Transformed From Cinders in a Shopping Bag to the Belle of the Ball...

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Some people have more natural talent for a particular thing in one little finger, than most of us could hope to ever to have or learn in a lifetime.

My Uncle and cake decoration definitely fall into this category. … and I mean the talent bit, not the hope to learn bit.

I am a detail fanatic and I could very happily spend hours perfecting a drawing or an embroidery piece but this talent doesn’t appear to be in any way shape or form transferable, at least not to any of my home-made cake decoration efforts so far.

My Uncle on the other hand. has the hand, the eye and the vision of the finished product down to a level that even some professionals can only dream of.

He does these for a hobby and lucky indeed is anyone who gets a Birthday cake from him as he’s a genius with piped icings, flowers and basically all things fondant and icing bag.

Himself and I had been visiting before Christmas to drop off the fresh peas we had shelled and since we were also invited for dinner we took around a shop-bought pavlova towards dessert too. It ended up not being used that night because they had made other delights especially for us, so I told them to put it in the cupboard for another day.

When we left that plain Pavlova on their kitchen bench in it’s protective plastic supermarket box I had no clue that when we would see it next that it would have undergone a transformation akin to the proverbial Cinders in rags one moment and the stunning Belle of the ball the next.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Photogenic doesn’t even start to do it justice does it?

This is what I’m going to call “Artiste Culinaire” … Pure stunning, amazing,  stop-you-in-your-tracks Artistry. This is New Zealand’s national dessert at it’s most stunning.

I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how many photographs I took of this.

(sigh) Even now, posting the photos, long after dinner, I starting to think of how many eggs we might have in the fridge and how we may need a Pav on our menu very soon.

Worse still, I’m even having that thought having made a Pavlova only last Saturday for guests.

Actually the second-hand Kitchen Aid that I scored for a song after a chance remark to a lady who’s family was transferring back to the USA last year, did most of the work for me and I was delighted to not have to stand for ages on one leg in the kitchen with my little hand-held electric beater…

…but I had tried a new recipe last Saturday and whilst it wasn’t a flop at all, it was a perfectly smooth fluffy Pav.

Yes I know Pavlova is supposed  to be fluffy, but I like the fuffy ones that have the addition of the chewy caramel bits just around the inside edges and last Saturday’s recipe didn’t give me that at all.

Any Pavlova aficionados amongst you will know exactly  what I mean.

So.. I’m on the hunt for the perfect Pavlova recipe… and since my bargain of the year Kitchen Aid machine makes it so easy I may even give a new recipe a go this week. Kiwi Daughter has expressed an interest at having a go at making one of these on her own too… so maybe I’ll just hand her a recipe, take step-by-step photos of the process and critique the result.

We have plenty of friends who will be only too glad to help taste-test and to take part in the review process too… in the meantime we can all enjoy the amazing talent of my Uncle and dream that we could produce anything remotely like this.

Well, maybe YOU might be able to, but me? ….Ha!  I’ll be seriously realistic…  Dream On Kiwidutch!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)