Eaton Mess - an excuse for dropping the dessert?

Yum!!!! This dessert is indeed "a mess". Surely whomever came up with this name must have scooped some glorious creation off the kitchen table...where I daresay it had fallen out of some hapless maids hands...replated it and came up with this name! To glorious acclaim I hope. I have a sister who loves meringues and so I had to find a way to include them in the dinner menu, along with Three Cheese Gnocchi and  Rosemary and olive bread. Being a bit of a purist I baked the meringues myself, well worth the effort as they taste so much nicer than bought ones. The sauce was  a bit of a concoction, you can use plain berries marinated in a bit of sugar if you prefer. Do not be tempted to sweeten your cream, the meringues will suffice! Healthy? Heck no. Easy? Of course. Delicious? Without a doubt. All my guests oohed and aahed and had second helpings! Enough said.

                                                   Eaton Mess
 This will make enough to feed 8 people dessert

Meringues:
1 egg white (YES!)
1 cup castor sugar
1T vinegar
2T boiling water
1t baking powder
Vanilla - optional

Preheat oven to 100C. Beat egg white, sugar, vinegar and boiling water together till very thick, add baking powder and vanilla and mix in. Drop spoonfuls onto baking paper and bake for 2 hours at 100C. Leave in oven to cool.
For this dessert I dropped great big spoonfuls...as it gets broken up anyway.

Fresh berries/strawberries - marinated in some sugar and if available a little pomegranate juice.
OR: (as above picture): Cook up 200g frozen berries with 2T sugar and minimal drop of water, allow to boil and thicken slightly. When cool, add chosen berries, slicing strawberries if using.

Whip 500ml cream till thick, crumble meringues into cream - some chunky pieces and some finer. Add 2T fruit  and mix through lightly, then layer into glasses or a pretty bowl, alternating fruit and cream mixture. Oh my....DO NOT run to your room with the bowl and eat it alone...YOU WILL get sick!