Pavlova cake is named after the Russian Ballerina, Anna Pavlova, from her time touring in Australia and New Zealand. Supposably, a chef at the Wellington hotel created the cake for the dancer, claiming it reminded him of her tutu!!

Because I adore ballet, and adore meringue, it only seemed logical we try to veganize this classic dessert.

Well like a lot of things I things I try and veganzie, this one took many attempts and the result wasn’t exactly like I had imagined, but eventually we got a cake we were happy with. Even though I could not quite get the marshmallow center I wanted, I got a delicious meringue cake, and I can live with that!

Traditional Pavlova is made with egg white meringue that is marshmalllowy inside. In this vegan version is we use sweet, whipped, aquafaba to replace the eggs and made a drier meringue to help hold its shape.

The result is a perfectly, light, delicate meringue cake, filled with sweet lemon tofu ricotta and fresh berries.

This cake requires patients as it takes a long time to bake and dry out. I promise it’s worth every minute it takes. This vegan Pavlova makes for the most impressively beautiful, light, and delicious dessert and will surely impress anyone who tries it!

INGREDIENTS:

Liquid from 1 can of chickpeas
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
3-4 cups mixed berries, strawberries, blueberries, black berries, or raspberries
Fresh mint for garnish

LEMON RICOTTA :

1 block extra firm tofu
Juice from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup maple syrup, or a few tablespoons agave

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Add chickpea liquid, powdered sugar, cream of tarter, vinegar, and tapioca starch to a stand mixer, and mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes or until a very stiff meringue has formed. If you need to use a hand electric mixer, add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix by hand until a stiff meringue has formed, don’t give up. It takes a while but will come together.
Prepare 2 baking sheets by covering in parchment paper. Draw an 8 inch circle on each sheet of parchment then flip the sheet over. Divide the meringue between the 2 circle. Spread the meringue evenly to fit the circles using the back of a spoon.
Bake the Pavlova for 2 1/2- 3 hours or until you can insert a tooth pick or cake tester into the center and the meringues are dry. Remove from the oven to cool completely. (ours took 3 hours but bake times will vary depending on ovens)
Add the tofu, lemon and maple syrup to a food processor or high speed blender, and process until completely smooth.
Divide the tofu ricotta in half. Lightly spread half of the ricotta over one of the meringues. Thinly slice some strawberries and evenly spread them over the ricotta. You can add some tother berries as well, just nestle them into the ricotta.
Place the second meringue on top of the first. Add the other half of the ricotta to the center of the meringue and spread it out a little. Pile up the remaining fruit on top of the ricotta. Garnish with mint.
Serve immediately. The liquid from the ricotta and fruit will eventually break down the meringues. If you wish to bake the meringues and serve later, store them in an airtight container and add ricotta and fruit when ready to serve. Any moisture in the air will cause the meringues to get sticky and they will no longer be dry and flakey, the way you want them to be. Storing them in an airtight container is essential!
Slice to serve.

If you like this recipe, try these:

No Bake Vegan Strawberry Pie

Southern Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

Sweet Aquafaba Whip

vegan meringue cake with sweet lemon tofu ricotta and fresh berries

If you are even remotely southern, you have probably had classic banana pudding in your lifetime.

Sweet vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, vanilla wafter cookies, topped with the most perfect, light and fluffy, golden brown peeked meringue!

It’s a work of art and a thing of beauty. I dream about banana pudding at night. So what is one to do when they can’t wait for dessert? You turn your favorite dessert into breakfast, obviously!

So may I introduce you to the vegan banana pudding pancakes! Perfectly fluffy pancakes, vanilla pudding, bananas, crushed vegan vanilla wafers. and sweet aquafaba meringue! I can not think of a better way to start my day than with these pancakes!

INGREDIENTS:

1 batch sweet aquafaba meringue
3-4 bananas, sliced
1 cup vegan vanilla wafter cookies, crushed (use store bought or follow the link to our homemade recipe)

For the pudding:

3 1/2 cups diary free milk ( we used almond)
1/4 cup tapioca or corn starch
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

For the Pancakes:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanila extract
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 cups non dairy milk

Instructions:

Prepare the aquafaba meringue according to instructions and set aside
Add the ingredients for the pudding to a medium/large sized pot. Whisk in the starch so there are no lumps, and heat the mixture over medium heat. Continue to stir the mixture for about 5 minutes or until it has thickened to thin pudding consistency. You don’t want the pudding too thick because you want to be able to drizzle it over the pancakes. Once pudding has thickened, remove from stove top and set aside.
Whisk dry pancake ingredients together. Add in the wet ingredients and mix until there are no lumps.
Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of butter or some spray oil to the pan. Once the pan is nice and hot, scoop out pancake batter using a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Do not over crowed the pan. When tiny bubbles form and pop in the batter, the pancakes are ready to flip. If you notice the pancakes are too dark or beginning to burn, reduce the heat on your stove. Repeat with remaining pancake batter.
On a baking sheet, make stacks of pancakes 3-4 high. If you want you can spread a little pudding between each pancake in the stack. I think it makes them extra yummy, but you can also just wait and drizzle it on at the end. Scoop a large dollop of sweet aquafaba whip on top of each stack. Set oven to broil. Once the coils are red in the oven, place the pan inside and DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF OF THE PANCAKES FOR EVEN A SECOND!!!! You just want the meringue to brown at the peeks. it will go from beautiful golden brown, to inedible black char in a matter of seconds, so once the aquafaba has started to brown, remove the pan from the oven.
Using a spatula, transfer pancakes to a plate. Drizzle each pancake stack with vanilla pudding, and top with sliced bananas and crushed cookies.

Serves 4-6