Easier than you think, and a great holiday dessert to get everyone involved building it together! This Pavlova Christmas Tree is a lot more straightforward to make than it looks! I’ve gifted it in ready-to-assemble form to several friends and they put the components together with no problems at all!
Pavlova Christmas Tree
And so it has landed here on my own website, a week after being featured on the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine: The Pavlova Christmas Tree!! The recipe was first published in the Sunday Life magazine as well as the Good Food Australia website to which I contribute recipes each month. But I was very adamant that I absolutely had to feature the Pavlova Christmas Tree on my website too! Not only because it’s so fabulous, but also because I think it’s a recipe worth explaining in full details, step by step, to ensure success.
Easier than you think!
If you’ve made pavlova in the past, there is nothing daunting about this recipe whatsoever. It’s just a pavlova constructed in a different way. But if you’re wondering how on earth it can be stable enough to stand so tall at 40cm/16″ high, knowing how fragile traditional Pavlovas are, it’s because the Pavlova Rounds used in this Christmas Tree format are so much smaller and therefore more sturdy. But if it does collapse??? It can be salvaged! Scroll down to see my salvaged version – a true story of a disaster averted from a gathering last weekend!
Overview – Pavlova Christmas Tree
Here’s an overview of how this is made:
1. Draw 7 x Pavlova Round guides
The first step is to draw templates on baking/parchment paper as guides for piping the Pavlova Rounds to the required sizes, shapes and position on the trays: Just go on a hunt around your house to find circular objects. I use an assortment of things including a small plate, bowl, small cake rings, scone cutters, and egg rings. Here are the sizes you need – give or take 1 cm / 2/5″ or so: Draw these on two sheets of paper, to be baked on 2 trays, distributed as follows:
Tray 1 (3 rounds): 15cm, 12cm, 6.5cm (6″, 4.8″, 2.5″) diameter roundsTray 2 (4 rounds): 10cm, 8.5cm, 5cm, 4cm (4″, 3.5″, 2″, 1.7″) diameter rounds
Using a pen or pencil, trace around your objects to draw the guide circles onto 2 sheets of baking / parchment paper, as per above. Make sure you can see the lines through the paper looking through the other side. Then flip the paper upside down on the baking tray so the pen/pencil markings can’t contact the Pav, otherwise it may stain it.
2. Separate eggs
Use any technique that works for you to separate the eggs. I pass the yolk back and forth between shells so the white slides out. If you’re not confident using this technique, just crack the eggs into your hand and let the whites slip through your fingers. Easy!
3. Make meringue mixture
Making the meringue mixture for the pavlova is nice and easy. Just beat, beat, beat!!! (Oh, and make sure your bowl and whisk are clean and dry. Meringue hates grease and water!)
4. Pipe Pavlova Rounds
A piping bag will make your life a lot easier to spread the meringue mixture into the required rounds, but you could easily just spoon and spread, like I do for traditional Pavlovas. The Pavlova Rounds are 2cm / 4/5″ thick. I like to add a decorative edge to make it look pretty but this is entirely optional!
5. Bake & cool
Dozer played a pivotal role in this step…. But don’t worry, you don’t actually need a Pav-sitter!!😂 The two essential steps for cooking a Pavlova are:
Use a low temperature so the Pavlova stays a pretty white colour; andFully cool the Pavlova in the closed oven for at least 3 hours so it completely dries out on the outside. Sometimes I even leave it in overnight! (PS Excellent storage option)
The Pavlova Rounds should be sturdy enough to do THIS:
6. Construction time! EASIER than you think
Don’t stress, HAVE FUN! This is MUCH easier to construct than you think, and it’s more stable than you’d expect. I have gifted the components disassembled to a handful of friends and they all put it together with no problems at all. I’ve also got tips below for how to fix it if it does start leaning, and how to salvage if it does actually collapse. And yes, I have even had one collapse on me but saved it! (Pro tip: Do not run past a pavlova tree frantically searching for garnishes if your house has bouncy wooden flooring that sends shockwaves in all directions 😂) Worst case scenario? You end up with an Eton Mess on your hands instead. It’s a real dish that is essentially a collapsed Pavlova, and I’m going to tell you how to make it look gorgeous!
