Classic Eton Mess

If you have never had Eton Mess before then you surely are missing out on an amazing dessert experience. Eton Mess is a rather simple dessert made by layering meringue, cream and strawberries in a cup. You can mix it up with other fillings too, and the end result always makes something that looks impressive.

You will want to prepare the filling ingredients in advance when making this dessert. The assembly should occur just prior to serving, otherwise the meringue will lose its crunchy texture.

Preparing the Meringue

Start the meringue preparations by preheating the oven to 130 °C. Next, take a large baking tray and line it with baking paper, set the tray aside for now. You will need an electric mixer to make the meringue, a stand mixer works best (although some food processors can also make meringue these days). Add two egg whites to the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk on a medium-low speed for 2-3 minutes, until soft peaks start to form.

Continue by adding the caster sugar, one spoon at a time, while the eggs are being whisked. Once all the sugar is added, whisk for a further 2 minutes. Finish by adding in the vinegar and corn flour. Whisk for a further 5 minutes. At this point the mixture should be firm and glossy at this point. If you rub the meringue mixture through your fingers it should also not feel grainy (if it feels grainy the sugar has not fully dissolved).

Baking the Meringue

Spoon the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking tray and spread the meringue mixture out. You will want to create a large rectangle that is about 1 cm thick. A metal offset spatula is the easiest tool I have found for spreading the meringue out thin.

Transfer the baking tray to the oven and bake for 1½ hours. During the baking do not open the door. Once cooked, turn the oven off and leave the meringue to cool in the oven for 2-3 hours. At the point, the meringue is now ready to make the Eton mess cups. If you are not planning to finish the recipe until the following day, transfer the meringue into an airtight container and store in the pantry until needed.

Whipping the Cream

To whip the cream, add the cream, sugar and vanilla to a bowl and use a hand/stand mixer to whip, until soft peaks form. You will want to be careful when whipping the cream, as overwhipped cream will curdle and will not be useable for this recipe. Alternatively, you can also use a cream charger to prepare the cream (and then pipe it straight into the glasses when ready)

Wash, hull and then chop the strawberries into thin pieces. Add all the strawberries to a small bowl and then toss with caster sugar. Leave the strawberries for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Assembling the Eton Mess

Start by using your hands to crumble the meringue into medium sized pieces. Next, lay out your 4 glasses for serving, a stem less wine glass works great here if you are going for presentation.

In each glass, layer strawberries, cream and meringue. Repeat the layering until the glass is full. Top with fresh strawberries for decoration and serve immediately.

When layering, you can choose how much of each component to add. I filled the glasses so that a layer of cream, meringue and strawberries will fill the glass to just under half full. You might wish to opt to use less in each layer, allowing to do 3-4 layers instead.

Recipe Notes for Eton Mess

When making Eton Mess here are a few notes that might help you along the way.

• Meringue works best kept away from humidity. Cook the meringue low and slow and then store in an airtight container to reduce the chances that it goes sticky
• If you are in a hurry, store bought meringues can be used as a substitute for making your own
• Other fruits, in particular berries also work well for this recipe. Try blueberries, raspberries, sliced peaches or passionfruit pulp as other fruit ideas