This delicious Pavlova With Dulce de Leche is made with walnut meringue, dulce de leche, whipped cream, and strawberries. Just like the famous Miami Dessert!
Amazing Pavlova With Dulce de Leche
If you’re from Miami, you’ve probably tried this scrumptious dessert from that famous bakery in Key Biscayne. I remember the first time I had a bite I was simply in love.
There’s so many flavors and textures going on in your mouth: the crunchy walnut meringue (the star of the show), the smooth deep flavored dulce de leche, the creamy whipped cream that balances out all the other flavors, and finally the fresh and tangy strawberries.
Every time my cousin Taly bought this Pavlova I kept telling her that I could recreate it, but of course, never got around to doing it until now.
2 weeks ago I did a survey on my Instagram page asking followers about their favorite dessert. This was the top pick. There was no excuse, I had to make it. The next picks will be posted soon 🙂
My husband helped me make it, the process is not difficult at all but I recommend making the meringue the day before so it has a chance to dry out in the oven overnight.
The next day is just basically adding the dulce de leche, whipped cream, and strawberries. So keep that in mind before you start baking.
Also, I recommend serving it within 24 hours of making the cake to ensure the freshness of the strawberries. You can, of course, add different types of fruit to suit your palate: berries, stone fruit, tropical fruit, etc.
When Carmelo, my husband posted the Pavlova on his Instagram feed, a lot of his followers said they like to substitute the dulce de leche for Nutella. You can do that too!
Allergic to nuts? Omit them. Don’t like walnuts? Use almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, cashews, or peanuts instead. This dessert is customizable to your liking.
It’s worth mentioning that this cake feeds 16 people. If you have a smaller family simply divide the recipe in 2.
The whipped cream in this recipe is less sweet than I normally make it, that is because I want the dulce de leche flavor to come through at first bite.
Below you will see step-by-step pictures of the Pavlova With Dulce de Leche:
First we whip our egg whites with some powdered sugar and vanilla until stiff and shiny.
We gently fold in our walnut pieces. I chose to leave them in different sizes to give them additional texture. It is important not to overmix because that would deflate our beautiful egg whites.
Pipe it into a rectangle. Mine is approximately 9×12″
Your meringue should have a 1/4″ to a 1/2″ thickness (approx)
We bake it a 215 F for 2 hours. After the period has passed, turn off the oven and leave the meringue to dry overnight.
The next day we add a layer of dulce de leche over the meringue.
Then a layer of whipped cream
And finally slices of strawberry. To get a pretty pattern start from the middle and work your way out.
See? No biggie!! Get baking!
I hope you can try this delicious Pavlova With Dulce de Leche at home. If you do, please upload a pic on Instagram and tag me @Livingsweetmoments or use the hashtag #LivingSweet.
Pavlova with Dulce de Leche
Ingredients
For Walnut Meringue
- 7 oz Egg Whites 6-7 large egg whites
- 10.5 oz Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 5.3 oz Walnuts finely chopped
For Whipped Cream
- 1 3/4 cup Whipping Cream
- 2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Assembly
- 13.4 oz Dulce de Leche
- 3 pints Strawberries sliced
Instructions
For Walnut Meringue
- Preheat oven to 215 Farenheit
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form
- Slowly add the powdered sugar and the vanilla
- Whip until egg whites are stiff and shiny
- Using a spatula, gently fold in the walnuts. Add them in 2-3 installments. Do not overmix or the egg whites will deflate
- Pipe the mixture into the parchment paper creating a 9x11 inch rectangle
- Smooth the mixture out and bake for 2 hours
- Turn the oven off and let the meringue dry overnight. Do not open the oven during this process
For Whipped Cream
- Using a mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form
- Slowly add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip to medium peaks
Assembly
- Spread the dulce de leche over the baked meringue
- Spread the whipped cream over the dulce de leche
- Starting from the middle, stand the strawberries slices on top of the whipped cream creating a flower pattern
Notes
Nutrition
You may also like:
Amazing Cherry Dacquoise Cake With Cream
Strawberry Charlotte Royale Cake
Dulce de Leche Roll
The taste was great but it was a disaster. It stuck to the parchment paper and was impossible to serve, super cheery too. Maybe you might want to adjust you recipe. Ruined my Easter dinner.
Oh I am sorry that happened Maria Teresa. I’ve never had a problem with the parchment paper sticking before. When you say cheery what do you mean?
I meant Chewy, sorry for the long time to reply. I really want to make it right this time. When you say dry it out in the oven overnight you meant leave it there with the oven off? Do you ever remove the parchment paper before assembly?
yes! leave them in the oven without opening the door so the residual heat will dry them out (make the meringue crunchy)
You can leave the parchment or use a silpad
Como tira o papel manteiga sem danificar, ele não gruda?
I peel it back carefully, you can also use a silpat instead of parchment
I think they meant chewy*
I make Pavlova quite often and in Miami the amount of humidity on the day you take it affects the meringue. It can be very chewy.
