Last week, we talked all about meringue so it’s only fitting that today we make some! This bananas foster Eton mess is essentially a big crunchy, marshmallow-y pillow of baked French meringue topped with whipped cream and bananas swimming in a rum caramel sauce. Literally, what else could you need?

I like any desserts that are called “mess” because it makes me feel like the decorative bar is set so low. The Eton Mess is the ultimate lazy show-stopper. It made it’s first appearance in England in the late 1800s at Eton College’s cricket match (hence the name) and traditionally consists of just meringue, whipped cream, and strawberries. But you guys know how we feel about tradition around here, so I took the liberty of subbing our strawberries for bananas foster. Eton mess is a such a beautiful dessert to showcase whatever fruit you have in season, don’t limit yourself!

For this particular version, a French meringue is spread into a big circle on a sheet pan and then baked low and slow until crisp and the bottom easily releases from the pan. While the meringue is cooling, a simple brown sugar, rum, butter-filled caramel sauce is made and a few past-their-prime bananas are tossed in. Heavy cream gets whipped with a little sweetened condensed milk and everything is very slouchily piled high on the meringue. One thing to note, none of the components of this dessert hold very well on their own and so when you put them together, you have a beautiful dessert that needs to be eaten immediately. If you are making this for a dinner party or other evening soiree, I recommend baking the meringue sometime in the late afternoon, and then making the caramel and whipped cream just before serving (they are both very quick to toss together). Serve immediately after assembling or you will find yourself in a puddle of sweet cream and caramel, which is honestly not a bad thing, but also not exactly what we are going for here.