Blueberries and lemons were made for each other, and I am always thinking of new ways to combine them when baking. I had some leftover blueberry icing from this divine Blueberry Layer Cake and decided to transform it into a new dish.
In my opinion, this light and fruity dessert is the perfect recipe for summer, featuring lashings of fresh blueberry cream cheese and lemon curd on top of a crunchy meringue base. A final scattering of blueberries and lemon zest is all they need for decoration and you can prepare all the elements earlier and assemble on the day.
I used my fool-proof pavlova recipe to pipe mini meringue “nests” so that the toppings would have something to sit in, but you can of course easily turn this into one giant pavlova.
I think my favourite part of this dish has to be the blueberry frosting – the colour is incredible and the tartness of the fresh blueberries and cream cheese contrasts perfectly with the sweet and crunchy meringue bases.
I was running short on time and ended up using some leftover lemon curd that I had bought from the supermarket, but you can make your own using this recipe.
Ingredients
Mini Pavlovas
- 4 egg whites room temp
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 3 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 1 tsp white vinegar
Fresh Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 150 g blueberries
- 1½ tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 60 g butter room temperature
- 1½ cups icing sugar
- 225 g cream cheese softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
To assemble
- 1/2 cup store-bought lemon curd
- Blueberries to decorate
- Lemon zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
Mini Pavlovas
- Preheat oven to 150°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
- Gradually add the sugar, beating well until the mixture is glossy and the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the cornflour and vinegar and fold through.
- Transfer mixture to piping bag with a nozzle attached and pipe round nest shapes around 10cm in diameter onto the parchment paper.
- Place in the oven, reduce the heat to 120°C and cook for 20 minutes.
- Then turn the oven off and allow the meringues to completely cool in the oven.
Fresh Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Combine the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir the mixture until the sauce thickens and the cornstarch becomes translucent (around 10 minutes.)
- Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Once cooled, I blitzed my mixture in the food processor to remove any big blueberry chunks.
- Cream the butter and icing sugar together until well mixed.
- Add the cream cheese in cubes slowly until incorporated. Add in vanilla extract and continue mixing for 5 minutes until the icing is light and fluffy.
- Gradually add the blueberry sauce and gently fold into the cream cheese frosting.
To assemble
- Top each pavlova with a teaspoon of lemon curd and then dollop the blueberry icing on top.
- Decorate with blueberries and lemon zest.
Fortunately blueberries are in season in Australia from July-April every year, but if you want to bake this during an off-peak time, then frozen blueberries will work just as well in the blueberry frosting (but make sure you defrost them first). Instead of the fresh blueberry topping I would suggest making a berry compote to drip over the top.
What’s your favourite way to use blueberry and lemon in baking?
3 Comments
Aaaarg they look so weeny and cute! I can imagine these on top of a high tea platter. I am in love with that blueberry frosting too x
They would be perfect on a high tea platter! Sooo cute x
The vibrant colours and look of these is amazing. I love a pav but topping them with cream and fruit is pretty boring now I seen this idea.