Eton Mess Strawberry Sponge Cake

When you love puddings and adore cake what could be better than blending them together. This Eton Mess Strawberry Sponge Cake is exactly that. The luscious strawberry, cream and meringue of the classic Eton Mess dessert combined with light and moist Victoria sponge cake flavoured with yet more strawberries.

It should’ve been Wimbledon tennis tournament just now. All sunshine and strawberries and cream. Andy Murray and the UK all becoming tennis mad for two weeks of glorious fun. Well while we have lost Wimbledon this year there is no need for us to lose the traditional strawberries and cream.

However, let’s try serving them in a slightly different way. In cake form of course with this delicious Eton Mess strawberry sponge cake!

Eton Mess

For those who maybe don’t know about the famous dessert Eton Mess here’s a bit of background. The dessert is made up of broken meringues, whipped cream and strawberries. It was first served at Eton College in England and was first written about back in 1893. It is traditionally served at the annual cricket match between Eton College and Harrow School.

How to make meringues

So this recipe starts with the meringues you’ll need to make the Eton Mess. Now don’t panic, meringues are dead easy to make. They are just egg whites and sugar with a pinch of salt. Whip up those egg whites like mad till they are firm peaks. You should be able to hold the bowl above your head without anything untoward happening to your hair-do.

Now add in the salt and the sugar just a little at a time and keep up the whisking. I use my hand held blender with whisk attachment for this.

Bake your meringues in a moderate oven (140C) for about 1 hour till they are just coloured and are crisp on the outside but still have a bit of chew in the middle. Some folks like their meringues to be crisp the whole way through like the store bought type. It’s completely up to you.

Meringue making – Pro tips

• The bowl must be spotlessly clean with no grease in it. Plastic bowls are more difficult to remove grease from completely. Use glass or metal instead if possible.
• No egg yolk at all!
• Eggs must be at room temperature
• If your  egg white deflate when you add the sugar you can always add a little cream of tarter or lemon juice. Or you can whisk up another egg white in a separate bowl and then when firm add spoonfuls of the other meringue mix to this one and keep whisking.

How long will meringues keep?

They will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. And yes you can freeze them too for up to a month.

Cheat

buy meringues to make this Eton Mess if you can’t be bothered making them. They won’t be as good as homemade but at least you will be making the whole Eton mess strawberry sponge cake recipe so cut yourself some slack.

Strawberry sponge cake

This is the base of the whole cake. It is my usual Victoria sponge cake but with a luxurious and oh so rich and fruity strawberry syrup actually inside the cake batter itself and then drizzled over the baked cake when it has cooled a bit.

Yes, I know, I do tend to do a lot of cakes with drizzles. Why? Because I love the way this adds extra flavour to my sponge cakes and also makes them more moist. Not only that, these drizzle style cakes last longer. Well, that’s if they aren’t  gobbled up right away!

Strawberry syrup

This all-important drizzle syrup is made up of just 3 ingredients; Strawberries, sugar and my infamous strawberry and lavender gin. Now the last ingredient in purely optional, but hell, if you’ve made this gorgeous gin liqueur then you’ll be wanting to make the most of it. If you don’t have it no worries, you can add a dash or normal gin or leave the whole booze element out.

This syrup goes into the cake batter before you bake the cake. Then it’s drizzled over the naked cake and then it comes into play a third time when you have added all that luxurious and delicious Eton Mess topping to your cake.

There are no calories whatsoever in this cake!!!!!

Get jammin’!

Before you even get to the Eton Mess part of the cake topping you want to add some jam. A Victoria Sponge would never be seen without a layer of good old strawberry jam. I have a variety of strawberry jam recipes you can use here;

Strawberry and elderflower Jam

Italian inspired strawberry jam

Strawberry and redcurrant jam

Strawberry gin jam

I am of course opting for the strawberry gin jam because I’ve already used my strawberry and lavender gin in the syrup and it would now be rude not to use the jam too.

How to make Eton Mess

Whip up the Eton Mess as if you were making the pudding itself. As I’ve already said, it’s just a mix of whipped cream, strawberries and broken meringue. However for this cake topping we are making this a Chantilly Cream by adding vanilla extract and a little icing sugar for sweetness. Actually I have also used a little Greek yogurt in my Chantilly cream recipe. I like that tiny bit of sharpness it brings.

Make sure you break the meringue up into small pieces and chop the strawberries up small as well.  Add the vanilla and icing sugar to the cream and whip it till it forms peaks. Then carefully fold in the little pieces of meringue and the strawberries.

Infused strawberries

Back tracking a wee bit here, this Eton mess strawberry sponge cake is of course topped with lots of lovely juicy strawberry slices. Now let’s get one thing straight here, this cake is pretty damn delicious and one might actually call it a fully loaded cake. There is just more and more gorgeous goodness involved.

I infused the strawberry slices in my strawberry and lavender gin before I baked the cake base. You could infuse them in any booze you like of course. Okay so you don’t have to do this but it does add an extra luxury element to this delightful dessert cake. Drink the strawberry gin once you’ve whipped out the strawberry slices. Waste not want not and all that!

What size is this cake

This is my standard 2 egg sponge cake recipe. I used an 18cm deep round cake tin. This gave me a cake approximately 4cm deep. It is a single layer cake as it has such a creamy rich topping. I got 8 good slices from this sponge cake. You could push it to 10 small slices.

Assembling the cake

Once you have the jam on the cake and are slathering on the creamy Eton mess topping make sure you have enough cream just to skim the edges of the cake all the way round. You don’t want a thick layer of cream round the cake. Just enough to cover the sides and hide the sponge itself.

Lay the strawberry slices in circles on the top of the creamy topping. Add a sprinkling of more meringue pieces. Some toasted almond flakes for extra crunch. Then drizzle on yet more of the strawberry syrup so it pools around and slithers down the sides of the cake here and there. Chuck on a few wee mint leaves and you’re done.

Voila!

How long will this cake keep?

Because this cake uses fresh cream in the topping it will only last 2 days in the fridge.

Can you freeze this cake?

Yes, you can freeze the strawberry sponge cake before you add all the cream and extras. Just wrap the sponge carefully in cling film and pop into a freezer bag and it will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months., Defrost completely then do all the fun assembling and decorating.

This cake would make the perfect dessert for a summer supper party. Or serve it at an afternoon tea or garden party should you happen to be hosting such a thing. However you serve this luxurious cake I am sure it will go down a treat with your family and friends.

Looking for more fabulous cake ideas? Then check these out;

Coffee and walnut cake with cardamom

Gin and tonic lemon drizzle cake

Coconut lemon and ginger cake

Rhubarb and ginger cake

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.