Low Fat Chocolate Pavlova With Strawberries & Cream

Total Time: 57 mins Preparation Time: 23 mins Cook Time: 34 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 4 egg whites, about 1/2 cup, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 pints strawberries, thinly sliced lengthwise, about 3 cups, divided
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange liqueur or 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 4 fluid ounces light non-dairy whipped topping (1/2 an 8 oz container, about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
• 1 whole strawberry, to garnish (optional)

Recipe

• 1 meringue shell: preheat oven to 350 degrees. line baking sheet with
• 2 parchment paper. trace 10" circle onto paper; invert onto baking sheet.
• 3 sift together cocoa, confectioners' sugar and cornstarch; reserve. in bowl
• 4 with mixer at high speed beat egg whites until frothy. add cream of tartar
• 5 and salt; beat until soft peaks form.
• 6 beat in superfine sugar, 2 tbsp at a time, until sugar is completely dissolved,
• 7 5-6 minutes. beat in vanilla until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 1 minute.
• 8 gradually sift cocoa mixture over meringue while folding it inches do not over mix.
• 9 use gentle, circular motions to fold lighter ingredients into meringue.
• 10 with spatula spread meringue to 1/2" thickness within circle on parchment.
• 11 spoon large dollops of meringue around outer edge of circle to form sides.
• 12 bake 1 hour. turn oven off. let meringue stand in oven with door slightly ajar.
• 13 until dry, at least 4 hours or overnight.
• 14 filling: in bowl combine 1 cup sliced strawberries, sugar, liqueur and zest;
• 15 let stand 15 minutes. fold in topping. just before serving, spoon into meringue
• 16 shell; level with spatula. starting from center, arrange remaining sliced
• 17 berries in overlapping concentric circles over filling. transfer chocolate to.
• 18 plastic food storage bag with corner snipped; pipe over pavlova (instead of.
• 19 piping the chocolate over your pavlova, you can use a fork to gently drizzle it).
• 20 garnish with additional berry, if desired.