Pavlova birthday cake

[lollipoprainbow]

Instead of a birthday cake, I'm thinking of a pavlova for my dd 10 birthday this year lots of fruit cream sparkly glitter. I've been quoted £40 for a two tier one. Is this too expensive ?!

That is a lovely idea.
However, you could make it yourself for probably less than ten pounds.
So, yes, that is very expensive.

That does seem pretty expensive, they are very easy to make. Does it have a lot of fancy piped meringue on it or is it just like a dessert pavlova?

Also generally with pavlovas you have to assemble them last minute, otherwise the cream and fruit make the meringue go soggy. So not sure what a bought, pre-assembled one would be like.

@NannyR she asked if I wanted piped but I quite like the messy look!!

That’s bonkers when you could DIY it for a quarter of the price, and homemade birthday cakes are always nicer anyway.

I suppose I could make one myself but I'm a hopeless baker ! I've seen smallish meringue bases in supermarkets but not the Size I was thinking. Also I'll have a lot to do on the day of her birthday and time is short so not sure I'd have the time to make one. Has anyone managed to find the large meringue bases anywhere ??

Buy a supermarket frozen one, defrost, heap with fruit and cream and spray with edible glitter and stick some cake flags or summat on. Will look as good and taste as good and cost much, much less.

@stuntbubbles what if you can't bake ??

@heldinadream great idea!!

I used to make these on a fairly regular basis (in the thankfully long gone days when we used to have dinner parties).

Honestly not at all difficult! But I’d advise an electric whisk for the egg whites, otherwise it’s hard work.
You really don’t need a lot of skill at all to make them look impressive - the cream and fruit do the job for you.
They’re invariably very popular - at least that’s been my experience.

Sparklers would look amazing in it too, rather than candles.

Pavlovas barely count as baking! Do the meringue the night before and leave it in the oven (turned off) til needed. Whip cream. Splodge everything together. Spray with glitter. Stick candles in. Aside from the meringue it’s just assembly, and meringues are just two ingredients and whisking, and very forgiving in something like a pav – unless you’ve attempting, like, meringue swans.

Although if you really want the glittery decadent look – and a 10yo would – can you buy some of those giant pink swirl meringues artisan Instagrammy bakeries sell, and assemble it as a sort of croquembouche with meringues instead of choux buns.

@stuntbubbles I think I'll have a go myself and buy the meringues I've seen in Waitrose and assemble myself, I've got a crappy oven at the moment. What could possibly go wrong !!!

Tbh I personally would prefer a cake if I was 10.

Tesco sell a frozen one for 2 quid or so, which you can pimp with further cream etc.

Everyone saying this is very expensive, after the person making this has bought the ingredients and paid herself the hours for doing it she will be barely making anything off it! Berries etc are expensive. Seriously break it down and actually think about it, very roughly, £5 for berries, £2 for cream, £3 for the glitter etc, £1.50 for the eggs and sugar?, maybe £1/2 for a presentation box, the cost of electric to cook it plus minimum wage is £9.50 per hour! It would take at least 1.5 hours of the persons time especially if you include shipping for ingredients. Yes, you could make one yourself for cheaper and it isn't too difficult so if you can't afford/don't want to pay £40 then that's your decision but I don't think you can say it's too expensive.

I used to bake celebration cakes where people wanted me to spend hours on end perfecting characters etc to put on the top and pay £30 for it!! Hence my passion on the subject 😂 but a pavlova is fairy simple to make, maybe have a dry run at it first? I'm sure it will be lovely whatever you decide to do 😊.