Cherry Eton Mess

cherry eton mess

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Tis the time for lots of macaron's that haven't quite "footed" and meringues that didn't quite, ummm "meringue?". What to do? Why make Eton Mess for dessert of course.

Eton mess is a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against the students of Harrow School. wikipedia

Oh my, I couldn't resist the boxes brimming with sweet dark cherries that fill the Australian fruit shops in December, plus I had macarons "oddments" and end of batch meringes from Christmas gift baking. So lets make a delightful mess... albeit a bit "girlie" today, I'm afraid I went too far with the 100's and 1000's (nonpareils).

Cherry Eton Mess 

(by all means go traditional and use strawberries instead if preferred) 

Ingredients 

*2 cups of chilled whipping cream

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 vanilla pod scraped of seeds (use vanilla extract to taste if you don't have pods)

700 grams (25oz) of fresh cherries 

leftover macaron shells, meringue pieces or buy a packet of meringue shells

Method

Pit most of the cherries, leaving a few whole ones for decoration. Place the pitted cherries and one tablespoon of the sugar in a small bowl and give the mixture a gentle squeeze to release a little of cherry juice, stir to combine. Refrigerate until serving time.

Whip the cream, with the remaining one tablespoon of sugar and seeds from the vanilla pod until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until serving time.

Assembly

When you're ready to serve, in no particular order, spoon cream, cherries, broken pieces of meringues and macaron's into serving glasses. 

Top with whole cherries dipped in melted white chocolate if desired. 

*variations; try adding plain yoghurt or creme fraiche to the whipping cream. I often use 1 1/2 cream to half yoghurt, it will lighten the mouth feel and is more refreshing in summer. 

Macerate the cherries or strawberries with sugar and a juice or alcohol of choice before assembling, brandy, grand marnier or a favourite dessert wine are good choices.

Have fun and happy baking :)

Want to make your own meringues? Here is a recipe for 4 individual pavlova shells that you can break up for your Eton Mess... omit or change colour as desired. 

More desserts in glasses? How about Peach Verrines in Minutes

More cherries? A quick cherry cupcake decoration

                      Snow Cherries

Snow Cherries

                                         snow cherry cupcake

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A quick little fresh cherry decoration today, that I think is so pretty... hope you do too.

It's summer in Australia and fresh cherries are in season. "Snow cherries" are a lovely decoration for your cupcakes, cakes and plated desserts for all your Christmas occasions. 

You'll need...

room temperature cherries with unbroken skins

white fondant

white disco glitter

small dry artists paintbrush

small piece of dampened new foam

Thinly roll out your white fondant, cut small sections and shape. Dampen one side of your fondant shapes with the foam. Pop a cherry in the centre of each piece of fondant and fold up to  attach. Using the dampened foam again, dampen the outside of the fondant and sprinkle with edible disco glitter. Brush off excess glitter that falls on the cherries with the dry brush. Allow to dry.

Cherries will keep at room temperature for 6 hours (though I have held them as long as overnight). 

Happy Baking :)

or what about making mini choc pudding cupcakes?

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Chocolate Black Forest Pavlovas

         Chocolate Black Forest Pavlova with chocolate sauce

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Love the "retro" of a black forest cake, ditto these chocolate mini pavlovas with the hidden chocolate centre and morello cherry top.  Hope you enjoy them too :) 

Morello cherries make a lovely addition to the batter of dark chocolate cupcakes, studding a sweet focaccia or as in today's posting topping a chocolate pavlova. If you are in fresh cherry season, fresh pitted cherries poached in a little sugar syrup can substitute for the Morello cherries if desired.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 eggwhites

pinch cream of tartar

1/2 cup caster sugar (superfine)

1 tablespoon dark dutch process cocoa powder (sifted)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Sauce

125g (5.3oz) chopped good quality dark chocolate

125 ml (half cup) of thickened cream

2 tsp Kirsch (optional)

Topping

1 jar *morello cherries in syrup

2 tsp kirsch (optional)

125ml (1/2 cup) thickened cream 

Dark chocolate grated or curls to decorate

Method
. Preheat oven to 120C. Draw four 7cm (2.75 inch) circles on non stick baking paper, reverse paper so ink lines will be facing downwards when you use it to line your baking tray. 
. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until meringue is thick and glossy. Add cocoa & vanilla. Beat until just combined.
. Spoon meringue onto lined baking tray, using circles as a guide.  Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven to 120C. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until meringue is dry and crisp. Turn off oven and jar door open a little with the handle of a wooden spoon. Allow to cool completely in oven.

Place chocolate in a bowl. Place cream in a small pan over medium heat and bring to just below boiling point. Pour over chocolate, then stir until smooth. Stir is kirsch if using.  Let cool until it thickens slighty, break hole in the top center of each pavlova and put a spoonful of chocolate sauce.  

Whip cream with an electric beater until medium stiff peaks.

In a separate small bowl, add the Kirsch to 2 tablespoons of syrup from the jarred Morello cherries. Swirl of little of syrup through the cream, spoon onto the  tops of pavlovas (you may have some leftover), top with whole Morello cherries and decorate with chocolate curls and serve with any leftover cream, syrup and chocolate sauce.

Inside the pavlova, chocolate sauce with chocolatey marshmallow with crisp sugary shell.

Meringue base recipe adapted from SuperFood Ideas magazines Chocolate Pavlova Nests Nov 2005

Happy Baking :)

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