If you’re anything like me, Eton mess is the ideal dessert to make. In other words, if you can’t pipe frosting into neat little points on a perfect layer cake (like this piña colada cake), you’ve never successfully lined a tin with pastry (let alone attempted a more complicated pie crust design) and you’re not particularly tidy with your garnish, Eton mess is the dessert for you. Not only does it taste amazing (how can you go wrong with cream, meringue and fruit?), but it’s also the easiest thing ever. It’s actually meant to look like a mess — if you make Eton mess look tidy, you’re not doing it right. This time, I decided to swap the usual fresh strawberries for peaches, which worked really well! Read on for the recipe.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
— 1 1/8 cups heavy cream
— 4 meringue nests
— 3 fresh peaches
— a few fresh mint leaves
* You may also need one tablespoon caster sugar, depending on how sweet your peaches are.
Instructions:
1. Dice the peaches and add them to a saucepan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly for 5-10 minutes, until the fruit has completely broken down into a chunky peach sauce. You may also want to add a tablespoon of sugar to your peaches, depending on how sweet they are. Remember they will be served with the meringue, so this peach mixture doesn’t need to be overly sweet. Set aside to cool completely.
2. Whip the cream until it reaches the soft peak stage.
3. Crumble the meringue nests straight into the whipped cream and mix to combine.
4. Layer up the meringue and cream mixture with the cooled peach sauce. Top with a few fresh mint leaves to serve.
Dice the peaches and add them to a saucepan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly for 5-10 minutes, until the fruit has completely broken down into a chunky peach sauce. You may also want to add a tablespoon of sugar to your peaches, depending on how sweet they are. Remember they will be served with the meringue, so this peach mixture doesn’t need to be overly sweet. Set aside to cool completely.
Whip the cream until it reaches the soft peak stage.
Crumble the meringue nests straight into the whipped cream and mix to combine.
Layer the meringue and cream mixture with the cooled peach sauce. Top with a few fresh mint leaves to serve.
And there you have it! Didn’t I tell you it was easy? It’s almost impossible to mess up Eton mess, so give it a try this summer. It’s the perfect way to use up delicious summer stone fruit.
