Peach Melba pavlova with raspberry ripple ice cream

Serves 4

For the meringue

45g fresh egg whites
90g caster sugar
¼ vanilla pod, scraped
20ml hot water
1 splash white wine vinegar
½ tsp corn flour

For the topping

100g raspberries
1 ripe peach
20g caster sugar
Icing sugar to dust
150g good quality vanilla ice cream

Pre-heat the oven to 100ºC. Prepare a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spray or brush with a thin layer of vegetable oil.

Whisk the egg whites, sugar, vanilla and corn flour together (using an electric mixer or a hand mixer) until the mixture forms soft peaks. In a pan, slowly bring the water and vinegar to the boil and add to the egg white mix while still whisking. Continue to mix for a further 3 minutes until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Take the prepared baking trays and using a metal ring, pipe the mixture into the ring until it is ¾ full, dipping the ring in hot water each time to clean and prevent the mixture from sticking. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, remove and cool.  When cool, remove the individual Pavlovas from the greaseproof paper.

Place half of the raspberries and sugar in a pan with a little water and gently simmer until soft and syrupy in texture.  Pass the mixture through a strainer to sieve out the pips. When ready to serve, place the Pavlovas in the centre of the plate and load with a spoonful of the vanilla ice cream. Top with some of the remaining raspberries and slices of peach and finish with a generous drizzle of raspberry sauce. Finally, sprinkle with icing sugar.