Eton Mess Tartlets With Summer Berries, Stacked Not Folded

Method

1. Cut the strawberries into 5mm dice and toss them with the lemon juice, the salt and one tablespoon of the conserve. Leave them for 10 minutes.
2. Crush the meringue nests inside a sealed bag with the base of a glass, into pieces ranging from gravel to about 10mm. Set a third of the bag aside for the top.
3. Whip the cream with the icing sugar and the vanilla to firm peaks, a little stiffer than you would for a bowl. Nothing is holding this one up but itself.
4. Tip the berries into a sieve set over a bowl and leave them to drain for five minutes. The pink syrup that collects belongs in a glass with soda water and ice, not in the pastry.
5. Stir the second tablespoon of conserve until it is loose enough to spoon. Do not thin it with water, which undoes the reason it is here.
6. Stand the twelve cases on the board they will go to the table on, a finger apart, and leave them there. Everything from here is easier to carry empty than full.
7. Press half a teaspoon of the plain whipped cream into the base of each case, out to the edges. This is the seal, and it is why the fruit above it never reaches the pastry.
8. Fold two-thirds of the crushed meringue through the rest of the cream. Ten seconds, and stop while the streaks still show.
9. Spoon the meringue cream into the cases, a heaped teaspoon each, finishing just above the rim.
10. Top each one with the drained strawberries, a whole raspberry and a quarter teaspoon of the loosened conserve.
11. Shatter the reserved meringue over the tray as it leaves the kitchen, and serve within 20 minutes.

The 20 minute window, and how to buy more of it

Sugar pulls water towards itself, so meringue starts dissolving the moment it meets cream. Folded through, it softens to marshmallow in about 20 minutes, which is pleasant and is not the point. The third you keep back in the bag is the insurance: crushed over at the last second, it is still audible when the tray gets to the far side of the room.

Everything else can be done early. Macerate the berries up to four hours ahead and drain them just before you assemble. Whip the cream and keep it covered in the fridge for up to two hours, and crush the meringue the day before. Sealed in their pack the cases keep for months; opened in a humid kitchen they soften in an afternoon, and three minutes at 150°C on a dry tray brings the snap back. Cool them completely, and the assembly really is four minutes.

For the same fruit with no pastry involved, balsamic strawberries with shortbread and cream uses 500g of strawberries and a good bottle of balsamic. The guide to the Confiletas shells covers which shape suits which filling.

Questions we get asked

What is Eton Mess?

Crushed meringue, whipped cream and macerated strawberries, folded together so the dessert looks broken. The name comes from Eton College, where it is a summer fixture. The whole idea is a contrast between crisp, soft and sharp, and tartlets change the format while keeping the contrast.

Can you make Eton Mess ahead of time?

The parts, yes. The whole, no. Berries, cream, crushed meringue and cases can all be ready hours or days ahead, in four separate containers. Once they are combined the clock starts, so combine them where the dessert is being eaten. Treating it as a kit rather than a recipe is what makes it work for a crowd.

Why does the meringue go soft?

Because it is doing its job. Meringue is mostly sugar, sugar draws in moisture, and cream and fruit are full of it. Drain the fruit properly, whip the cream firmly so it holds its water rather than weeping, and keep a handful of meringue dry and separate until the last moment. A tray left overnight is soft, pink and still good to eat, but the crunch is gone and the crunch was the argument.

Keep a pack in the cupboard and this is a dessert you can decide on at short notice: the mini sweet pastry cases are stocked beside the wider Confiletas range, with more summer table ideas on the festive entertaining shelf. If you would rather send dessert than assemble it, the Christmas hampers are packed by hand in Corio. Shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100.