Fig & Blackberry Pav w/Rose Chantilly

If you’re wondering, blackberries, figs, rose, and cream have always been my favourite kind of sweetness, lush little things that feel like redamancy on a plate, love offered and returned.

This recipe is a soft tip of the hat to the very first thing I ever learned to make, the humble pavlova, and to the woman who stood beside me at the bench showing me how: my mum. Not to mention credit where it’s due: a little curtsy to the fabulous Margaret Fulton, whose pavlova wisdom sits somewhere behind this version. I’d never argue with Margaret.

I can still see it clearly. The slow, careful folding. The concentration of it. The moment she’d tip the bowl upside down and say, " Watch this, waiting for the whites to hold their shape. Stiff peaks, she called them.

For reasons I can’t quite explain, that phrase has stayed with me ever since.

Maybe because pavlova is one of those recipes that feels almost ceremonial the first time you make it. Sugar and air are transforming into something light and cloud-like. A crisp shell giving way to a soft centre.

This version leans into the flavours I love most: dark, jammy blackberries, ripe figs, the soft perfume of rose, and plenty of cream. Sweet things that feel lush and a little romantic.

Still, at its heart, it remains the same humble pav.