The term pavlova came about when a Russian ballerina toured the Antipodes ( both Aus and NZ) 1926 and a meringue based dessert
was whipped up and named in her honor,
however such meringue type based desserts existed in Europe centuries before.
Dr .Woods from NZ and Oz lady by name Utrecht, have together heavily researched the subject and both came to that conclusion, finding
many such old recipes that date well before 20th century.
" They followed the history back to German-speaking Habsburgs, whose power extended over much of Europe from the 15th to 18th centuries.
The Habsburgs had a fixation for all things Spanish including "one of the most stunning cakes" called a Spanische Windtorte, a complicated
combination of meringue, fruit and cream.
As German-speaking immigrants moved to America, they brought with them meringue-based desserts called schaum torte
(which translates as foam cake) and baiser torte (commonly known now as Kiss Cake). A large proportion of these immigrants settled
in the mid-west of America where Wood and Utrect began picking up pockets of these recipes. "
NZ and Oz can argue all they want about taking credit, , but all they can really take credit for is giving an old dessert a new name.
and had NZ remained as part of the penal Colony of NSW Australia, there would be no argument ..
