Eton Mess

I have a character in my book called Eton Mess. Luckily, this isn't him blended up with some meringue. No, it's the much more pleasant strawberries-raspberries-and-any-other-summer-berries version. Hail in the summer with this traditional English treat; eaten, supposedly, at the school of the same name during exam period. Who ever knew?

Eaton Mess
Prep time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4 

Ingredients
250g summer berries: I used
-100g raspberries
-50g blueberries
-100g strawberries
but feel free to add redcurrants/blackberries etc.
1 and a half meringue nests
1 tsp fruit cordial, e.g. elderflower, plum, ginger.
 200ml double cream
Mint leaves and a few more berries, to garnish.

Method

1. Put 4 wine glasses/desert glasses in the fridge to cool.
2. Divide your fruit into half. With one half, roughly cut the fruits. Then, whisk them in a blender to a thick puree.
   
3. Whisk the double cream in a bowl until it starts to get stiff, but not unmixable
   
4. Fold in the fruit puree.
   
5. Chop the other half of fruit neatly and add to the cream as well.
6. Crush one nest of meringue roughly with a fork, so the pieces are unevenly sized dust to large breadcrumbs.
   
7. Add the meringue to the cream as well and mix.
8. Crush the half a nest and divide it equally between each glass.
   
9. Spoon the cream and fruit over the meringue.
   
10. On each glass, place a token raspberry or strawberry and a mint leaf for decoration.