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Dessert · Australian

Strawberry Eton Mess

Crushed strawberries, whipped cream and broken meringue layered in glasses. A 25-minute spring dessert with almost no cooking involved.

Prep
15 min
Cook
10 min
Total
25 min
Serves
4
Jump to recipeIngredientsMethod
Bowl of Eton mess with whipped cream, broken meringue, strawberries and flaked almonds

Eton mess is one of the easiest desserts to put together well, mainly because it's meant to look a bit rough. Crushed strawberries, whipped cream and broken meringue get layered into glasses rather than arranged neatly, so there's no plating skill required.

Macerating half the strawberries with a spoonful of jam and crushing them lightly draws out their juice and gives you a jammy, saucy base to layer through the glasses. The rest go in sliced, for texture, so you're not eating a uniform mush the whole way through.

Don't overwhip the cream. Stop at soft peaks that just hold their shape, since the meringue breaks down and softens as it sits in the cream, and a stiffer cream makes the whole thing feel heavier than it should.

The one real rule is timing: layer everything together just before serving. Meringue left sitting in cream for more than half an hour or so starts to dissolve and lose its crunch, which is most of what makes this dessert work. Toasted almonds on top add a bit of crunch and nuttiness that cuts through the sweetness.

Recipe

Strawberry Eton Mess

Prep
15 min
Cook
10 min
Total
25 min
Serves
4

Ingredients

4 Servings

Method

  1. Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Spread the almonds on a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes, until fragrant and golden. Cool on the tray. If you'd rather not heat the oven, toast them in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly, then tip onto a plate to cool straight away.

  2. Step 2: Set aside a few strawberry slices to garnish. Toss half the remaining strawberries with the jam in a medium bowl and crush roughly with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the sliced strawberries and leave to sit while you whip the cream.

  3. Step 3: Beat the cream and vanilla with electric beaters until soft peaks form, stopping while it's still soft and a little loose rather than stiff.

  4. Step 4: Spoon a little of the crushed strawberry mixture into the bottom of 0 ozlasses or bowls, followed by a spoonful of cream and a scattering of broken meringue. Repeat the layers until the glasses are full, finishing with cream.

  5. Step 5: Top with the toasted almonds and reserved strawberry slices, and serve straight away.

Tips

  • Crumble the meringue into pieces with some size to them. Too fine and you lose the crunch that's the whole point of adding it.
  • If your strawberries aren't very sweet yet, add an extra teaspoon of jam to the crushed mixture rather than sugar, it keeps the texture jammy instead of grainy.

Variations

  • Dairy-free: use a whipped coconut cream in place of the thickened cream (chill a tin overnight, then whip just the solid part).
  • Gluten-free: most shop-bought meringues are naturally gluten-free, but check the packet, or make your own with egg whites and caster sugar.
  • Other fruit: raspberries or a mix of raspberries and strawberries both work well in place of all strawberries.

Storage and make-ahead

Best assembled and eaten immediately, the meringue softens within an hour or so once layered with the cream. The whipped cream keeps in the fridge for up to a day and the macerated strawberries for up to 2 days, stored separately, so you can prep those parts ahead and layer just before serving.

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