I’m not afraid to say that i’m an ideas-woman. I have killer ideas. Ideas for TV shows, ideas for books, ideas for outfits, ideas for travel, mostly ideas for food. Perhaps I just have an overactive imagination? Anyway, with this gift also comes a curse. I’m not really what you would call a do-er. I never finish things. I rarely get things done. I see deadlines whoosh past me. Which is why, despite the best of intentions, when I heard about the Australian Pavlova Blog Hop on twitter (yes, i’m now a twit) deep down I knew I wasn’t going to make the deadline. But, im also not a quitter so when I made up my mind to make this Chocolate M&M Pav Sundae, even though it would end up being a week late, I knew I was going to get around to it.

Ok, so it isn’t the prettiest dessert but boy was it yummy!

There were lots of recipes floating around (including a particularly spacey Tardis Pav recipe by Mel from Crunchy Tiger) but I thought I would give a delicious looking chocolate pav recipe a crack. I didn’t want to do a traditional fruit pavlova, mostly because it was a bit same old same old and I wanted to do something different. But also a tiny bit because I hate passionfruit seeds and didnt want to do the chopped-fruit-with-passionfruit-pulp-on-top thing. Bah, who am I kidding, I just wanted an excuse to use…

THIS

Yes, that is 1.4 litres of Hershey’s chocolate sauce. Thank you Costco.

The other pretty big reason why I wanted to turn my pavlova into a sunday was mostly because of this:

I think that because I left it out overnight (and the outside had cracked) the marshmallowy inside disintegrated in the humidity into, well lets face it, quite a tasty pool of chocolate slush.

But all turned out well in the end and it was quite a theraputic process, cooking this baby.

And I got to use the new kitchenaid stand mixer! Yay!

The recipe called for the mixing in of some chopped up chocolate but I figured m&ms would but much more colourful and fun

Because of the extreme shadows in my oven I didn’t realise that my pav had collapsed until it the morning boo!

so then I whipped up some cream, stirred through the rind of two oranges and some Grand Marnier, poured some Hershey’s liquid gold over the top and had myself a delicious

Chocolate M&M Pav Sundae

as if you could resist a close up of that crispy, gooey, messy, creamy, orangey, chocolaty deliciousness

So, my lovelies, what is the coolest/craziest/best idea you’ve ever had?

I make this Pavlova in participation with the Sweet Adventures: Australian Blog Hop. You can find instructions on how to join by clicking on the link below.

Chocolate M&M Pavlova Recipe – adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1½ cups (330g) caster sugar
¼ cup (25g) cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
100g m&ms

Method

1.  Whip your egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form

2. Gradually add the sugar making sure that the sugar dissolves between additions

3. When the sugar is dissolved, fold in the sifted cocoa, vinegar and m&ms

4. Draw a 22cm circle on a sheet of baking paper and spoon the pavlova mix inside. Smooth the sides and top

5. Place the pavlova in an oven heated to 140 degrees celsius (fan forced) then immediately reduce the temperature to 100 degrees. Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until dry to the touch. Turn the oven off and cool the pavlova in the oven with the door ajar

Orange Cream Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup thickened cream

finely grated rind of 2 oranges

2 teaspoons Grand Marnier

Method

1. Whip your cream until soft peaks form

2. stir in the orange rind and grand marnier

Construction

1. Break of spoonfuls of your pavlova making sure to get a mix of crunchy outside and marhsmallowy inside

2. layer pieces of pavlova with dollops of orange cream

3. top with a slug of Hersheys Chocolate Topping and a few m&ms