Layers of crispy meringue, pillowy chantilly cream and sweet-tart blackberries. # 424: Blackberry Lime Eton Mess

If you aren’t familiar with esoteric British desserts or fancy boarding schools, the name of this dessert is straight up bizarre. If said too quickly (I both talk too fast AND mumble, so double whammy) Eton mess turns into “eating mess”. Less than cute, but ultimately very accurate. A delicious mess of course!

Let’s be honest, it’s basically a smashed pavlova in a cup.

Fun fact for your next bar trivia night: blackberries aren’t actually berries! They’re aggregate fruits with each little bubble or “drupelet” containing a seed.

This was a fridge clean-out bake at its finest. I happened to have a handful of blackberries, a lime, a pint of heavy cream and two egg whites I needed to use up before traveling for a week. Am I crazy or is it fun to try and puzzle out full meals and desserts from all the odds and ends you have lying around? It’s like a less stressful version of Chopped.

Shine bright like an egg white.

Ready to smash it with a hammer! *in your best Ezma voice* If you’ve never seen The Emperor’s New Groove, get on that asap.

Muddling blackberries and mint, dreaming of mojitos.

Whipped cream snow angels. I forgot to take pictures of the layering process, but you plop the three ingredients into the glass of your choice in alternating stripes and then dig in with a spoon!

Happy munching!

Meringue recipe from Benjamina Ebuehi:

185g egg whites
320g sugar
1 tsp lemon juice (I used lime this time!)
1 tbsp cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 250F and line a large pan with parchment paper. Clean your bowl with some lemon juice or on a paper towel.

Add the egg whites to the bowl and whisk on medium speed until they get foamy and can hold soft peaks.

With the mixer still running, add in the sugar about 1-2 tablespoons at a time, leaving about 20-30 seconds between each addition. Once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed to medium-high and continue to whip for 7-10 minutes until you have a thick and glossy meringue.

Add in the cornstarch and lemon juice and whisk to combine.

Spoon the meringue into a big mound on the baking tray and use a spatula or the back of a spoon to spread it out into a large circle, making the edges higher than the middle.

Bake for 65-75 minutes until the meringue is firm to the touch and the surface looks completely dry. Turn off the oven and leave the meringue to cool inside for several hours.