Eton Mess Cake

I am a firm believer that sometimes there is nothing better than a classic Victoria Sponge. However for my 26th birthday I wanted something extra special to tuck in to whilst celebrating with my family. I recently purchased the 2nd book from the Meringue Girls - Everything Sweet and their recipe for an Eton Mess cake was the perfect choice. All the deliciousness of a Victoria Sponge but with a few extras which made it the ideal cake for a celebration.

The cake is actually really simple to make although there are a few seperate components - some of which you can make ahead of time which helps to reduce any on the day baker stress. I would recommend making the meringue kisses in advance and you could also make the strawberry coulis up to two days before as well.

Time to get baking!

To make a four layered eton mess cake you will need:

For the sponge:

• 400g Unsalted butter
• 400g Caster sugar
• 8 Eggs
• 400g Self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking power
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the meringue kisses I did not use the Meringue girls recipe - I used the recipe I have featured on here previously. You will find detailed instructions of how to make my meringue kisses here...for your shopping list you will need per batch of kisses 80g caster sugar per large egg white. I found that for this one batch was plenty. 

For the coulis:

• 375g Strawberries
• 30g Caster sugar

For the eton mess cream:

• 600ml Double cream
• 150g Raspberries

The Meringue Girls recipe also included 2tbsp of finely chopped fresh mint in the cream however for my taste I omitted this from the recipe.

To decorate:

The meringue kisses are used to decorate along with an left over raspberries and strawberries; mint leaves and if you have any - edible glitter. There is no need to go out and buy and especially however a sprinkling of pixie dust is always a bonus! 

• To start, make the meringue kisses. Meringues store and keep well in an airtight container so you could make these way in advance (up to a week).
• You can also make the coulis up to two days in advance and store it in the fridge. To make the coulis remove the stalks and chop the strawberries before putting the min a saucepan with the sugar. Heat gently and simmer for around 10 minutes until the strawberries have broken down. Push the mixture through a sieve and allow to cool completely before using.
• Make the sponge by using the creaming method which means firstly mixing the butter and sugar until white and fluffy; then gradually incorporating the eggs before folding in the flour, vanilla and baking powder. 
• Transfer the mix into lined cake tins - the original recipe suggests two and then slicing the cook cakes after cooling. I am not a fan of slicing cake so I split my mixture across four 18cm round cake times.
• To make the cream, whip the double cream until soft peaks form. Save a small amount of the whipped cream to one side in a separate bowl. This smaller amount will be used to coat the outside of the cake for a semi 'naked' look.
• Leave some raspberries for final decoration however the majority should be 'mushed' with a fork before being incorporated into filling cream with some crushed meringue kisses. This is where you would also add the mint leaves is desired.

Time to assemble the cake!

• Sandwich the layers of cake with generous amounts of eton mess cream.
• Use the cream that you set to one side to give a very thin covering to the entire cake - this creates the semi 'naked' cake design that is all the rage at the moment.
• The remaining meringues and fruit should be used to decorate the cake before adding the final fishing touch of strawberry coulis on top and dripping down the sides of the cake.

And that's all there is to it. Sorry that the picture quality is a bit poor - it was avery busy day and I didn't spend as long as I should have snapping photos!

Happy baking, let me know how you get on.

Rach x