Chocolate and almond pavlova

I often serve this for big dinner parties, doubling the recipe and putting two of these great looking slipper-shaped meringues down in the middle of the table to share. You can vary this depending on how much time you have on your hands and can use chocolate mousse, crème fraîche or chocolate ice cream in place of the vanilla. You can make your own chocolate shavings for decorating by just pulling the blade of a knife across the flat side of a block of chocolate.