Pavlova Tower

A little over-the-top for two, but still festive and delicious!  You can easily cut the recipe in half to make a simpler pavlova or even a smaller tower.  You can also turn it into Eton Mess if a cat jumps on your meringue!

*This is an easy recipe, but requires many steps, so it is fairly time-consuming - but still easy.  If it is a rainy or humid day, don't even try to make a meringue, unfortunately they turn into a gummy mess if it's humid!

Pavlova Tower

Ingredients

Meringues

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 4 tsp. white wine vinegar
• 8 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. fine salt

• Cheesecake Icing

• 4 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt

• Sweetened Whipped Cream

• 1 cup cream
• 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

• Berry Topping

• 2 lb. assorted frozen red berries (such as raspberries and strawberries, thawed); sweeten with 1/4-1/2 cup sugar, if necessary

Serves 10-12
​Time: 3 1/2 + hours

Meringues
Preheat oven to 225°. Whisk together the vinegar and the cornstarch to make a slurry. Beat the egg whites at medium-high speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer, using whisk attachment, 1 minute; add the salt and slurry, beating until blended. Add sugar, 2 Tbsp. at a time, beating until mixture is glossy, stiff peaks form, and sugar dissolves. (Do not over beat.)  Reserve 1 cup meringue.
Gently spread enough meringue onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to make a 10-inch round (about 1 to 1 1/2 inches high). I find this is easiest if I put the meringue into a zip-top bag, cut a large hold in the tip and pipe onto the parchment.  Repeat procedure twice on another parchment paper-lined baking sheet, making an 8-inch round and a 6-inch round. Make an indentation in center of each meringue to hold filling.

Spoon reserved 1 cup meringue into a large zip-top bag. Snip 1 corner of bag to make a small hole. Pipe meringue onto baking sheet next to 10-inch round to resemble a large chocolate "kiss".

Bake at 225° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until outsides have formed a crust. Turn oven off; let meringues stand in oven, with door closed, 2 to 10 hours.

Cheesecake Icing 
Beat softened butter and softened cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sour cream; beat until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and salt; beat until well blended. Use immediately, or chill up to 48 hours.

Sweetened Whipped Cream 
Whisk all ingredients at high speed until stiff peaks form.

Assembly
2 lb. assorted frozen red berries (such as raspberries and strawberries, thawed); sweeten with 1/4-1/2 cup sugar, if necessary

Place 10-inch meringue on a serving plate. Fill indentation with roughly a third each of the icing, whipped cream, and berries. Top with 8" meringue layer, then about a third of the cheesecake icing, whipped cream, and berries.  Top with 6" meringue and top with remaining cheesecake icing, whipped cream, and berries.  Top with the meringue "kiss". 
Once assembled the pavlova should be eaten within an hour.