Eton Mess

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With the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in full swing, this is the perfect moment to post my recipe for Eton Mess – a traditional English dessert made from a mixture of strawberries, cream and meringue. Incredibly easy to make, the meringue is broken, the strawberries chopped, the cream whipped and everything is simply stirred together. If it looks like a mess, you’ve made this correctly, congratulations! Whilst it may look like a disaster, I promise, this dreamy, creamy, fruity dessert is luscious and luxurious.

Each year, over 38 tons of strawberries (1.92 million strawberries to be precise) are consumed during the Championship and strawberries and cream have become synonymous with this tournament. Whilst strawberries and cream are a wonderful dessert in their own right, with just a little extra effort you can throw together this sublime concoction.

Where is the recipe from?

The first written reference for Eton Mess goes back as far as the 1890s. Believed to originate from Eton College, it can be made with any summer berries or bananas, but strawberries are considered the most traditional. There are many stories addressing how this dish came about, the most common one being that a strawberry, meringue and cream pudding was dropped at an Eton V Harrow cricket match in the late 19th century. Rather than waste the pudding, it was scooped up and served in individual bowls. My favourite story however, is that a Labrador sat on hamper containing a strawberry meringue and the ensuing ‘mess’ was transformed into this dessert. Sadly, it is unlikely that this story is true as it dates back to the 1930s, and the recipe pre-dates it. Besides, a Labrador would surely have eaten it, not sat on it!

Shop bought or homemade meringue?

Although I made the meringue when I photographed this, shop bought meringue works exceedingly well. The meringue is deliberately broken up and stirred into the cream with the strawberries where it softens and sweetens the cream. Truth be told, I always keep a pack of meringue nests in the cupboard, just in case!

How to make Eton Mess

This dessert is best served as soon as it has been assembled. For notes on how to part-prepare in advance, see below.

Collect all your ingredients together:

For the meringue –

• egg whites
• caster sugar

OR:

• shop bought meringue nests

You will also need –

• fresh strawberries
• icing sugar
• double/heavy/whipping cream
• vanilla extract

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How to make this sublime dessert:

First make the meringue –

1. Whisk the egg whites in a large, clean, grease-free bowl until they form stiff peaks.
2. Whilst beating, add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated. The mixture should be thick, glossy and smooth. Be patient and do not add too much sugar at a time.
3. Spoon the meringue onto a lined baking tray – I used an ice cream scoop. You do not need to be too precious about this, as you will be breaking them up when cooked. However, try to make sure they are a similar size, so they all cook at the same rate.
4. Cook in a preheated oven for 1 hour – 1½ hours or until cooked through. They should feel crispy on the outside and come off the paper easily.

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Now bring this mess together –

1. Hull the strawberries and chop into bite size pieces.
2. Puree half the strawberries in a food processor with the icing sugar and then put through a sieve to remove the seeds.
3. Add the vanilla extract to the cream and beat with an electric whisk to very soft peaks.
4. Hold a little meringue back to scatter over the top of the dessert and then break the remainder over the cream and add the chopped strawberries. Gently fold in through the cream.
5. Add all bar 2 tablespoons of the pureed strawberry to the meringue mix and swirl through – you do not want to mix this in completely, you want a ripple effect.
6. Transfer to a serving dish, or individual bowls, and finish by drizzling over the remaining strawberry pure, scattering over the rest of the cracked meringue and adding some halved strawberries. Serve immediately.

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Preparing in advance:

This dessert is best served as soon as it has been assembled. However, if you want to part-prepare in advance you can:

• Make the meringue, if necessary.
• Break up the meringue ready to add to the cream.
• Hull and chop the strawberries.
• Make the strawberry puree.
• Measure the cream into a mixing bowl with the vanilla.
• Store the strawberries, puree and cream covered and in the fridge.
• All you need to do when you want to serve the dessert:
  • is whip the cream,
  • fold in the strawberries, meringue and puree
  • transfer to serving bowl and decorate.

Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.