Recipe: Eton Mess

I have never eaten Eton Mess before. I don’t know how this happened. I think it is because I was raised in a Dutch household and while the rest of the world ate Eton Mess, we were eating vlaa met slaagroom (custard with cream) for dessert.

Being totally in love with all things British, I just had to give this classic dish a try.

I read and read and read lots of Eton Mess recipes, from Dehlia to Jamie to various blogs. I got a basic gist of what was involved: berries, cream, meringues. Very easy. I loved that Jamie Oliver added in some crumbled scones. I decided that I could come up with my own twist - CAKE!

This would be a great dessert for a dinner party, everything can be done ahead of time, it is tasty and I am sure most people would love it. I brought along all the bits and bobs for Eton Mess for a picnic with friends. It was great! People made it on the spot and used the proportions they liked. We will definitely do that again! So fun!

Cooking Times:

Cake: 35 mins

Meringue: Around 3 hours

Other bits: 15 mins

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients:

1 Victoria Sponge

Meringues

500 ml of thickened cream, whipped

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp castor sugar

500g raspberries - frozen is fine

1 ‘Flake’ chocolate

Method

1. WELL before you need the Eton Mess, get your meringues sorted. You could buy in the meringues, but I am a bit old school and followed this recipe over at Taste.com.au

2. Make the Victoria Sponge. You will find the recipe over on my blog at bbeingcool. When the cake is cooled, cut into small pieces, they don’t need to be even, and crumbs are great.

3. Whip the cream with the vanilla and the sugar until firm peaks form. Defrost the rasberries.

4. When you are ready to serve your Eton’s Mess, put some cake, cream, raspberries and some meringues into a small bowl. Gently mix everything together, until you have a ‘Mess’. Sprinkle with some chocolate. Devour.

Here is how my delightful Miss A put her ‘Eton Mess’ together:

Variations:

• You could make this ahead of time in one big bowl to then serve out at the table. My friends and I liked the freshness of everything by mixing up the bits and bobs just before eating.
• Traditionally, bananas were also added.
• You could use fresh strawberries too.
• You could use bought cake, even those cute little jam rolls would be great.

If you wanted to bring this to your next picnic (and REALLY wow your friends)… Here is how I set it up.

Raspberries, Cream, Cake and Meringues in containers. To serve I found this very cute ‘Wash Tub’ shaped bowls from the storage section of ‘The Reject Shop’. I also grabbed some teaspoons so I had enough for the 15 people at the picnic.

Have you heard the legendary story behind Eton’s Mess? There was a famous cricket match between Eton and another big fancy school, the spectators were enjoying a rather fancy picnic, when a labrador ran through the picnic upturning baskets and sitting on people’s food. The story says that this marauding dog sat on someone’s strawberry pavlova. Thus coining the term, ‘Eton’s Mess’.

Apparently this is a myth, but wouldn’t it be great if it did happen?

I wonder what other recipes have come out of accidents?

BBeingCool (10 Posts)

Belinda (aka B), from BBeingCool is a SAHM to three young adorable children, she also teaches year 6 part-time. B is madly trying to be cool, before she needs to wear comfortable shoes and elasticised pants. B has been learning that to be cool is to be true to who you really are: so B indulges in lots of cooking, 60s inspired living and Op Shopping. B will be sharing recipes and cooking tips with readers of 'And Sew We Craft'. She does do some craft, but talks too much to get anything substantial done!

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