspoons of white wine vinegar
• 300ml of double cream
• Strawberries, halved
• Raspberries

Method

I started by preheating my oven to 140C Fan before laying a sheet of non-stick baking parchment on a baking tray and marking a nine-inch circle on it.

The first step was to make the meringue mixture. To do so, I added the egg whites to a large bowl and whisked until stiff and cloud-like. This took around six minutes.

After, I added the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time, whisking well after each addition, until all the sugar was added. I then blended the cornflour and vinegar and whisked them into the meringue mixture.

The next step was to spread the meringue out to cover the circle on the non-stick baking parchment, building up the sides so they are higher than the middle. This took a while for me to get right.

With that done, I placed it in the oven but immediately reduced the temperature to 130C Fan. I left it baking for about one hour until firm to the touch and a pale beige colour.

I then turned the oven off and allowed the pavlova to become quite cold while still in the oven. Keeping the oven door closed for this time encourages a more marshmallowy meringue.

The final step was to remove the cold pavlova from the baking tray and slide it onto a serving plate before topping with the whipped cream, strawberries and raspberries, then chill in the fridge for one hour before serving.