Written by Amanda Ruben, founder of Melbourne’s Miss Ruben deli and café, Feasting: A New Take on Jewish Cooking also includes dishes such as carrot salad with miso tahini and Middle Eastern fruit salad with cashew cream.

In the introduction to this recipe, Ruben writes: “Bright, festive and bountiful, this chocolate swirl pavlova with its Middle Eastern flavours is a real show stopper. In winter we flavour the cream with orange blossom and top the pav with roasted pears and pistachios.”

Chocolate Swirl Pavlova with Rosewater Cream, Turkish Delight And Strawberries

Serves 10–12

Recipe and image extracted from Feasting, by Amanda Ruben, published by Hardie Grant, RRP $49.99.

Ingredients

9 egg whites
690g (3 cups) caster (superfine) sugar
1½ teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
2 tablespoons Dutch (unsweetened) cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon white vinegar
500ml (2 cups) thick (double/heavy) cream
1 tablespoon rosewater
750g strawberries, cut into thick slices and halves
15g Turkish delight, cut into 2cm pieces
Rose petals, to garnish (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut out a 30cm circle of baking paper and place it in the middle of a baking tray.

To make the pavlova, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. While the machine is still running, gradually add the sugar in four batches, beating well between each addition until the sugar has dissolved. This will take 10–15 minutes.

Fold in the cornflour, half the cocoa powder and the vinegar until well combined. Gently stir through the remaining cocoa powder to create a swirl effect.

Using a large spoon, scoop the meringue onto the baking paper circle until the baking paper is covered. Smooth the top of the meringue, making a slight dip in the centre.

Place the meringue in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120C. Bake for 2 hours, until crisp and dry. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue inside, with the door slightly ajar, to cool completely.

Whip the cream and rosewater together until thick.

Top the meringue base with the rosewater cream and decorate with the Turkish delight, strawberries and rose petals, if using.