An Eton Mess is a traditional English dessert of strawberries, fresh cream and meringue - served in a delicious 'messy' pile - hence the name! You can enjoy this as below or, if you fancy a dessert with a bit more 'structure', you can bake the Victoria sponge and create a layered Eton Mess - an "Eton Layer Cake" let's say :) Your sweet tooth is about to be happy!
Serves: 8
Ingredients
450g - Fresh Strawberries
1 pint - Whipping Cream
230g - Meringue (usually about 12 meringue cookies)
1 tin - Montana Mex Sweet Seasoning
Method
Dice the strawberries into small pieces, whatever shape you fancy. Keeping a few bigger pieces for decorating! Whip the cream until it has firm peaks. Crush up the meringue into small pieces. Then the mess begins... mix the cream, strawberries and meringue, place in individual bowls ready to serve... then heavily dust with sweet seasoning! Leave the sweet seasoning on the table as people always seem to want more :)
If you feel like getting a bit more involved and would like to make the Victoria Sponge follow the instructions below! Once you have all of your Victoria sponge cake layers, simply layer the Victoria sponge with the eton mess mixture, dusting each layer with the sweet seasoning and decorate! Making the "Eton Layers" is a lovely way to give your "Eton Mess" a structure that can support birthday candles! Delicious!
Ingredients
The below recipe will make a single 10" round layer, which can then be cut into multiple thin layers. Adjust the recipe depending on how big and how many layers you would like in your cake!
Serves: layering this cake with the eton mess mixture serves 12.
200g - Granulated Sugar
200g - Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
4 - Eggs (room temperature)
200g - All purpose Flour
1/2 tsp - baking soda
1/2 tsp - salt
2 T - milk (room temperature)
1 tsp - Vanilla
1/2 Cup - Boiling Water
Method for Victoria Sponge Cake
- Prepare your cake pan by lightly greasing the sides, dusting with flour and lining the bottom with parchment paper. - Preheat oven to 325° F.
- Use a mixer with a paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Slowly add the eggs, scraping the bowl after each addition. - Mix the dry ingredients together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until almost incorporated. - Add the milk and vanilla and mix again until it comes together.
- Add the boiling water with the mixer slow until it is combined.
- Put the mixer on high for 30 seconds to aerate the mixture.
- Pour into your pans.
- Bake at 325°F until a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs. This is usually after about 25 minutes, for a single 10" pan containing this full mixture. Of course, if you are using smaller or larger bake pans the bake time will vary! Keep an eye on your delicious creation :)
