Why Do My Pavlovas Turn Brown When Baked?

Our answer

Nigella has many pavlova recipes, including the Lemon Pavlova, Rose And Pepper Pavlova With Passionfruit And Strawberries and Mini Pavlovas. In common with all pavlova recipes, the meringue is put into a preheated oven, the temperature is turned down and the meringue is left to cook. The oven temperatures for pavlovas are higher and the cooking time is shorter than for crisp meringues, as the aim is to make a meringue with an outside crust that will support the weight of the topping but still have a soft and marshmallowy centre.

The outside of a pavlova meringue may not be quite as brilliantly white as a crisp meringue because of the higher oven temperature but it should not be buff coloured or dark brown. If the meringue is taking on too much colour then the oven temperature is too high. Make sure that you are turning down the oven temperature immediately after putting the meringue in the oven. If you have a top element in your oven it may be worth seeing if this can be turned off or put the meringue on a lower shelf, as direct radiant heat from a top element could be causing the darker colour. If you have a fan oven then it may need to be turned down an extra 10c after the pavlova is put into the oven, as all ovens vary and some fan ovens can cook more quicky, even with a 20c temperature reduction.