What you need for construction
To build the Pavlova Christmas Tree, here is what you need:
Whipped cream – Lightly sweetened with sugar and flavoured with vanilla, ie. Chantilly cream;Strawberries “Pillars” – A word I made up for strawberry slices that are used on each layer to help support the next Pavlova Round on top of it;Chopped strawberries – Just a small scattering on each layer, mainly so when you cut through the middle, it’s not just all white cream;Raspberry or Strawberry Coulis – For a fabulous splash of colour and some tartness in between each layer. (PS “Coulis” is just a fancy word for blitzed raspberries. It’s dead easy);Fresh raspberries – For decorating and propping up adjustments at the end!Rosemary sprigs – A nice green garnish to evoke Christmas Trees;Icing sugar / powdered sugar – Our “snow”!Bamboo Skewer – A hidden “trunk” inside for extra support. A long 30cm / 12″ one is ideal if you can find one, otherwise just use multiple shorter ones.
How to build the Pavlova Christmas Tree
And here’s how to do it! Other than starting with cream and the Strawberry Pillars on each layer, it really doesn’t matter what order in which you then do the diced strawberries / coulis / 2nd layer of cream. You’ll see me switch it up as I construct in the recipe video.
7. Decorating! (And levelling)
This final step of prettying up the Pavlova Christmas Tree is also a chance to make levelling adjustments to ensure we don’t have a toppled tree!
Pretty it up! Stud raspberries and rosemary sprigs around the Christmas Tree – not too many, just enough to make it look pretty. Remember, less is more with this Christmas Dessert, and we want to get it to the table sooner rather than later! Levelling – This is also the chance to walk around the Pav to check how level each layer is, and use raspberries to prop up parts that are not level. Just stuff the raspberries in gently, just on the edges. But don’t get cocky and try to lift an entire Pavlova Round! Just do the edges!Star! This is just a Christmas tree decoration I swiped, then sticky taped a toothpick on the back. Kudos to you if you make an edible star!Dust with “snow”! Well, icing sugar. 😂 Don’t underestimate the power of a little icing sugar! It makes it so pretty.
Biggest advice: Stop fiddling to make it perfect. This is a pav. It is SUPPOSED to be fabulously rustic!
Moving the Pavlova Christmas Tree
I recommend constructing the Pavlova Christmas Tree either where you plan to serve it (if you can handle all eyes on you while you build it!) or at least nearby. While it is stable enough to move, the less you have to move it the better, just to eliminate the risk of a freak accident like tripping over nothing and doing a face plant in your hard work!! If it starts leaning, get a helper to hold the sliding layers straight while you prop it up with raspberries – they are the best because chopped strawberries are wet and slippery. If it partially topples but the Pavlova Rounds remain in tact, use spatulas to right the collapsed layer then stuff raspberries under it to make it level again. Hide the “mess” with a pile of raspberries/strawberries, sprigs of rosemary and lots of icing sugar. You see the pile of raspberries on the bottom right in the photo below? That’s exactly what I did!
If you get TOTAL COLLAPSE – Don’t cry! Don’t be embarrassed! Chin up: You just made an Eton Mess instead, that’s all! It is a real dish and there are high end patisseries in Sydney that charge a small fortune for them. They are a rustic jumbled layer of Pavlova chunks, cream and berries which is EXACTLY what you’ve made (albeit unintentionally 😂)! Just gather it up in a pile, wipe the plate clean, pile on berries and rosemary, dust with LOTS of icing sugar and proudly take it to the table. Remember: It will still taste just as amazing!!!
Get someone to be a spotter when you carry it, just to stabilise it if it does start swaying. It’s also best to construct it inside where it is cooler. Pavlovas don’t like heat – they sweat and the crust cracks, and there is nothing inside to keep them from collapsing. Also, hot temperatures melt cream which might make the layers start to slide!
How to serve the Pavlova Christmas Tree
“Serve” is a loose term!!! The idea here is that nominated lucky people will slide the top layers off the skewer and get a whole piece to themselves. But before you start fretting about the likelihood of Pavlova Wars breaking out at your family Christmas gathering as everyone vies for the coveted top layers, let me remind you that the bottom layers have a higher ratio of the all-important marshmallow insides, more cream, more coulis – just more of all the good stuff! And then really, the only question is – to share or not to share? You could be civil and spoon out individual portions, everyone to get their own bowls. Of, if you’re a really close knit family, you could just all grab a fork a dig in… Now THIS is a sign of a dessert that was enjoyed!!! And so there you have it. The Pavlova Christmas Tree. Easier than you think … Prepare the Pav ahead … Work together to build it. Then stand back and admire the beauty that is the grandest of all Pavlovas to grace your Christmas table!!! – Nagi x PS. As if I haven’t said it over enough, this is dessert is easier than it looks! And even with a doomsday scenario of full-collapse, the outcome is salvageable – by presenting it as an Eton Mess!
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
Some size context for you – Dozer is a VERY big dog!!!
