Lemon Pavlova

We are big fans of lemon in this house, so I am always looking for little twists to include it in our meals. While we all love the flavour of lemon meringue pie, my daughter does not like the wet meringue that tops it. I was looking at my recipes and thought that the lemon curd from my lemon cheesecake (double the amount) would be good with the baked meringue from pavlova, basically turning lemon meringue pie upside down – exchanging the crust (which I didn’t miss) with whipped cream (universally liked in our house). Are you still with me? Three layers: meringue, lemon curd, whipped cream. Oh boy.

My recipe and instructions for the meringue and whipped cream parts of the pavlova can be found in my strawberry pavlova post. (no point reinventing the wheel). I doubled the amount of curd I made in the cheesecake link above, so I am posting the revised amounts below.

Lemon Curd

juice from 5 lemons
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
14 cup butter, cut into pieces

Whisk the lemon juice, sugar, and eggs until thoroughly combined and most of the sugar has dissolved. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, until the curd is steaming (but not boiling) and thickened.

Take the curd off the heat, add the butter, and stir until the butter has melted. Pour the curd through the strainer to get rid of any lumps. Refrigerate.

A bowl of citrus sunshine

Cooled meringue

Instead of filling the meringue with whipped cream, fill it with the cooled lemon curd. Then top with whipped cream.

The result is a bright, tart lemon flavour, smoothed by the sweetness of the meringue and the creamy topping. You could pipe the whipped cream on top for a fancier presentation.