Eton mess — strawberries with homemade meringue and whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 110°C, conventional heat, without the fan. Line a large baking sheet with parchment, without greasing. The bowl and beaters should be clean and dry, with no grease. Weigh 60 g whites without traces of yolk; the approximate egg count does not replace weighing. Keep the cream refrigerated until whipping.

Beat the whites until finely foamy with soft peaks. Then add the 120 g sugar a spoonful at a time, beating continuously and waiting briefly before each addition. Once all sugar is added, beat for a few more minutes until thick and glossy, holding a stiff peak, with sugar crystals almost imperceptible. Scrape the foam from the bowl sides into the center.

Divide all the meringue into 12 portions as equal as possible on the parchment, leaving gaps. Use a spoon to shape low mounds about 5 cm in diameter and up to 2 cm high. Use all the bowl contents; no piping bag or precise pattern is needed. All the dried meringues go into the six dessert servings.

Dry the meringues for about 90–105 minutes on the lower-middle oven level. They should be pale, dry and lift easily from the parchment, without a moist chewy center. Turn off the oven, open the door slightly and leave for about 45–60 minutes until completely cold. Only cold meringue goes into the cream; cracks do not matter because everything will be broken up.

Wash, dry and hull the strawberries; weigh 450 g prepared fruit. Mash 150 g with the 15 g sugar using a fork into a thick raw sauce. Cut the remaining 300 g into quarters or bite-size pieces. Reserve 100 g of these for the top and 200 g for folding into the cream. Leave the fruit for about 10 minutes, keeping all released juice. Refrigerate until assembly; do not strain the sauce.

Just before serving, pour the 300 g cold cream into a chilled bowl and add the 15 g powdered sugar. Whip until thickened with soft drooping peaks. Stop before it becomes stiff or grainy; folding will thicken it a little more. Do not add gelatin or extra cream to thin it.

Break ten cold meringues by hand into irregular pieces, mostly about 1–2 cm. Keep the fine crumbs too. Break the remaining two separately for the top. Do not grind meringue into powder: larger pieces provide crunch. This dessert uses the entire batch, without discarding bases or cracked pieces.

Add the pieces of ten meringues and 200 g cut strawberries with their juice to all the whipped cream. Gently fold two or three times with a spatula. Add all the mashed sauce and its juice, then make one or two more broad folds, leaving red streaks and white pieces. Do not mix into uniformly pink cream and do not leave the finished mixture chilling for a long time.

Divide the entire mixture among 6 bowls or dessert glasses, each holding about 250–300 ml. Top each with a share of the reserved 100 g strawberries, distributing all their juice and the crumbs of the final two meringues too. Serve immediately while meringue is still crisp. Do not add mint, extra fruit, sauces or cream; the top uses only ingredients reserved from the recipe.

Dry cold meringues can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept airtight in a dry place. Prepare the fruit the same day and keep covered in the refrigerator; whip the cream just before assembly. The combined dessert softens quickly; refrigerate any leftovers immediately and eat by the next day, expecting the meringue to lose its crunch. Do not leave the cream dessert standing in a warm place for long.