Coconut Cream Easter Pavlova

This Easter dessert is light, fresh and the whole family will love it. The pavlova is made with egg whites, is gluten free and is a make ahead dessert. It has a chewy crispy texture on the outside and a soft and marshmallowy centre. It’s then filled with coconut cream, fresh whipped cream and topped with mini chocolate eggs!

How adorable is this Easter Dessert? This is a simple vanilla pavlova shaped into mini baskets filled with homemade coconut cream, dolloped with whipping cream and topped with chocolate eggs!!

If you’re looking to make something a little different this year for Easter, then this is the recipe for you (and it’s gluten free)! It’s not just a pretty cake either, it’s absolutely hands down delicious! I don’t know about you but I just love desserts like this, so light and simple; perfect to end an Easter feast!

Everyone loved the idea of adding coconut cream to the pavlova, especially my Dad!! He loves, I mean loves coconut cream, especially when the recipe used here was his Mom’s (my Babcha). He literally loaded up the pavlova with so much coconut cream that you could barely see the pavlova at all (and he licked the plate clean, and had second helpings!). I guess that’s the nice thing about this dessert, once you cut the individual pavlova baskets you can have your guests add more of the toppings if they’d like. The recipe makes extra coconut cream and whipping cream. I also bought lots of chocolate eggs so I set up a few pretty bowls with the extras, and served the Pavlova with the option of adding more (I loaded mine up with cream because I can never get enough of fresh whipped cream).

Pavlovas are also great because you can make them well in advance, meaning you can get your desserts out of the way and focus on cooking your Easter meal, saving you time and stress! You can actually make your coconut cream in advance too, making this the perfect ‘make ahead’ dessert!

The down side to pavlovas is the shelf life once the baskets are filled. The moisture from the coconut cream and whipping cream end up seeping into the crisp pavlova making a soggy mess. Some people like the mush the next day, but I’m not one of them. The good news is the actual pavlova (unfilled) will last about a month!  So if you know you aren’t going to finish all of the baskets,  only fill the ones you want to eat and save the other baskets for another day. This dessert is best for a large crowd! If you don’t plan on having a large crowd for Easter then just make individual baskets (not touching) and you can serve the pavlovas separate, saving the other baskets.

I hope you like this Easter Coconut Cream Pavlova as much as we did!

Hoppy Hoppy Easter Friends 🙂

Coconut Cream Easter Pavlova

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

This Easter dessert is light, fresh and the whole family will love it. The pavlova is made with egg whites, is gluten free and is a make ahead dessert. It has a chewy crispy texture on the outside and a soft and marshmallowy centre. The pavlova should be made at least one day before but can be made days earlier.

• Author: Alie Romano
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hours
• Total Time: 2 hours 30 mins
• Yield: 12 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: Australian
• Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Pavlova

• 4 egg whites at room temperature (keep yolks for coconut cream recipe)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup instant sugar
• 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Coconut Cream

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups full milk, at room temperature
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1 cup whipping cream,
• 40–50 mini chocolate eggs (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 235˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, draw an 8″ circle in the middle of the parchment paper and then flip the paper over so the ink won’t transfer to your baking (you should still be able to see the ink through the parchment paper. You can use an 8″ round cake pan as a stencil). Set aside.
2. In a large bowl add your egg whites, cornstarch, and vinegar. Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer beat on medium high speed until frothy and double in size.
3. With the mixer still running, slowly (I mean slowly) add your instant sugar, raise the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.
4. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add your icing sugar, raise the speed back to high and beat until stiff and shiny.
5. Add your vanilla to combine.
6. Transfer your mixture to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Using the circle stencil on your baking sheet as a guide, start piping basket-like circles on the line. Make sure the circles attach to each other, creating one large circle. You should have about 10-12 baskets depending on the size of baskets you pipe (Mine were approximately 2 inches). If you have any extra mixture in your piping bag, use the extra space on the baking sheet and pipe individual baskets.
7. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 2 hours. Do not open the oven and check on them! Once baked, turn off the oven and leave them in the oven to come to room temperature.
8. Meanwhile make your coconut cream.
9. In a large saucepan mix sugar, cornstarch and salt until combined. Whisk milk into dry ingredients on medium heat. Slowly heat mixture until warm, do not boil!
10. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks. Add 1/2 cup of your warm milk mixture to the eggs and mix well. Now transfer the yolk mixture to the saucepan and whisk, this is to ensure you won’t cook the eggs. Bring to a boil, whisking consistently. Once the mixture has come to a boil, lower heat and mix for another 60 seconds or until the mixture is a pudding like consistency. Careful not to burn the mixture.
11. Remove from heat and add butter, vanilla and coconut. Stir to combine.
12. Place your coconut cream in a glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; pressing the plastic on top of the coconut cream creating a seal, so no air can get through. Refrigerate for approx. 2 hours or when ready to use.
13. Once you are ready to assemble your dessert, pull your coconut cream out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
14. Whip whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup of whipping cream to your coconut cream and fold into mixture. Save the rest of the whipping cream for topping your baskets.
15. Fill each basket with coconut cream, a dollop of whipping cream and a few chocolate eggs.
16. Serve within 1 hour.

Notes

When separating your egg whites, keep your egg yolks and set aside for your coconut cream.
I got my chocolate eggs at the bulk barn, you can also find them at any variety or grocery store at this time of year.
Store your unfilled pavlova in a dry, dark place (cover with tin foil).

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 Basket w/o Chocolate Eggs
• Calories: 151
• Sugar: 19,2g
• Sodium: 98mg
• Fat: 6.2g
• Saturated Fat: 3.6g
• Unsaturated Fat: 0
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 20.8g
• Fiber: 0
• Protein: 3.8g
• Cholesterol: 70mg

Keywords: Pavlova, Coconut Cream, Gluten Free, Meringue, Easter

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