Ingredients

Step by step

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. Using a 10cm round biscuit cutter or chef's ring, draw 4 circles (spaced well apart) on each piece of paper. Turn over the paper (you should still be able to see the circle templates) and set aside. Line a small roasting tin with baking paper, pour in the caster sugar and heat it in the oven for 7 minutes. Heating the sugar helps to create a glossy, stable mixture.
2. Pour the egg whites into a free-standing mixer (or use a large clean bowl and an electric hand-whisk) and whisk them slowly at first, allowing small stabilising bubbles to form, then increase the speed until they form stiff peaks.
3. Take the sugar out of the oven, then turn down the oven to 120°C, fan 100°C, gas ½. With your mixer on full speed, very slowly spoon the hot sugar, a spoonful at a time, into the beaten egg whites, making sure that the mixture comes back up to stiff peaks after each addition. Once you have added all the sugar, continue to whisk on full speed for at least 5 minutes until you have a smooth, stiff and glossy mixture. Rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers; if you can still feel the gritty sugar, keep whisking at full speed until it has dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Whizz half the freeze-dried raspberries to a powder. Gently fold in the raspberry powder to the meringue mixture.
4. Pile your flavoured meringue into 8 heaps on the prepared baking trays, using the circle templates as a guide, forming each one into a spiky heaped circle with a dip in the centre. Use a cocktail stick to swirl a little food colouring into each meringue. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the bases of the meringues come off the baking paper cleanly. If you are not sure if they are done, turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside the oven as they cool. Store the cold meringues in an airtight container until you are ready to add your toppings.
5. For the coulis, gently heat the frozen berries with the honey in a medium pan until soft. Whiz in a blender until smooth, then press through a sieve and leave to cool. Cut the shortbread into shards and crumble any bits that don't snap well. Scatter over some of the raspberry dust and set aside.
6. When you are ready to serve, whip the cream until it just forms soft peaks, then briefly stir 5 tablespoons of coulis through the cream. Generously spoon the cream onto the centre of each pavlova base, then decorate with the berries, shards of shortbread and shortbread crumble. Sprinkle over the remaining freeze-dried raspberries and drizzle with a little more raspberry coulis.