Pavlova

We made a pav the other night: sat around the outdoor table with citronella candles and lanterns in the garden and ate it for dessert. (Dinner was juicy lamb chops with oregano and lemon, roast potatoes and crispy green salad.)

We saw Jamie do his pav with chocolate sauce, vanilla cream and hazelnuts, and at the time we were horrified (sugar overload!! Teeth melting!!) and vowed that a pav was far too sweet to be teamed with other sweet items. This is why fruit was invented: so that the pav could bring some sugar to the party and the fruit could bring some acidity. So we decided that OUR pav would be served with cream and a huge pile of fresh cherries.

Meanwhile, someone at home was unaware of the master plan. At about 6pm, we found out that all the cherries had been eaten. Scandal! With no other fruit in the house, it was agreed that we would make an approximation of Jamie's pav, for curiosity's sake.
We whipped up some toasted mixed nuts (hazelnuts, brazil nuts and macadamias) in a frying pan and added sugar and butter to toffee them together. Then we let the lot cool and smashed it into nutty toffee shards with a rolling pin.
On top of the pav went a sauce made from 2 rows of dark chocolate and 100mls cream, melted together over a low heat. Then the nuts, then more sauce. On the side we served a jug of plain unsweetened cream.
The verdict? TOO SWEET.
Really, too sweet by far. Lord Porkface loved it, though. His idea of cutting down sugar is to not add honey to his icecream with chocolate fudge sauce.