Novelty Pavlova

I'm having a serious case of PJD today - Post Jubilee Depression.  However, every cloud has a silver lining, as there is still plenty of our Jubilee pavlova leftovers in the fridge.  As I was meticulously nestling each union jack berry into the cream, a thought struck me that pavlova is the perfect dessert for any (remotely novelty) occasion - from drawing birthday balloons, flowers, text and even the odd cheeky phallic symbol, the world's your oyster when it comes to pavlova creativity - so I thought I'd share this easy peasy recipe!  This particular recipe is from Mary Berry - it was tried and tested yesterday and turned out beautifully!

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites
• 250g caster sugar
• whipping cream or double cream
• berries of your choice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 120 °C.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a clean large bowl, with an electric whisk, until the whites are stiff enough to stay in the bowl when it is turned upside down - a risky test!
3. Keep whisking, while adding the caster sugar one teaspoonful at a time.  Continue mixing until all of the caster sugar has been added gradually, and the mixture looks stiff and shiny.
4. Cover a baking tray in baking parchment or grease proof paper and spread the meringue mixture evenly into whatever shape you fancy.
5. All ovens vary, so baking time cannot be exact, but usually the meringue will take between 1 hour and 1 1/2 hours to bake fully.  When the meringue is cooked, it can be lifted easily from the parchment.  Leave the meringue in the oven once it has been turned off to allow it to cool down gradually.
6. Whip the whipping or double cream in a bowl until thick and spread over the meringue base.
7. Place the berries onto the cream either in a shape or randomly and tuck in!!