There has been over 10 straight days of just, blissful sunshine here (which is quite rare for an unpredictably rainy Pacific Northwest city) and I often catch myself dreaming of the next picnic and all the picnic-perfect treats to bring along with me in a wicker basket. One of my favourite desserts all year round is a pavlova and these lemon pavlova parfait jars were inspired by the classic dessert. Parfaits can sometimes be boring, but to me, the key to making any parfait special is to add different layers of texture and flavours. In these jars are layers of vanilla sponge, sweet and tangy lemon curd, vanilla whipped cream, bouncy jelly, and crisp lavender meringue pieces. In my opinion, parfaits must be constructed in glass jars because you want to show off all the beautiful layers.
I worked with Williams Sonoma Canada to create these picnic parfaits. In the past, I’ve constructed parfaits in dessert glasses and mason jars, but when Williams Sonoma Canada sent these Weck Mold Jars over, I knew they had parfait written all over them. The wide-mouth tapered shape makes the jars easy to fill and eat from and the airtight seal means they stay fresher longer, even if you’re not eating them right away when you get to your picnic. These embroidered bee napkins are the perfect accompaniment to these bright, summery dessert jars.
This lemon pavlova parfait recipe is extremely flexible. If you don’t want to turn on the oven to make the vanilla sponge cake, store-bought cake or crumbled cookie pieces make great alternatives. If you don’t like jelly, you can easily omit it, but I think it adds great textural contrast and balance to the dessert. The lavender meringue kisses add a gentle, romantic touch to the dessert. The most important thing is to add flavours and texture that you personally love!
Lemon Pavlova Parfaits
Ingredients
Vanilla Sponge Cake
- 136 g (1/2 cup and 2 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 180 g (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk
- 60 g (1/4 cup) full-fat sour cream
Lemon Cream
- 150 ml (1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons) freshly squeezed lemon juice, approx. two large lemons
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 227 g (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1-inch cubes
Vanilla Whipped Cream
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Agar Agar Jelly Cubes
- 1 tsp powdered kanten (agar agar)
- 240 ml (1 cup) water
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Lavender Meringue Kisses
- 1 large egg white
- 50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp culinary grade lavender , ground (*you can add more or less depending on how strong you like the flavour!)
Instructions
Vanilla Sponge Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 1minute. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together milk and sour cream.
- With the mixer on low, add half of the dry ingredients and half of the wet ingredients. Allow batter to mix for 30 seconds before adding the remainder of the ingredients. Mix on low until not more dry ingredients can be seen.
- Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 22 – 25 minutes.
- Once cake has cooled, use a cookie cutter the same size as the body of the jar and cut out circles from the layer of cake. Using a serrated knife, cut the cake into two circles. Each parfait will have two layers of cake.
Lemon Cream
- In a large bowl, combine lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Transfer the bowl to the top of a pot of simmering water to create a double boiler.
- Continue whisking until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7– 10 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and while whisking, add in butter, a few cubes at a time. Whisk until all the butter has been added and the mixture is fully combined.Chill the lemon cream until ready to use.
- Transfer lemon cream into a piping bag to assemble the parfait. You can also use a spoon to layer the cream.
Vanilla Whipped Cream
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat heavy cream on high until medium peaks form, about 2 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk lightly to combine.
- Chill whipped cream until ready to use.
- Transfer cream into a piping bag to assemble the parfait. You can also use a spoon to layer the cream.
Agar Agar Jelly Cubes
- In a small pot over medium heat, combine kanten powder and water. Allow mixture to a boil and whisk to dissolve the kanten powder. Once the kanten powder has dissolved, add sugar and whisk to combine.
- Pour jelly mixture into a loaf pan (or any small pan) and allow it to set. Kanten or agar agar can set at room temperature, but you can speed up the process by transferring it to the refrigerator.
- Cut jelly into ½-inch cubes.
Lavender Meringue Kisses
- Preheat oven to 250F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine egg white and sugar. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water to create a double boiler. Whisk the mixture as it heats up to prevent the eggs from cooking. Whisk egg mixture 3 to 5 minutes or until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is smooth. Remove bowl.
- In the bowl of stand mixture with a whisk attachment, whisk mixture on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3 -5 minutes. Fold in ground lavender.
- Transfer meringue into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip. Pipe meringue kisses onto parchment paper-lined pan.
- Bake meringues for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off oven and let meringues stand in cooling oven 1 hour. Meringues can be made one day ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Assembly
- To assemble, place one cake round at the bottom of the jar. Add a layer of lemon cream, followed by a layer of whipped cream. Gently place second layer of cake and another layer of lemon cream. Add jelly cubes. Top with meringues and edible flowers to garnish.
![day two: sparkly matcha neapolitan shortbread cookies ✨
the instructions might seem confusing, but if you watch the video to see how the different flavour layers are stacked, it will make much more sense! these slice and bake cookies freeze extremely well so you can make the dough now and bake them off when you want to gift them. (makes 40-44)
vanilla dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
matcha dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tsp culinary matcha powder
1/4 tsp salt
strawberry dough
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g 6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg white
coarse sanding sugar
for the vanilla dough, combine butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. mix until smooth. add vanilla. add flour and salt and mix until no dry streaks remain. do the same for the matcha and strawberry doughs in separate bowls
place one portion of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a 5 x 9-inch rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. slide rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10 min until firm. repeat this step with the other portions of dough
remove the top piece of parchment from each slab and stack the strawberry, vanilla, and matcha dough layers. cut the slab down the middle the long way to form two 2.5 x 9-inch rectangles. with one half, carefully swap the order of the layers (example: if the first half of the dough is stacked svm, swap the second half so it’s msv. this will ensure that same flavour squares don’t stack on each other). stack the halves. press the layers gently to adhere them. return the stacked dough to the freezer for another 10min
[recipe cont’d in comments]
#christmasbaking #christmascookies #holidaybaking #holidaycookies #cookiedecorating](https://constellationinspiration.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Sara says
The flavours were really nice, and I was looking forward to this as a baking project; however I had a really hard time with the meringues. Every time I made them, the egg whites had a hard time beating into stiff peaks. I briefly thought that it could be that I’m slightly at elevation, but I’ve beaten egg whites for meringues many times before at this elevation and never had a problem. I ended up looking for another recipe that resembled yours, and found that some of your descriptions were not working for me. Specifically, I found that when combining the egg white and sugar in a double boiler, it doesn’t have to be on the double boiler long—just enough to warm the egg whites through, definitely not 3-5 minutes. Secondly, I found (per the other recipe) that beating the egg whites (once off the double boiler) can take quite a bit longer than the 3-5 minutes written in your recipe. I half wondered if that was a mistake given that both times were exactly the same?