• Preheat your oven to 140°C/120° fan.
• Using your 20cm/8inch cake pan base or similarly-sized dinner plate, draw a circle onto baking paper and set aside.
  
• Carefully separate your egg whites into a small bowl, one by one, tipping the egg white into your large mixing bowl each time. This is to avoid wasting any egg white if you accidentally get some egg yolk in the egg whites; you'd have to dispose of all the egg whites then rather than just one!
  
• Once all the egg whites are in the mixing bowl, add cream of tartar to the egg whites.
  
• Using the whisk attachment of your stand or hand mixer, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-high speed until they look foamy and thick. This takes around 2 minutes on my KitchenAid stand mixer on setting 8.
  
• With the mixer running on the same speed setting, slowly add the caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time. This is important to help the sugar incorporate well into the egg whites.
  
• Once all the sugar has been added, continue whisking on this speed setting until the mixture is glossy white and holds stiff peaks as shown.
  
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• Add vanilla and whisk briefly just to combine.
  
• Now by hand, fold the cornflour gently into the mixture using a spatula until fully combined.
  
• Using your whisk attachment, place a little of the mixture on the four corners of your baking paper (circle side up) and then flip it over, pressing the corners onto the baking tray to hold the paper in place.
  
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• Pour the whole mixture onto the paper, trying to keep it within your circle template.
  
• Shape it into a rough round shape using a spatula, and create a well in the centre (for the cream and strawberry filling!)
  
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• You can leave it like this, or do as I've done: using your spatula, drag the mixture upwards, all the way round, to create this pattern around the sides.
  
• Place on the lowest shelf of your preheated oven and bake for 1 hour.
• Once baked, keep the oven door closed and turn the oven off. Leave to cool completely in the oven to avoid major cracking or collapse of the pavlova. This is where having an oven thermometer comes in very useful as you'll know when it is complelely cool!

Strawberry sauce

• Whilst waiting for the pavlova to cool, you can make your simple strawberry sauce.
• Place the jam and water in a small saucepan and warm on a low heat. Stir often with a heatproof spatula until combined and smooth. It will look quite watery but will thicken as it cools.
  
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• Pour this mixture into a smaller bowl to cool more quickly and set aside for later.
  

Cream and strawberry topping

• Once the oven is completely cooled, remove the pavlova from the oven and slowly remove the baking paper. Place the pavlova on your chosen serving plate/stand.
• Remove the stems from the strawberries, and then slice up several of them. I like to have a mixture of whole and sliced strawberries to top the pavlova.
  
• Using the whisk attachment of your stand or hand mixer, whisk your cold double cream on medium-high speed for several minutes until thickly whipped. Try not to overwhip it - it should be just thick enough to spread easily and smoothly onto the pavlova.
  
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• Once you've topped the pavlova with the sfot whipped cream, place your strawberry slices and whole strawberries on top.
• Finish by spooning the thickened strawberry sauce over the strawberries. I like to let some drip down the sides of the pavlova too.
• Serve immediately, and best eaten on the day, as the cream and having to store it in the fridge will make the pavolva soggy within a day or two.