Depends on your kitchen. Same here in Miami and haven’t had a problem yet
This was delicious! I just couldn’t get the walnut meringue base quite right. The middle would always come out sticky and would break into pieces getting it off the parchment paper. And it would be chewy when eating. What am I doing wrong? I’m following the recipe above, using parchment paper on a baking liner, baking at 215 for 2 hours and leaving overnight in the oven, unopened, about 12 hours.
Hi Rachel yes, the meringue was not cooked enough, it may be that the temperature in your oven needs to be calibrated. If that’s the case try cooking them longer or a higher temperature. Try 245 for 2.15 hours
The taste was very good, but I had the same issue. The merengue stuck to parchment paper. Serving was almost impossible. But to your defense, you don’t wait until the day of to try a mew recipe that you may need to tweak.
Trying round two today..
Oh no! thanks for letting me know Pili. I might need to urge readers to use a silpad instead of parchment paper since many of you have had the same issues.
Hi !! I my whipped cream is always falling off the pavlova, idk what I’m doing wrong ? Do you have some tip for me ?
Hi Eliza, it may be your creamy is too runny. Underwhipped
Pavlova was perfect! I’ve been looking for this recipe for a long time. This was my first time doing it and everything went perfectly well. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this knowledge with us.
I highly recommend it!
Glad you liked the recipe Viviane! thanks for your feedback!
Hi Tiffany.
I made this Pavlova, your recipe, and it was a hit. Such a big hit that I have to make 5 for Valentines. But I have no clue how to even start. The meringue sticks at the parchment paper. Even after leaving it overnight in the oven. The second one I made it with wax paper and stuck very little. How do I get to make five merengue and keep them fresh til I dress them up Cannot leave them overnight in the oven. Help me please
Thank you
Ely
Hi Ely! meringue tends to catch humidity and go soft when you make it a few days in advance. Wrap it well in plastic paper
Thank you Tiffany.
I’ll let you know how it comes out.
Have a great Valentines
you as well!
Ely, how did they come out?
After leaving it in the oven overnight, what do I do with the meringue in the morning until I can tend to it in the evening? Do I just leave it in the oven? Do I put it in the fridge? Do I have to finish making it in the morning?
I can’t wait to make it!
yes! leave it overnight or for a couple of days in the oven. Think of it like a big cookie jar 🙂
Great recipe – it was delicious. I didn’t have an issue with the parchment paper, but what I am having issues with. is when I’m storing the leftovers in the fridge the Dulce Leche bleeds and oozes over the sides. in a watery texture. I made my own dulce leche by boiling a can of condensed milk so not sure if that is an issue or is it that it just doesn’t keep well in fridge ? It’s happened twice..I also dry the strawberries as best as i can.
I used regular sugar in recipe in case that matters.
I’ve never had a problem with dulce de leche oozing out, maybe when you make the dulce de leche from scratch is may need to be cooked longer so it becomes thicker
Great recipe and will make. My question is, when spreading the dulce de leche, do you soften it before spreading ove the meringue?
Hi Rosario, there’s no need to heat it up! it spreads nicely
Wow. I made the recipe and it came out amazing. I lessened the sugar a little and the end result was scrumptious
My whole family lioved it too 💕
The only thing is that now I will have to restrain myself from making it every weekend 🤣
From now on, I will make my own instead of buying it :😁😁😁. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
So glad you enjoyed the cake! thanks for your feedback
Hi, I just made the merengue base and put it in oven. I made another style Pavlova last week and had the same issue as some of the other bakers. The merengue stuck to the silk oat (which I used instead of parchment paper). I thought it was a little undercooked. This time Im using parchment paper and baking it a little longer. I do have a question though. Your instructions call for powdered sugar. I find it gives the merengue a little artificial taste. I’ve never used powered sugar when making merengue. Does that sound right? Or was I supposed to use granulated sugar? Thank you. Maria
Hi Maria! I used powdered sugar so avoid the meringue from becoming grainy. You can use granulated sugar if you’d like.
Is cream of tartar or vinegar not necessary?
Not really, but you can add it if you’d like
What in the world is this?? 😭 This is not Pavlova what are you americans doing to this recipe this should be a crime
Just give the recipe a chance it’s amazing!
To avoid the sticking disaster,I used non-stick aluminum foil and dusted it with a little corn starch. It came off very easily.
Thanks for the tip Norma 🙂
Like many others, I had issues with the walnut meringue base. The taste was great but it was definitely undercooked. I used aluminum, as suggested by another comment, and I was able to manage getting most of the meringue base off in one piece but it was veryyy sticky and chewy. I cooked at 215 Fahrenheit for 2 hours and let cool for 9 hours without opening the oven door. I bake quite a lot and my oven is calibrated just fine too.
I do want to give this recipe another try so I’ll definitely try cooking for a bit longer and maybe at a higher temperature! Besides that, the overall taste was good (hard to go wrong with dulce de leche, cream and strawberries lol) and similar to the famous Miami “pavlova.”
Oh Justin, I am so sorry that happened, meringue is so finicky sometimes that is hard to control all the variables (oven type, humidity, paper vs aluminum). Thanks for giving th recipe a second try, it’s worth it