I looked up this article in Google here:
It seems to me that it is impossible to tell the exact origins of this dessert because in one form or another it probably existed long before someone gave it the name pavlova!
The following is a little extract that I copied. What caught my attention was the German name “baiser torte’. It reminded me that as a four year old I loved “Sahne Baiser”.
I think meringues are baisers. It says with meringues are “melt-in-the-mouth moments” created. And this is exactly like this with “baisers” and especially “creamy” baisers (Sahne Baiser)
“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 . . . ”
Why did I say I loved them as a four year old? Well, in the early German summer of 1939 we spent the holidays in Zoppot at the Baltic Sea. This is where I was introduced to “Sahne Baiser”. I could not get enough of them, meaning every afternoon I was allowed to have one going out with Mum to a cafe with that “Kalte Platte”. The “Kalte Platte” was a dance floor in the open, if I remember right.
And here I found something CHRISTMASSY by Mr Bean:
AuntyUta 