'The Marquis De Sade's Favourite Recipe'

 

Janet Frame's Pavlova Recipe:

Here is a recipe for something that is sometimes known as N.Z.’s national sweet. You are not a New Zealander, it seems, until you have a Pavlova cake, called a ‘Pav’. Shudder and horror of horrors.           

Here it is:

4 egg whites

salt

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

cup of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 teaspoons vinegar

1 dessertspoon cornflower

Add salt and cream of tartar to the egg whites and BEAT UNTIL STIFF. (The Marquis De Sade’s favourite recipe.)

Add sugar, a little at a time. Add vanilla and vinegar and fold in cornflower (beating all the time).

Then wet a large piece of greaseproof paper, place wet side down on oven tray. Pour mixture on paper. Put tray in oven at 350 degrees and turn off oven. Leave for 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove. Invert on plate and spread with whipped cream and fruit if liked, especially passion fruit.

 

That is a party dessert.

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(From a letter to Bill Brown, August 1970)




Photograph of a passionfruit pavlova from:

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/classic-passion-fruit-pavlova/12535/