Pavlova With Passion Fruit Curd

Pavlova base
Preheat the oven to 300° Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make the pavlova. In a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks start to form. This should take about 4-5 minutes. Then gradually pour in 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar and continue to whisk until stiff, shiny peaks form. This'll take another 2-3 minutes. Once you've got your stiff peaks (meaning when you lift the whisk out of the bowl, a peak forms and doesn't flop over), add in 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 1 tsp cornstarch and continue to whisk for another minute until everything is incorporated.
Transfer the pavlova base to your parchment paper lined baking sheet. I like to do this with a large spoon and then gently sweep the back of the spoon upwards around the entire pavlova to create a beautifully styled exterior. (You can totally skip the sweeping if you're going for a more rustic feel.) Then put the pavlova in the oven and decrease the temperature to 200° Fahrenheit. Cook for about 90 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave it alone for another 2 hours.
Whipped cream
If making whipped cream, pop a metal bowl for your stand mixer and its whisk attachment into the freezer so that they're nice and cold when you go to make your whipped cream. You'll want to leave them in there for at least 20 minutes before making the whipped cream.
Make the whipped cream. To do this, pull your bowl and whisk out of the freezer and attach them to your mixer. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp granulated sugar to the bowl and whisk on high for about 1 minute, or until soft peaks form. Be careful not to over-mix!
To assemble
Add a couple dollops of whipped cream to the top of your pavlova. Then add a few spoonfuls of passion fruit curd on top of that (I used about 1/4 cup, but you can eyeball it). If using, top with fresh passion fruit. I cut mine in half and placed them on top of the pavlova, but you can also scoop the fruit out and add it to the top! Serve immediately.