Zombie Halloween Pavlova

When my family moved to Australia, one of the desserts I learned to make was a Pavlova. It may look like meringue but it's not. It has a crispy outer shell and inside is a marshmallow-like texture. It's a brilliant base for any toppings you can think of especially fresh fruits.

For Halloween, I've concocted a Zombie themed Pavlova. Basically, his head is the Pavlova and up top is his exposed chocolate blood and raspberry brains. To add a bit of height, I added in some white chocolate bones. This is pretty easy to make and a fun treat for kids this coming Halloween.

Pavlova

• 5 egg whites
• 250 g white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• Green food colour gel

Toppings:

Chocolate Whipped Cream

• 60 grams dark chocolate bar
• 300 ml heavy cream
• 2 Tablespoons sugar

• a punnet of Raspberries ( You can add more fruits like strawberries)
• 100 grams white chocolate bar
• writing icing: black, red, green, yellow

• Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius. (I'm using a convection oven)
• Whisk the egg whites. When it becomes frothy as shown in the 2nd image, add in 2 spoonfuls of sugar at a time while whisking to dissolve and incorporate the sugar well.
• When the mixture is stiff and glossy, fold in the vinegar using a spatula.
• Fold in the green food colour gel a drop at a time until the colour is your desired shade of green. (It took about 3 to 4 drops to get a pastel green colour with mine.)
• Fold in the cornstarch.
• Prepare a parchment covered oven tray and place the mixture on top. Shape it into a round mound and flatten the top part.
• Lower the temperature to 100 degrees celsius as soon as you place it in the oven. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes and leave it in the oven until it cools down to room temperature. You will notice as it bakes, it will expand a bit. Also, the top part cracked but it's fine since it going to be covered with toppings.

• Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler.
• On a parchment, take a spoonful and make a vertical line, then take another spoonful and add 2 round shapes on each end. Let this cool in the refrigerator until it hardens.
• Decorate the top part with red writing icing.

• In a sauce pan in moderate heat, place the sugar and half of the cream. When the sugar dissolves, place the cream in a bowl with the dark chocolate and stir until melted.
• When it is completely cooled down, add in the rest of the cream and whisk until it's thick and fluffy.

• Decorate the pavlova with writing icing. Pipe 2 yellow half arches for the eyeballs. Outline the eyes with black icing and place 2 dots for the pupils. Make another outline with green icing around the eyes and a horizontal line for the brow.
• Place the chocolate cream on top of the pavlova.
• Arrange the raspberries on top and the chocolate bones.
• Have a slice and enjoy your fruits of labor.