I’ve learned to be skeptical about vegan substitutes. While I try to keep an open mind, it would take some serious persuasion to get me to try another avocado-based chocolate mousse.
Substituting aquafaba — the residual water leftover from cooking chickpeas — works surprisingly well, though.
As far as I can tell, this can be used like any French meringue. It can be piped with a star tip into flower-like rounds. I usually more roughly pile the meringue out into larger disks ready to use in a pavlova.
Ingredients
- 200 g aquafaba
- 1 g cream of tartar
- 100 g sugar
Method
Pour the aquafaba into the bowl of a stand mixer along with the cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment, mix on a medium speed until the mixture is light and frothy. This should take a few minutes.
Then raise the speed of the mixer to very high, and slowly pour in the sugar. Keep whisking the mixture until it’s smooth, glossy, and holds stiff peaks. This should take around 5 to 7 more minutes, but will depend on the mixer.
Preheat an oven to 95 °C (200 °F).
Pipe or spread the meringue onto a baking tray lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.
Bake the meringues until the surface has set to the touch. Depending on size, this could take anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours depending on the