1: Place a sheet of cooking parchment (or a silicon sheet) on a baking sheet and stand a dessert ring 24 cm (10 inches ) in diameter on top. Melt 10 g butter and brush this over the "base" inside the ring.
2: Sprinkle caster sugar over the melted butter.
3: Do the same for the inside surface of the ring: brush with melted butter, then coat with caster sugar.
4: Put the ring back into place. This will give us a meringue that is lightly caramelized on the outside. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
10: Do the same thing with ½ Pineapples. Peel 1 banana and slice.
11: Mix the diced fruit together, add 4 tablespoons sugar syrup and the juice of ½ lime. Mix well. Set aside.
12: Take the meringue out of the oven as soon as it is ready and leave to cool (this is important, otherwise it is likely to break).
13: Slip a knife all around the inside of the ring.
14: Remove the ring and stand the pavlova on the serving plate.
15: Assemble the pavlova: spread a layer of cream in the meringue shell.
16: Top with the diced fruit. Serve immediately.
Remarks
The name "pavlova" came from the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, for whom the dessert was invented - another artistic muse, like for peach melba. A pavlova must be served straight away, as the fruit will soon moisten the meringue and make it go soft. Use fruit in season (kiwi, pineapple and bananas as as I write). You can achieve excellent results with a mix of soft fruit, combining red (red currants, strawberries, raspberries) and black (blackberries, blackcurrants). But to "render unto Caesar", as they say, I admit to having pinched the excellent idea of caramelizing the meringue from Christophe Michalak.