Who doesn’t love meringue? With its light, airy texture and crunch factor, it’s long been a summertime favourite and welcome item on any dessert table. But for those following a plant-based diet, this dessert doesn’t exactly fit the bill. Thankfully, vegan baking has seen plenty of innovation in recent years, which allows us to have our cake and eat it, too.
Making a vegan meringue
If you haven’t heard of aquafaba, you’ll be happy to welcome it into your kitchen repertoire. Aquafaba is the water in which legumes have been cooked. Yes, you heard right — it’s the water that usually goes down the sink when we drain our tinned beans. When you whisk this bean juice, it mimics the functional properties of egg whites, thus making a fantastic vegan substitute in meringue, macarons and pavlovas. To replace one egg, you’ll need two tablespoons of aquafaba. To create a meringue-like texture, whisk it on high until it reaches a frothy consistency.
Pro tip: Avoid the salted tinned varieties, or your recipe will taste very beany and have a strong smell! Look for chickpeas in water or white beans in water as the two main (or only) ingredients.
What about the beans?
The plant fibre found in beans will naturally improve the texture of low-fat baked goods, making them dense and fudgy. Bean purée can replace 75 per cent of added oil in a recipe (replace the other 25 per cent with yoghurt for the best results). You can use black beans in chocolate recipes, and white beans in lighter-coloured baked goods. Beans can make your baking denser, so for best results use them in fudgy recipes, such as brownies or mud cakes, and always use a salt-free variety to avoid a bean-scented dessert.
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
For the lemon curd
For the meringue
Method
To make the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan-forced). Line a 12-hole standard muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, cornflour, sugar and sea salt together.
- In a separate bowl mix the rice milk, apple sauce, vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry and fold through until just incorporated.
- Fill the cupcake liners until they are three-quarters full.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
- Stand for 5 minutes before turning out, topside up, onto a wire rack to cool.
To make the lemon curd
- To make the lemon curd, combine all the lemon curd ingredients in a small saucepan over a medium–high heat.
- Whisk continuously for 5 to 7 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and thickened.
- Remove from the heat and allow it to cool completely.
- Cut a deep hole in the top of each cooled cupcake with a small piping tip. Be careful not to cut through to the bottom of the cupcake.
- Fill each hole with lemon curd.
To make the meringue
- Drain the chickpeas and reserve 145 ml of chilled chickpea water (aquafaba) in a large glass or metal mixing bowl. You want the bowl to be completely clean and free of grease. You can use lemon juice to clean the bowl and rinse before use.
- Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the aquafaba and cream of tartar on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Continue mixing and add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time until it’s incorporated. Once all the sugar is added continue whisking for a further minute.
- Add the vanilla and whisk for another 30 seconds.
- Spoon the meringue into a piping (icing) bag with a large star-shaped nozzle and pipe it onto the cupcakes.
- Place under a preheated grill (broiler) until lightly golden, or use a small blowtorch to brown them.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Words by Nicole Maree.
