Shamrock Pavlova
A Shamrock Pavlova is a green tea and rose meringue topped with a ginger, lime, rose and white chocolate mousse.
Is that really what’s in that photo?
Um … no.
I just went ahead and made this … thing … without much thought or … um …
What’s in the photo is a tasty mess.
It’s actually a very tasty mess. So I wished I’d been a bit more careful making it.
So I’m posting a recipe that I think would work. Because I do want to make this properly the next time I try.
Am I just copying someone else’s recipe?
No. This is completely all my own.
Admittedly what I did, didn’t quite work out. So I’m going to use two recipes that do work. And just add bits to them.
Look, it’s what St Patrick’s is all about. You start off with the best intentions. Well, you don’t have much intention. You’re just following along. And then it gets kinda messy. But, you know, it’s still good. And then you’re not sure if it is that good really. But you resolve to do it better the next time. Next time you’ll have a plan. And stick to it.
St Patrick’s. A feast of excess at a time of restriction and deprivation.
Is that really what St Patrick’s is about?
Um. I don’t know. A lot’s changed over the last year. So … let’s go with yes.
Oh, you want links to the proper recipes do you? – Yeah, that’s wise, in fairness.
- Green tea meringue recipe – I reduced the amount of green tea to 1 teaspoon because it’s strong stuff. Very nice meringue though.
- White chocolate mousse recipe – I’ve made this before with mascarpone instead of cream cheese and it’s gorgeous!
In case you’re wondering where I went wrong. I added the egg yolks into the mousse, they had a bit of egg white with them. I also used whipping cream. And I didn’t add enough cream cheese.
It did taste great though…
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 135g caster sugar
- Pinch coarse salt
- 1.5 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon green matcha
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- 1 teaspoon rosewater
- 120ml double cream cream
- 110g white chocolate buttons
- 110g mascarpone cheese
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- 1 lime, zest and juice
- 1/2 teaspoon rose water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 2 pieces of stem ginger in syrup, grated
- 2 tablespoon of stem ginger syrup
- dried rose petals
- lime zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 140 degrees. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
- Sift the green tea and matcha powder together so that they are well blended.
- Place the egg whites in a large bowl. Whisk until they form peaks. Add in the caster sugar and whisk until they are glossy and form stiff peaks. Whisk in the vinegar. Next whisk in the cornflour. Whisk in the rosewater. Whisk in the salt. Now, with a spatula fold in the green tea and icing sugar mix.
- If you want your shamrock to actually resemble a shamrock you will need to use a pastry bag with fittings to pipe it on the baking paper correctly. Note to self: buy pastry bag with fittings. Nicely arrange the meringue on the baking paper as you see fit. Bake for about 1 hour. The base will be crunchy on the outside but chewy on the inside. Leave to cool completely.
- Add the double cream to a deep bowl. Whisk until it just starts to thicken. Add in the lime juice, zest and rose water. Whisk until it starts to form peaks. The lime juice will make the cream thicken faster so be careful not to over-beat the cream.
- Melt the white chocolate buttons in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each go. It took mine about 90 seconds for them to melt.
- Add mascarpone to a bowl and beat in the icing sugar.
- Beat in the white chocolate, vanilla bean paste, grated ginger and syrup until well combined.
- Fold in the cream into the mascarpone.
- Fill the meringue base with the mousse filling.
- Chill for a couple of hours for the cream filling to set.
- When ready serve with a sprinkling of edible flowers, if you have them, and/or some lime zest. Enjoy!
