The night before assembling, make the meringues.

Preheat the oven to 110C FAN. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a freestanding mixer and mix on a high speed until stiff white peaks form. Add the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time whilst still mixing, making sure each spoonful is full incorporated before adding the next one. The meringue should be thick and glossy once all the sugar has been added.

Sieve your coa powder over the top of the finished meringue mixture then use a spatula to very gently swirl it into the meringue. You just want to make sure it has streaks of cocoa throughout, and isn't fully mixed.

Use a large tablespoon to dollop spoonfuls of the meringue onto your lined trays. They can be fairly rustic in shape. You should get 16 meringues worth.

Place in the oven for 45 minutes before turning the oven off completely and leaving the meringues to cool down in the oven overnight.

Once cool, remove from the oven and store in an airtight container until ready to assemble (they can be made up to two weeks ahead of time).

For the cherries, half and remove the stones. Place in a saucepan with the sugar and water and bring to a simmer. Cook for five minutes or so until you have a bright pink syrup and the cherries have softened but are still holding their shape. Allow to cool completely.

For the chocolate, place all the ingredients in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Allow to melt together until you have a thick chocolate sauce. Once fully melted, set aside to cool at room temp for 30 minutes or until the mix is spreadable.

When ready to assemble, whip the cream with the vanilla until soft peaks for and its just holding its shape. Make sure you dont over whip.

To assemble, spread a little chocolate sauce over the base of each meringue then dollop on a spoonful of the whipped cream. Press cream side down on to your cake stand, then repeat with the other meringues to form a ring of five-six meringues. Place another meringue (also with chocolate and cream) in the centre. Spoon over some of the cooked cherries and syrup then scatter on a third of the almonds. This will form your base.

Repeat with more meringues, chocolate and cream and layering with the cherries and syrup. You should gradually build a tower ending with a single meringue on top.

Finish with more syrup and almonds and a scatter of dried petals if you like. Use excess chocolate to stick on the whole cherries to garnish.

Serve immediately ideally with lots of plates and napkins! It's a messy but fun pudding to dive into!