DESSERT IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT

Resist the impulse to go all-out on Christmas dessert – by the time it comes around, everyone’s stuffed. Pavlova is a Kiwi classic and a dessert where the individual components – meringue, whipped cream, chopped fruit – can be prepared anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of days in advance and assembled just before you serve. If homemade Christmas cake is your thing, it should be well and truly baked and getting quietly drunk in a dark cupboard by now. But you can go down even easier routes.

Take some fresh strawberries and marinate them in elderflower cordial and a pinch of lavender, if you have it, while you eat starters and mains, Lim suggests. “They’re so simple but they taste amazing. I would serve that with whipped cream and some icing sugar on top.”

Peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries can all be poached or baked in advance to glorious sweetness and served with whipped cream or ice cream. Store-bought brandy snaps can be easily filled with cream at the table. If yours is not a family of sweet lovers, just tip a box of scorched almonds into a nice bowl, put it on the table and declare yourself done for the day.