Eton Mess Cake

Look away if you are on the 5:2 Diet and you are fasting!

It seems a bit strange to posting a cake recipe after a few posts about fasting, but I did promise you the recipe. This was the cake I made for my last meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club in Dundee. It was rather fabulicious!

Light victoria sponge filled with freshly made raspberry jam and cream and topped off with a glorious mound of eton mess. The final touch was a strawberry crown and a meringue quiff.

I highly recommend these meringues, they were lovely and crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. Just how a meringue should be and so easy to make.

Sponges cooling on 2 tiers of my new Tala 3 Tier Cooling Rack. It's the business!
Don't know how I managed until now without one.

Try this cake with homemade Scottish Raspberry Jam

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Eton Mess Cake

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

August 18, 2012

A victoria sponge filled with cream and freshly made raspberry jam. then topped with eton mess, a meringue quiff and strawberries.

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites (meringues)
• 115g caster sugar
• 115g icing sugar
• 4 large eggs (cake)
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self-raising flour, sieved
• 1 tsp baking powder, sieved
• 225g soft butter or margarine
• 600ml whipping cream (filling & decoration)
• 225g raspberries
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• 225g caster sugar
• 1 punnet strawberries, to decorate

Instructions

1. First make your meringues. Pre-heat the oven to 120c/100c fan/235 f/ gas mark 1/4. In a very clean bowl, whisk the 4 large egg whites until you have stiff peaks ( I use an electric hand mixer), then add the 115g of caster sugar a spoonful at a time, still whisking. Once it is all combined the meringue mixture should be glossy and thick. Next fold in a third of the 115g icing sugar gently, then the next third and the next. Place dollops onto a baking sheet and bake for 1 1/2 hours in a fan oven or 1 1/4 hours in any other oven. They should be a pale golden colour. Tap the bottoms and they should sound hollow. Move to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.2. Now make your victoria sponge. Start by preheating the oven to 180c/160c fan/350f/gas mark 4. Then line two 18cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.3. Using a electric hand whisk, stand mixer or food processor. Whizz up 4 eggs, the caster sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder and marg or butter until well combined. The mixture should be quite loose and will drop of a spoon. If your mixture is heavier, you can add a little milk.4. Pour the mixture evenly into the sandwich tins, smooth off and bake for 25 minutes until golden. The cake should be springy, if you touch it. Leave them to cool for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the tins and finish cooling on a wire rack.5. While the cake is cooking, make the jam. Add your 225g of caster sugar and raspberries to a pan and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Cook over a medium heat until the raspberries break down. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer rapidly for 5 - 10 minutes until thickened. You can do the wrinkle test by putting a plate in the freezer. Bring it out when you think the jam is ready. Drop a blob of jam on it, push it with your pinkie, if it wrinkles, then it is ready. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool.6. To Assemble: whip the cream until thick, you may add a little sugar if you like. place one sponge on a plate, flat side down. Top with your homemade jam (you won't need it all), then with a good layer of whipped cream. Add the next layer of sponge, flat side up. Top with eton mess (3 or 4 meringues roughly crushed into the rest of the cream with a swirl of jam through it), then finish off with a meringue in the centre. Decorate with strawberry halves.7. Stand back and look at your creation and smile.

Details

Total time: 2 hours 20 minutes plus cooling time for the cake
Yield: 1 cake

Disclosure: Tala sent me a cooling rack to review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.