Orange and Mulled Shiraz Pavlova Wreath

ORANGE AND MULLED SHIRAZ PAVLOVA WREATH

Serves 16

Prep: 30 minutes

Cook: 2 hours 15 minutes, plus cooling

8 egg whites

400 g caster sugar

MULLED SHIRAZ SYRUP

120 g caster sugar

100 ml shiraz (or other full-bodied red wine)

1 cinnamon stick, or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 star anise

finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange

TOPPING

600 ml pure cream (or thickened cream)

2 tablespoons caster sugar

3 oranges, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds

handful cherries (fresh or from a jar)

handful crushed pistachios

Preheat the oven to 140°C (120°C fan-forced). Lightly grease a large baking tray. Tear off a large sheet of baking paper and place it on your work surface. Using a pencil, draw around a large dinner plate to create a roughly 27 cm circle. Then, draw a smaller circle (about 8 cm) in the centre to form a ring or wreath shape. Divide the ring into 8 equal sections, like a pizza. Inside each section, draw the largest circle that will fit, making sure the edges of all the circles touch, keeping the centre circle empty. This will serve as your guide for creating the meringue wreath. Flip the paper over (so that you can still see the pencil marks, but they won’t touch the meringue) and place it onto the prepared tray.

Place the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks and have increased in volume – almost doubled. Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Keep beating until the meringue is thick and glossy – when you spoon it, it should not fall off easily.

Spoon the meringue onto the prepared baking paper, one spoonful at a time onto each circle in the wreath (use another spoon to scrape the meringue off the first spoon if needed). Pile the meringue high in the circles, rather than smoothing it out and going over the lines. Make sure all the circles are touching to form the wreath shape. Once you’ve spooned all of the meringue on, use the back of a spoon to smooth out the tops, making a divot in each of the 8 mounds, so that the whipped cream has somewhere to sit later. Bake for 2 hours, until dry and ever so slightly golden in colour. Turn off the oven. Leave the meringue on the tray to cool for at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight.

To make the mulled shiraz syrup, place the sugar and wine into a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cinnamon, star anise and orange zest and juice, and simmer for 15 minutes so the flavours can infuse. Remove from the heat, carefully remove the spices and set aside to cool.

For the topping, place the cream and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer or handheld whisk until it holds soft peaks. Carefully transfer the cooled meringue to a large serving plate. Dollop the cream onto each of the 8 mounds, then lay on the orange slices and cherries. Pour the mulled shiraz syrup into a jug, then drizzle over the pavlova generously. Sprinkle with the crushed pistachios and slice each mound in half as one portion.