Pavlova buddies!

I made a pavlova today for all my friends in work, as a thank you for their lovely farewell gift. (I am leaving work you see) I had enough whites left over from all the patisserie cream, which was good and they were nice large eggs so it was a generous sized cake.
It went down well, so I reckoned i should put the recipe up, for you all to try it for yourselves! Technically this was not cooked with the kids, but seriously, it is a foolproof recipe, especially if you have a mixer.
I have no photos, i apologise but will add one the next time I bake a pavlova. This is my mother's recipe and I always have to call her for reassurance that I have the right quantities and oven temp! It's funny when a dish is linked to a person, it will always be theirs, and i always feel I need to make contact every time I make it. Although in this case it is because my mother is so good at it. I have yet to achieve the perfect form of a pavlova that she manages every time.
Maybe some day!

First, put 8 egg whites and a pinch of salt into a mixer, or into a bowl to be whisked with a hand held electric whisk, and beat for 4-5 minutes at least until in stiff peaks. Then add 250g of caster sugar gradually, a spoon at a time until the mixture is glossy and in stiff peaks. Turn off the mixer and add a further 250g of caster sugar and fold in.
You also need to fold in 1t of vanilla ext 1t of cornflour and 1t of white vinegar.
This addition is what stops the meringue from drying out and makes that marshmallow texture inside the pav.
When folding use a large metal spoon. Oh and by the way, the bowl you use must be spotless and grease free or the whites will not whip up properly.
(Also, I usually use golden caster for baking, but I use white caster for this to get the perfect white interior)

Thats it! Then dollop the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and form into a circle. Nice and deep. Although it rises in the oven, it collapses at the end in a heartbreaking manner. Don't despair, it will still be yummy. It will also crack and bits break off the side. Also stressful, but again, par for the course.

Allow 1 1/2 hours for baking at 140c and turn the oven off and leave it in the oven to cool. I didn't take it out until the next morning! It was just fine, albeit a little cracked like a drought-stricken landscape, but the whipped cream fixed that!
I whipped a whole 500ml of cream into a fairly thick whip, but not butter!
Then added 4, yes 4 punnets of raspberries.
This sounds extravagant and indeed it is. But there is no holding back when it comes to a pavlova, it is a diva of a dessert, it needs pampering.
It does serve up to 16 people depending on the lavishness of your portion sizes. But I reckon this one yielded about 12 very generous slices today.