After baking the pavlova, let it cool and cut it in half. A moist liquid-like substance appears inside. (It does not leak out) Is this not ripe?
I baked it for 90 minutes at 120 degrees and cooled it in the oven for about 2 hours before cutting it.
1 Answer
It sounds like your meringue is "weeping". This happens when the egg white proteins contract too much during cooking, squeezing liquid out.
Overcooking meringue leads to weeping. Using a small amount of starch in the meringue can help. So can pre-cooking the meringue by using hot sugar syrup (so-called "Italian meringue", which I think is unusual for a pavlova but I could be wrong).
Ultimately, though, it's really hard to reliably prevent weeping, and it does not indicate that the meringue is undercooked, unsafe, or un-delicious. Unless you can't stand to look at it, don't worry about it.
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Thank you for answer I'm already using a small amount of starch. As per your advice, I will try making it using hot sugar syrup.– JayCommented May 25, 2023 at 8:50
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@Jay I've developed a pavlova recipe using Italian meringue, it makes it much more stable and even relatively resistant to travel and humidity. But you need to use half of the sugar to make a syrup at 115-120°C (240-250°F), and fold in the remaining sugar and starch. Otherwise it won't develop a proper crust. I also preheat the oven to 120°C, then reduce it to 95°C when I put the pavlova in and bake 75 minutes (the meringue is already partially cooked)... lets to crust dehydrate and is less likely to overcook the meringue. Commented May 25, 2023 at 13:38