Michelle Darmody on how to make the perfect Pavlova with plenty of variations

Pavlova has been the desert of choice in our family home for almost every occasion that I remember. 

For summer birthdays it is filled with freshly-whipped cream and mounds of glorious red berries, for Christmas, as a late evening dessert, it is usually topped with whipped chocolate cream, and for Easter lunch, the hollow in the meringue gets turned into a nest, holding a bundle of speckled chocolate birds eggs.

Whatever the occasion, it always impresses and inevitably gets eaten very quickly.