Pavlova Bar

What better way can there be to see in the New Year than helping yourself from a Pavlova Bar? Exactly! So, that's just was I created as my contribution for this year's gathering: three different flavoured meringues; a selection of fruit, some soaked in booze and some completely unadulterated; a couple of sauces; and a pile of whipped cream. What could be simpler for people to help themselves from throughout the evening.

I began the day before by making the meringues. I used three egg whites per flavour which gave me five meringues of each, fifteen in total. Weigh the egg whites and then weigh out twice the weight in caster sugar in a separate bowl. Using a large, very clean bowl and an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then, very slowly (about a dessertspoon at a time) add the sugar, whisking in each spoonful thoroughly before adding the next. Once all the sugar is mixed in, continue whisking for another 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved into the egg whites. If you put a small blob of the mixture between your finger and thumb and rub together you shouldn't be able to feel the sugar granules.

Once you reach this point you can add your flavourings. For chocolate, fold in a dessertspoon of sifted cocoa powder so that you have a marbled effect. For a nutty flavour, stir in 2 tablespoons of finely chopped nuts - I used hazelnuts but you could use pistachios. For something fruity, buy a tube of freeze dried berries - you can buy freeze dried raspberries and strawberries in a tube in the baking section of a decent supermarket - grind up about a dessertspoon of your chosen flavour to a fine powder and fold this into the egg white mixture.

Meanwhile, draw 10cm circles spaced across a sheet of non-stick baking paper, turn the paper so the drawing is on the underside and place on a baking sheet. Heat your oven to 100C. You should still be able to see the drawn circles through the baking paper and so use these as a guide as you dollop your meringue mix onto the baking sheet into a series of discs, leaving a dip in the middle of each (to eventually pile in your cream and toppings). For the berry meringue you could add a few drops of pink food colouring gel to the top of each meringue disc and gently swirl these in with a cocktail stick. If you choose to make pistachio meringue you could do the same with green food colouring. You could also dust the chocolate meringues with a little cocoa powder. Bake for 1.5 hours then leave in the oven to cool, opening the oven door slightly to let any moisture escape.

Repeat the process until you have enough meringues in sufficient flavours.

The rest should be fairly simple. Grab a selection of fruit. I defrosted some cherries, popped in some dried cherries and soaked the whole lot overnight in a generous splash of Kirsch. I also used fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. I chose to provide a salted caramel sauce and some lemon curd 'thinned' to pouring consistency using limoncello.

Actually, lemon curd is a bit of a must, not least because it's one of the things you can make with the egg yolks you have left over after making all that meringue. I found a recipe on line that used all egg yolks rather than a mixture of yolks and whole eggs. I adjusted the quantities as appropriate - I had nine egg yolks to use up which produced two and a half jars of lemon curd. The half jar perfect for adding to the pavlova bar.

Huge thanks to Sainsbury's Magazine and The Meringue Girls for the inspiration, K for the use of her tiered tea plates and table runner and for making the bar sign and to J for the party. Happy 2017 to one and all!