Eton mess is the great British pudding cheat, and it looks after itself on a warm evening.
With British strawberries and raspberries at their best through June and July, all it needs is good cream and a few shop-bought meringues. It’s the pudding we keep coming back to through Wimbledon fortnight.
Serves 4–6 · June / July
Eton Mess with British Summer Berries
No baking, no setting, no skill required — British berries, good cream and crushed meringue, thrown together just before serving.
Ingredients
- British strawberries, hulled400 g
- Raspberries150 g
- Double cream300 ml
- Icing sugar1 tbsp
- Vanilla extract1 tsp
- Meringue nests4–6
- Elderflower cordial (optional)1 tbsp
Method
- Quarter most of the strawberries, keeping a few back. Mash a generous handful with a fork (add the cordial here) to a rough coulis.
- Whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla to soft, floppy peaks — stop before stiff.
- Crush the meringues into big shards with your hands.
- Fold the cream, berries, coulis and meringue together loosely — keep it streaky, don’t overmix.
- Spoon into glasses, top with the reserved berries, and serve straight away.
Make it your own
- Swap in blackberries or blueberries as summer goes on.
- A ripple of lemon curd through the cream is a very good idea.
- Use gluten-free meringues to make it coeliac-friendly.
- A scoop of homemade vanilla alongside turns it from a bowl of cream into a proper pudding — ours comes out of the Russell Hobbs Chilluxe.
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