Pavlova with passionfruit curd

History and rumour have it that the pavlova was created in Australia in 1935 by a Perth hotel chef called Bert Sachse, and was named after the great ballerina Anna Pavlova, who had successfully performed there a few years earlier. But history and rumour can be challenged, and there is reason to believe that meringue cakes of a similar style were common in New Zealand years earlier. I like to make mine in free-range blobs rather than neat, suburban rings.