Eton Mess

There’s nothing more English than strawberries and cream in the Summer, preferably whilst watching Wimbledon or perhaps a game of cricket (although not for me)! It seemed time to roll out my magic egg-free meringue recipe again, and what better way of incorporating strawberries and cream than in the classic Eton mess? Hardly even a recipe, this combination of cream, strawberries and crushed meringue is always a crowd pleaser.

You might think that Eton mess must be out of the question for those who are free-from eggs and dairy, after all it’s mainly cream and meringue! But fear not, this variation is stunningly simple, utterly delicious and friendly to boot. It’s funny because although I’m not strictly dairy-free myself, I have never been able to abide cream which I find too rich and milky, so for me this was always a pudding to avoid. Not any more, with some stunning whipped soya cream I’m a total convert!

Eton Mess (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan) [my egg-free meringues contain soya protein and the cream i used was soya based – however, pea protein is available which also works to good effect and Soyatoo make a good rice based whipping cream)

serves 4-6

• 1 recipe of egg-free meringues, mine are rather brown this time as I used unrefined icing sugar
• 1 carton whipping dairy-free cream, I used Soyatoo
• 1/2 a punnet of strawberries, pureed
• 1/2 punnet of strawberries, chopped

– Crush the meringues into large pieces

– Gently fold together all the ingredients

– Serve in pretty glasses or bowls