Portia’s Eggless Pavlova

Pavlova .. without eggs .. how is this possible?

With a little help from aquafaba (chickpea brine) it is! Grant is really quite excited that he can now enjoy this traditional Kiwi favourite once again without reacting to egg.

This plant based pav can be a bit tricky to make (but in my experience so is the regular one). Making it in layers works best – or create little mini pav’s.

Humidity can affect results, if you are left with crumbles or sticky disks create an Eton Mess by breaking up the pieces and layering in parfait glasses with the other ingredients.

The original recipe for this desert was spotted in a magazine at the Doctors office, it was from the Healthy Food Guide – as far as a pav goes it does have a little less sugar than usual.

Our daughter Portia tried the recipe at home but it wasn’t quite to her liking so this is her version which is plant based and doesn’t have chia seeds as they are a little heavy and made flatter pav’s.

Portia’s Eggless Pavlova

400g can of chickpeas, no salt added. Chilled overnight.

1 tablespoon xanthan gum

3/4 cup caster sugar

pinch of cream of tartar

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

For layering/topping

Make your own ‘cream’ with this recipe, or use Raglan Coconut Yoghurt, Raspberry & Lime

400ml coconut cream. Chilled overnight

2 tablespoons maple sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

Berries of your choice, I used raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, you’ll need about 3 punnets

Method

Drain the chickpeas reserving the chickpea water (aquafaba) Refridgerate the chickpeas and use in another recipe. Preheat the over to 150c and line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.

Whisk the aquafaba and cream of tartar in a mixer with whisk attachment until glossy, then add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, keep whisking until the sugar has dissolved and peaks are forming, now add the xantham gum and vanilla essence and whisk briefly until combined.

Next shape the mixture into 16cm rounds, you will have about six. The more layers the better so keep going if you have more.

Place in the oven but turn it down 100c, bake for about an hour or until the outside is firm and crisp. Turn the oven off and leave them to cool with the door agar.

When you are ready to assemble your pav get the coconut cream out of the fridge, tip off liquid milk then put the rest into your mixer and whisk into peaks with vanilla essence and maple syrup.

Or for a quick topping use coconut yoghurt.

Spread the yoghurt or cream over one of your meringues and put the next meringue on top and repeat the process until the final layer that you place the berries on top of. Also put berries around the outside of the pav on the dish.

Once your pav is fully assembled it eat it within a couple of hours for the best texture.