Eton Mess Style Summer Chocolate Bark Recipe
When the sun is shining and you’re enjoying a warm summer day, it’s easy to grab an ice cream or ice cream-based dessert from the freezer and call it a day. After all, they’re synonymous with summer. However, if you’re looking to broaden your horizons, there are plenty of more inspiring desserts and treats to add a little variety to your day. One such bright, summery treat is this Eton Mess-style Summer Chocolate Bark recipe, created by Tasting Table recipe creator Jennine Rye.
Inspired by the classic British summer dessert Eton Mess, this creamy and fruity chocolate bark will evoke a summer feeling all year round. The perfect accompaniment to a summer’s day, or a great way to add a little sunshine to the darkness of winter, this Eton-mess chocolate bark is always a winner. Crispy meringue pieces and freeze-dried strawberries are placed in rich, creamy white chocolate, then broken into pieces for a delicious and easy-to-share treat. It makes a great edible gift idea, although you might just want to keep it all for yourself once you’ve had a bite. Read on to find out how easy it is to make this Eton mess-style summer chocolate bark recipe at home.
Read more: 25 Chocolate Brands, Ranked From Worst to Best
Gather the ingredients for this Eton Mess-style summer chocolate bark recipe
To start this Eton mess style summer chocolate bark recipe, you will first need to gather the ingredients. You will need white chocolate, meringues and freeze dried strawberries.
Step 1: Prepare a baking sheet
Line a medium baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2: Crumble the meringues
Gently crumble the meringues into small pieces.
Step 3: Set aside
Reserve the crumbled meringues.
Step 4: Set up a double boiler
Prepare a bain-marie over low heat.
Step 5: Add the chocolate
Add the white chocolate to the bain-marie.
Step 6: Melt the chocolate
Stir until white chocolate is melted.
Step 7: Remove from heat
Remove the melted chocolate from the heat.
Step 8: Pour in the white chocolate
Pour the chocolate onto the prepared baking sheet.
Step 9: Garnish with strawberries and meringue
Sprinkle with meringue pieces and strawberries.
Step 10: Let it harden
Allow to harden completely at room temperature, about 1 hour.
Step 11: Break the chocolate bark
Break the bark into pieces before serving.
Eton Mess Style Summer Chocolate Bark Recipe
What is an Eton Mess?
If you’re a dessert connoisseur or enjoy a taste of British cuisine, you’ve probably had an Eton Mess. As British as red double-decker buses or Wimbledon tennis, Eton Mess is a classic summer dessert made with a few simple ingredients: meringue, strawberries, and cream. Since it contains the exact same ingredients as a pavlova, you might be wondering what the difference is.
Simply put, it’s all about the presentation. While a pavlova is the centerpiece of a dessert, with an elegant swirl of baked meringue topped with whipped cream and adorned with fruit, an Eton Mess is exactly what the name suggests: a (delicious) mess. The meringue is broken into pieces and folded into whipped cream alongside strawberries. Instead of being served in a thick slice, the Eton Mess can be served in bowls and eaten with a spoon. Both are delicious summer dessert options, but an Eton Mess makes for a great failsafe to keep in your back pocket in case your pavlova doesn’t come out of the oven as expected. If anyone dares to question the presentation, you can simply inform them that this dessert has aristocratic roots. First served at the pre-wedding reception of the future King George V, and named after the prestigious private school Eton College, there are few desserts with as many links to the aristocracy as this one.
How do I customize Summer Chocolate Bark?
Chocolate is wonderful in all its forms, and quality is key when it comes to making something that features chocolate as the main ingredient, like this summer bark. When choosing your chocolate for the recipe, it’s important not to skimp. As you browse the chocolate aisle, you may wonder if other types of chocolate would work as well for this recipe. We chose white chocolate because of its smoothness and creaminess, and because it replaces cream in a classic Eton Mess. However, this recipe is just as delicious when made with a particularly creamy milk chocolate. While the richness of dark chocolate makes it less compatible, ruby chocolate is also a great option because of its wonderful fruity flavor and pink hue.
To incorporate the strawberry flavor into your chocolate bark in a different way, you can always mix the strawberry flavoring and pink food coloring into a small portion of melted white chocolate, then fold it into the white chocolate mixture after pouring it onto the baking sheet for a marbled effect. You can also add other strawberry cake toppings and sprinkles, although we don’t recommend fresh strawberries. If you want some extra texture in your chocolate bark, or an alternative to meringue, amaretti cookies add a wonderful almond crunch, as do crushed macarons. Mini marshmallows would add a different finishing touch with their own chewy sweetness.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
