Stone fruit season is finally here and we’re kicking it off with a delicious Apricot Elderflower Pavlova. Beautiful, ripe apricots tossed in an elderflower syrup and served on a delightful pavlova. This dessert is light and refreshing, and absolutely perfect on a hot summer day.
Even though it’s been a relatively cool summer here thus far, we realize that’s not the case for everyone. Pavlova really is a perfect summer dessert, regardless of the weather. It’s so light and dreamy with a crunchy meringue exterior and fluffy marshmallow interior, topped with light and luscious whipped cream, and the ripest juiciest fruit the summer season has to offer.
If you’re looking for a dessert to share with family and friends, this is it! It won’t weigh you down after a big meal and honestly, who doesn’t like pavlova?! Plus, it’s baked at a low and slow temperature, cooled in the oven overnight and it’s served room temp the next day! Really and truly the best for entertaining.
For our variation, we chose to top our pavlova with apricots macerated in an elderflower liquor (St. Germain, one of our favourites). We also added lemon juice to keep them bright, and a bit of honey as needed to sweeten. Be sure to taste your fruit! You may not need much honey at all – we like to start with a teaspoon and go from there. The honey and the elderflower really picks up on the natural light and sweet floral notes of the apricot. We then accented them with some beautiful edible violas and fresh basil. The violas are totally not essential…they just look so pretty! And if you get someone who doesn’t like basil – just get them to pick it out
Finally, if caster sugar is not available in your area, simply give your sugar a quick whirl in the food processor for about a minute to make it a bit more finely textured. That’s what we do!
There you have it! The Apricot Elderflower Pavlova. Give it a try and let us know what you think, either here or on our Instagram or Facebook pages. Later Days!

Apricot Elderflower Pavlova
Ingredients
- 6 egg whites
- 1.5 cups caster sugar or regular sugar pulsed until fine in a food processor
- 1.5 tbsp white vinegar
- 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 1/4 elderflower liquor
- 2 tbsp fresh basil chiffonade into fine ribbons
- 1-3 tsp honey or more to taste
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 8 ripe apricots sliced into wedges
- edible violets & additional basil for serving if desired
Instructions
- To make the pavlova, preheat the oven to 225F. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in a large baking sheet, and draw two 6 inch circles onto the paper, leaving a few inches between the circles. Grease the large baking sheet with some butter, then place the parchment paper circle side down onto the baking sheet, pressing to adhere.
- Beat the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer or a stand mixer until soft peaks form. Then, gradually add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time until the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is glossy. Make sure to not over beat the meringue. Fold in the cornstarch and vinegar with a rubber spatula until well combined.
- Dollop half of the meringue in each circle you created. Smooth the sides upwards and try not to flatten the meringue and lose volume, but leave a small well in the center to hold the fruit and cream once cooked.
- Bake for about 1 hr 15 minutes, or until the meringue has hardened and dried. You should be able to lift the bottom of the meringue from the baking sheet. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue to cool in the oven with a spoon keeping the door slightly ajar overnight.
- The meringue has a tendency to stick to the parchment after cooling, so release it form the bottom with a thin metal spatula. Before serving, mix the sliced apricots with elderflower liquor, lemon juice, basil and 1 tsp honey. Taste and adjust amount of honey to taste, remembering that the pavlova is sweet. Whip the cream to soft peaks, and then pile in the center of the pavlovas, followed by the fruit mixture. Garnish with more basil and edible violets for serving, if desired.