How to upgrade Eton Mess

[OMGitsnotgood]

I absolutely love Eton Mess, one of my favourite desserts. It’s often mentioned on MN as it’s quick and easy. But I am loathe to serve it to guests as it is a bit of a lazy dessert. I’ve an event coming up where this would be perfect for a largish group of people. What would you do to make it more exciting / less lazy?
Thanks goo

Make the pavlova instead

I suppose you could make lots of small individual ones.

Mascrapone, vanilla pod, posh custard? You can mix the masc. With the whipped cream and layer with the custard?

Also you can caramelise nuts by putting regular sugar in frying pan and make it melt til light brown then add nuts and spread the mix on something cold and flat. Then when cooled you can smash it up and add it to the topping?

Individual portions layered in glasses with some white chocolate bark or shortbread sticking out? Had this at a dinner party once and it looked very effective. They used curved water glasses, but wine glasses etc would look good too.

I had one at a restaurant that had masses of rum in it and passion fruit and mango as fruit - amazing!!

Do you make it from scratch? I.e. make the meringue and coulis? Delia has a (from scratch) recipe in her Summer Collection, it's glorious & I don't think it needs any enhancement!

I think it’s the presentation that makes the difference because it’s a delicious combination

Strawberry pavlova and home made stawberry shortbread to serve with.

Or

Make a blackforest version with chocolate meringue , cherries, whipped cream...

So I do a pimped up family sharing version 🤣 I have a chocolate fondue type thing from which I put melted chocolate in the middle. Then in the sections all around it I do lots of different fruit - bananas, strawberries, raspberries etc and then I have in addition to the usual jug of strawberry sauce, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce (for the banana Eton mess) mini pavlovas if they don’t want the crushed ones in different colours, bowls of crushed pavlovas and whipped cream, the kids (and big kids) can also have sprinkles
always goes down well!

I think if you want to make it look good you need to go down an individual meringue or pavlova route.

If you’re sticking with Eton mess you could serve in individual glasses with a drizzle of fruit coulis to make it prettier.

Also sometimes for something different we do a banoffee Eton mess with bananas, crushed up shortbread and caramel sauce mixed in with the meringue and cream.

I recently ordered Eton Mess for dessert, expected strawberries but it was blackberries and raspberries and it was divine

blobs posh curds - lime, mango, passion fruit etc

Use lemon curd , raspberry, whipped cream and meringue

Rhubarb , stem ginger , cream and meringue

Gooseberry , elderflower , etc

Serve in individual glasses

Lemon curd and raspberries and/or blueberries served in individual glasses. Or rose water cream with raspberries and decorated with edible flowers.
Lemon posset with lemon shortbread as an alternative. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lemonpossetwithlemon_85812 also add lemon rind to the shortbread

It’s upsetting that anyone thinks of something as delicious as Eton Mess as a lazy dessert - though I’m assuming you are making the meringue, whipping the cream and either picking or paying for top quality strawberries.

I remember once hearing my worst ever landlady complaining about how tired she was to her husband because she’d spent the day making things like strawberry mousse for a fancy picnic. And I just thought, what the fuck is wrong with strawberries and cream? In season it is the best food that exists.

Elevate with flower sprinkles? 😃

So many lovely suggestions, thank to everyone but this one is my winner I think.
Lots of ideas as for other occasions so thanks again

Make a pavlova instead.

Or individual meringue nests. Fiona Cairns has a wonderful recipe for these with wild strawberries, if you can get hold of them (but of course it works with other berries too!).

If you want something different and equally easy, you could make Swedish Meringue Suisse. Pile up lightly crushed meringues (ideally homemade, but you don't need to bother piping or anything) with softly whipped double cream, and then drizzle generously with melted plain/dark chocolate and top with flaked almonds which you have toasted in salted butter in a frying pan. I love the sharpness of berries in Eton mess, but Meringue Suisse is also delicious in a different way. The almonds are amazing.

Thanks all. It’s the crushed meringues with the cream I particularly like (although have made large and individual Pavlova’s in the past).