Flat Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

Asked by Jean Gertrude. Answered on 9th September 2014

Full question

I made the Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova and there were squeals of joy from the kids! It tasted great but it was flat, i.e. it didn't have the nice fluffy meringue texture I was expecting. Any thoughts about why it sunk after cooling down?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova (from Nigella Summer and on the Nigella website) is a meringue mixture that has cocoa powder and chopped chocolate added to it. Once you start to introduce other ingredients to a meringue it will affect the texture and the texture of this meringue will tend to be more brownie-like and chewy, rather than a light marshmallow centre.

The meringue also has a tendancy to sink slightly as it cools and cracks will appear on the surface (you can see this from the photograph with the recipe) so this is quite normal. The flavour is however very good and this is one of the attractions of this pavlova.