Pavlova's Experiment

When I saw my first Daring Bakers Challenge was for a Pavlova, the first thought that came to my mind was Pavlov's Dog. You know the theory right? Pavlov was a scientist who demonstrated conditional reflex by feeding his dog. He would always ring a bell before giving his dog food and so, as a result, every time the dog heard a bell it would start drooling like crazy. (See mom, all those years in college paid off!) Well, in actuality this recipe has nothing to do with Pavlov, but rather was coined from the description of the dessert being "as light as Pavlova" (a prominent Russian Ballerina at the time). I'll drool over it just the same!

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard. The full recipe printout can be found here.

The real bonus for me was that I have had homemade mascarpone cheese on my bucket list for a while, so this was the perfect opportunity to knock it out. Not only was it delicious, but it was also soooo much cheaper than buying it from the store! I followed this recipe, it's literally only 2 ingredients and super easy!

I have another deep dark secret to confess as well.....I've never really liked meringue. Granted, I had only had it on the top of pies and it was really the texture that bothered me, I just assumed all meringue would be same. I know, shame on me, I should know better!
I'll admit to being a bit nervous when I saw there was actually 4 recipes involved, so I decided to prepare it over 2 evenings, first making the meringue and creme anglaise and then the next day making the mousse and mascarpone cream. Truly though, the longest part was just waiting for the meringue to cook, but if you make single serving meringues like I did, then it takes half the time. I got 6 meringues total, each about 4 inches wide and an inch thick. I halved the recipes for the mousse and cream, and still had a lot leftover, no complaints though as that cream is super delicious! It tastes like creamy melted ice cream! : ) Note the mousse recipe doesn't have any sugar added but that is balanced out by the sugar in the Pav and cream. This would be very delicious with fresh raspberries or some candied oranges.

 So thank you Dawn for this eye opening challenge, I can't wait to see what's next!