Can I Make the Cappuccino Pavlova In An Air Fryer?

Our answer

Nigella's Cappuccino Pavlova (from NIGELLISSIMA) has a coffee-flavoured meringue base that is topped with frothy whipped crean and cocoa powder. The meringue is cooked in a moderate oven to give a crisp exterior and a marshmallowy interior. The main problem is likely to be that an air fryer is not big enough to accomodate the meringue, as it can be 18-20cm (7-8 inches) in diameter. In addition, if the meringue cools too quickly then it will crack.

An air fryer is, in essence, a high-powered fan oven and cooks items so that they are crisp on the outside. A pavlova meringue should cook quite well in this environment as long as the temperature is not too high. But you would probably need to make several adjustments to both temperature and time. Line the basket with baking parchment or a reusable liner and anchor the lining so that the corners or edges do not get blown into the meringue during cooking. We suspect that you would need to preheat the air fryer to 150c and then turn it down to 130c when you put the meringue in to cook. The cooking time may well be much quicker than a larger fan oven, so check the meringue after 20 minutes to see if how well it is cooking. You need to cook the meringue until there is a crisp surface and the base of the meringue is releasing from the parchment paper or liner. Cook for as long as necessary to achieve this, checking at regular intervals. Let the meringue cool completely in the air fryer. Slightly open the door or drawer of the air fryer during cooling, to make sure that condenation does not build up inside the air fryer as the meringue cools. Also note that it can be very difficult to cook meringues properly in wet or humid weather. And please note that as we have not tried making the Cappuccino Pavlova in an air fryer ourselves, we are unable to guarantee the results.