coupe glacée eton mess

Eton Mess Ice Cream

Written by on in Ice cream

The classic eton mess dessert, but with a twist! It’s the eton mess ice cream! The sweet strawberry puree is mixed in with a super creamy ice cream base and dissolve-in-your-mouth crushed meringues. Delicious!

eton mess with a twist

A couple of months ago, I got married and received an ice cream maker as a gift. I’ve got to admit that it must be one of the best gifts I’ve ever received! I believe that my family and friends would also agree:-)

I’m still experimenting with making ice cream, but I think it’s fair to say that one recipe has really stood out so far: the eton mess ice cream.

What is an eton mess?

For those who don’t know what an eton mess is, it’s a British dessert made up of whipped cream, strawberries and crushed meringues. You can of course substitute the strawberries with any other fruit such as raspberries, but strawberries are traditional.

For this version, I’ve decided to take inspiration from our beautiful summer weather and prepare a frozen version instead.

For my eton mess ice cream, I’ve used the same basic ingredients as mentioned above: a chantilly cream base, pureed strawberries and crushed meringues. Unlike many ice creams, this one does not contain any eggs (or it would no longer be an eton mess!).

 eton mess ice cream

How to avoid those pesky ice crystals

I used an ice cream maker for this recipe, but I still ended up with ice crystals. Why? The strawberries! Strawberries are made up of 94% water. They are therefore quite tricky to work with, as the water they contain tends to crystallise whilst making the ice cream.

After several trials, I decided to try and drain as much liquid from the strawberries as possible by letting them macerate in sugar for 30min before preparing the ice cream. It worked and the end result was nice and creamy.

I really loved this recipe and so have all taste testers:-) I look forward to now trying other recipes as I have had to make this one again and again on request!

Eton mess ice cream

The classic eton mess, but in ice cream form! A simple cream-based ice cream mix, with pureed strawberries and crushed meringue mixed-in.

For the strawberries:

  • 350 g (1 ¾ cups) strawberries, hulled and sliced lengthways
  • 50 g (1/4 cups) granulated sugar

For the ice cream mix:

  • 160 ml (2/3 cup) whole milk
  • 300 ml (1 1/3 cups) double cream
  • 100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 50 g (about 5-6) store bought meringues (lightly crushed)

Prepare the strawberries:

  1. Combine the sugar and the strawberries in a small bowl. Cover and leave to macerate in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.
  2. Remove the strawberries from their maceration juice and puree them using a handheld blender.

Prepare the ice cream mix:

  1. Pour the double cream, the sugar and the milk into a pan. Split the vanilla pod down its length using a knife. Use the dull side of the knife to scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod. Place the vanilla seeds in the pan, together with the now empty vanilla pod.
  2. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the hob and let infuse for 30 min. Even better would be to let infuse in the fridge overnight if you can.

  3. Place the mix in the ice cream maker and start churning. The crushed meringue and strawberries will be added towards the end of the churning, so the mix should not be completely frozen and instead have the consistency of a soft serve. In my ice cream maker, this takes about 50 minutes.

Final mix:

  1. After 50 minutes, gently pour in the strawberry puree and continue to churn before adding the crushed meringue.

  2. Depending on the size of your ice cream maker bowl, you may need to fold the meringue in with a spoon to make sure it all fits before churning for the final 5 minutes. Pour into a tub and and freeze until needed.

  3. Freeze for minimum 2h before serving. 

Because of the meringue, the ice cream will need less time to become soft again when pulling out from the freezer.