Pavlovas never ranked high on my list of favourite desserts (both to make or to eat), so I never thought a recipe for one would be featured so early in the life of this blog. But things happen when you least expect them to, and this monster of a dessert is a perfect example, as it was motivated by three completely unrelated things:

One – Zoe Francois’s freakin’ dreamy pavlova meringue dome, which I’ve been meaning to recreate for the longest time but never found occasion to, until now. Though my meringue dome did collapse onto itself like the singing volcano from the “Lava” Pixar short, I think the cracks gave it a bit of a rustic charm. Plus, a larger crater = more filling! So all is good, I still lava it.

Two – a desperate hankering for red bean and matcha, which explains the matcha-flavoured meringue and red bean cream topping.

And three – an oversupply of pomelos in the house. Mom bought back over a dozen of these massive citruses from Ipoh, some nectarine-sweet with golden-yellow flesh, some ruby like a grapefruit and deceptively puckery like a Midori Sour. Here’s a tip, if there’s any fruit you don’t quite like, turn it into jam/marmalade. The usual cheek-pinching bitterness of the latter pomelos made for a pretty impressive marmalade! The bitter-sourness still remained, but by cooking it down with some added sugar, it sure became a lot more amicable!