Festive Eton Mess

This is my dessert of the season. Festive Eton Mess is an assembly recipe made of some delicious homemade make-ahead components, so I won’t deceive you that it’s quick or easy, even if each step is terribly simple.

I will admit that for each of the stages you can buy a shop bought alternative but I urge you to make at least some of them yourself.

First we make some homemade meringue kisses, light and crisp on the outside with a marshmallowy middle.

The orange curd whipped cream is definitely worth making a whole batch of orange curd for and think how you can enjoy it over crumpets for the rest of the Christmas season.

Caramelise a whole batch of mixed nuts and then you have some for sprinkling here, some for decorating your Christmas Pudding and the package some up for gifting. Lots of jobs in one.

Finally the Cinnamon Cranberry Compote is basically a homemade cranberry sauce. Oh so tangy, fresh and zippy with a dash of orange liqueur and plenty of festive flavour.

What is Eton Mess?

This is a classic British dessert whose origins lie at Eton College. Its rustic presentation of messy layer of fruit, meringue and cream mean it’s a very accessible dessert and perfect for varying for the seasons.

Ingredients Needed

Meringue Kisses

You can use shop bought mini meringues. If you make your own mini meringues then you need:

• Egg whites. This recipe uses 2 medium sized egg whites which total 60g egg whites. You can use fresh eggs, thawed frozen egg whites or even egg whites from a carton. However make sure your egg whites are at room temperature before using.
• Caster sugar. This is a fine white baking sugar which will dissolve much quicker than granulated sugar so is worth using if you can get hold of it (no real problem of that in the UK as it’s ubiquitous in every supermarket).

Orange Curd Whipped Cream

• Orange Curd. You can use a shop bought orange curd (or even a lemon curd) but use this Homemade Orange Curd recipe if you want to make your own.
• Double Cream. You can substitute for heavy cream.

Caramelised Nuts

You can use any honey roasted nuts but cashews work particular well and are easily available or you can make your own caramelised nuts.

• Mixed nuts. I chose a good selection of walnuts, pistachios, cashews, pecans and flaked almonds.
• Caster sugar. You can use granulated sugar if you like.

Cinnamon Cranberry Compote

You can use leftover cranberry sauce which will be much sweeter but is a good substitute. Or you could make your own in which case you’ll need:

• Fresh cranberries. You can usually find these in British supermarkets from November- December.
• Caster sugar. You can substitute for granulated sugar.
• Cinnamon. You only need a small dash for a lovely warm tone.
• Orange liqueur. I used Cointreau here but you can just as easily use Triple Sec or just omit if you prefer.

Salt. Plus we need kosher salt for all of the above recipes, just to lift the flavours.

How To Make Festive Eton Mess

For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.

Prepare Meringues. Whisk egg whites until stiff, then gradually beat in caster sugar until glossy and smooth. Pipe small meringues onto a lined tray and bake low and slow until crisp, then cool completely.

Prepare the Caramelised Nuts. Heat sugar in dry pan until melted and golden, then add the nuts and quickly stir to coat. Tip onto baking parchment to cool and set before dicing into praline shards.

Prepare the Cranberry Compote. Simmer cranberries and cinnamon in sugar syrup until the berries burst. Remove from heat and stir in orange liqueur. Allow to cool.

Prepare the Orange Curd Whipped Cream. Whip cold double cream until thick then spoon in orange curd and continue whipping for a few moments until soft peaks form and curd is lightly rippled through.

To Assemble: Lightly crush one of the meringue kisses, then layer the dessert with the whipped cream, crushed meringue, cranberry compote and decorate with an extra meringue kiss and scatter over plenty of caramelised nuts.

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