Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Mini Raspberry Pavlovas

My fascination with little pastries continues here at Pink Piccadilly Pastries and today I bring you some delicious Mini Raspberry Pavlovas. They are similar to the French Bonbons I made recently, but are even better! They have a pound cake base in the form of a mini cupcake, topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream, topped with a meringue cookie disc, and finally finished with a drizzle of Raspberry Coulis, fresh raspberries and a sprinkling of powdered sugar!! Phew!! But seriously, they are not difficult! Really! You can do this! 

My success with my French Bonbons gave me courage to try this recipe, which appeared in Hello Magazine (see photo from magazine below.) Since their recipe doesn't tell you how to make the cakes or meringues or raspberry coulis etc, I had to pretty much come up with a new recipe myself.
The most difficult part of this recipe for me was making the raspberries stay put!! My raspberries were on the large side, and it was difficult placing three on top. I could have gone with one raspberry, but it wouldn't have looked as nice.


So now I'll show you how to make these yummy pastries!
The first thing I did (actually the night before) was bake the mini pound cakes. (photo above shows baked cakes) Not really knowing what I was doing, I decided to go easy on myself and use a box mix! I've never made a pound cake from a mix, but this really turned out perfect for the recipe I was doing. This is the mix I used......
First I placed mini cupcake papers in 2 mini muffins pans. Next I went right by the directions for the pound cake mixture, then used my mini cookie scoop to drop the mixture into the papers. (fill about 2/3 full)  Since the directions don't come with baking time for mini cupcakes, I guessed at the time and 14 minutes was just right.
While the pound cakes are baking, start making the meringue discs. The photo above shows the meringues after piping. Since they had a little tip on the top, I pushed those down using a damp finger. I used the same recipe/technique as I showed you in my French Bonbons post. And again, I used my ever so helpful template to help me pipe the discs. Just make sure to remove the template before baking. I have actually used my template for my last three posts! I placed a cooked pound cake on the template to get an idea how big the discs should be piped. When piping these, you want discs, not mounds. You need a flat surface to set your raspberries on.
Here are what the baked meringues look like. After you bake your pound cakes and meringues, let them cool completely while you make the raspberry coulis. And for this, I used Martha Stewart's recipe. Raspberry Coulis just sounds like something that's going to be difficult to make, but it's not! All you need are some raspberries and sugar!
Just cook the raspberries and sugar down until you have a nice syrupy mixture, let it cool, then strain it. (I meant to show you a photo of the syrup but forgot to take the picture!)
OK, you've got your cakes, meringues and coulis cooling (coulis cooling!), now you going to whip the cream! Using a chilled bowl with chilled beaters, beat one pint heavy cream and 1/3 cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks. Now we're going to begin to put the pastries together. First, fill a piping bag with some of the cream (use any type of plain round tip) and pipe a circle of the whipped cream on top of the pound cakes. (photo above)
Next, place a meringue disc on top of the whipped cream. 
Then drizzle a generous teaspoon of raspberry coulis on top of the meringue discs. This will help the raspberries stay put. Also, if you waited to drizzle the coulis after the raspberries were placed on top, the berries would be wet and your powdered sugar would melt.
Now you're going to top the meringue discs with three raspberries, (Hopefully small ones), then sprinkle some powdered sugar over the tops of the raspberries. How pretty are these?! They taste even better than they look!!
This isn't a very good photo, but you get the idea! Yum! They are like a wonderful little raspberry shortcake topped with a meringue cookie! My kids loved them! If you would like to try these, just click on the links for my meringue recipe and Martha's Raspberry Coulis recipe, and make the cakes using the directions on the box. If you have any questions, just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you! Hope you enjoyed! Have a great day!

I'm sharing my pastries with Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for Teatime Tuesday! I think these Raspberry Pavlovas would go lovely with a cup of tea, don't you?!

13 comments:

  1. Those look INCREDIBLE, you are a fantastic baker!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Mrs. Cozy!! You are so sweet!! I'll be by soon for a visit! xo Jina

      Delete
  2. Love your blog! It is so beautiful! I cant wait to try out some of the recipes on my own blog. Maybe you can take a look on it and if you like it pin it among your other sweet blogs on Pinterest? I follow you there as well.

    Happy Baking. Best regards from Oslo, Norway. Anne Brith www.villaperlesukker.no

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Anne! You have a beautiful blog and I'll be posting pictures to my Pinterest boards for sure! Thanks for following me!! xo Jina

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my, Jina, your little pastries are adorable and I can tell from your photos and instructions, they would be decadent. How delightful for a tea party! Thank you for sharing with Tea Time and have a beautiful day.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

    ReplyDelete
  5. Another delightful recipe, I love looking at all the pastries and cakes you make. Thank you for the template, I printed it off last week and know it will be helpful when I attempt my macarons.
    Judith

    ReplyDelete
  6. These look just wonderful they would be really nice for a party...they are so sweet....thank you for sharing with love Janice

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just perfect for a pink tea treat! I love rashberry and the berry flavors. These are absolutely so beautiful and appear so tempting. The photo of the pastrie on the rose china plate is lovely!

    Thanks, Pam

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMG .. This recipe is a must for me... Yummy... thanks for sharing and inspiring ...Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a lovely idea.. I love pavlova!! I´ll definitely save this recipe on my recipe index card..

    Greetings!
    Johlene

    http://flavoursandfrosting.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. wow these pavlovas look amazing! I'll try them, too!!!

    Greetings,
    Christina

    ReplyDelete
  11. OH wow! These are so beautiful! I can't wait to try them, definitely going to enjoy reading your lovely blog!

    Many blessings!
    ~ Marie

    ReplyDelete
  12. OMG!!! These mini pavlovas are spectacular. Perfect for tea time. I love your blog and your pinterest page. Amazing treats and ideas you share here. I am your newest follower. I hope you can follow back.

    Fondly,

    Janet
    rosemary-thyme.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete