During the warmer summer months I love bright and light flavors such as lemon and passion fruit.
Just like my vegan pavlova, these vegan meringue nests are airy, sweet, and light. You can also serve it with vegan orange curd!
You can make this vegan meringue and curd a few days in advance and store them in an airtight container. They do require a bit of preparation in advance. So I recommend getting them ready the day before or early on the day of serving. Once you have all the prep out of the way you can just assemble the vegan mini pavlovas when you're ready to serve.
I created this recipe in collaboration with Nature’s Charm Vegan Products. Their vegan sweetened condensed oat milk creates a deliciously smooth bright, and zest lemon passion fruit curd recipe. The tangy curd complements the sweetness of the meringue nests so well!
These vegan mini pavlovas come together with a lemon passion fruit whipped cream made using Nature's Charm's coconut whipping cream. This coconut cream whips up like a dream, every time!
What is vegan meringue made of?
You might be wondering how can I make meringue egg-free? Well, it's all thanks to the wonderful world of aquafaba. Aquafaba, based on the Latin words for “water” and “bean” was coined by Goose Wohlt. Goose discovered that when chickpea brine is whipped, it has the properties of egg whites.
Thanks to this discovery we can now make vegan meringue, vegan pavlova, and not to mention all the other useful ways in which aquafaba replaces egg whites.
Ingredients needed
- Aquafaba is the egg replacer and the main ingredient of vegan meringue or vegan pavlova recipes. It will become light and foamy when you incorporate air into it, just like egg whites.
- Apart from aquafaba, sugar is the main ingredient in meringue or pavlova. It creates a dense structure and helps to prevent the protein from drying out. The more sugar you add, the glossier and firmer the beaten aquafaba will become.
- Cream of tartar is a stabilizer and helps to create a stronger and more stable meringue.
- Cornflour/cornstarch is a really important step as cornstarch stabilizes the vegan meringue mixture, helping it to keep its structure when baked.
Why do I need to reduce aquafaba?
This step is not always necessary. Although I do recommend it as reducing the aquafaba increases its potency and makes the consistency a closer match to egg whites. A lot of the time when I buy canned chickpeas the aquafaba can be quite watery. You're looking for a liquid that has a similar viscosity to egg whites.
I recommend reducing the aquafaba the night before, or at the very least two hours in advance.
How to reduce aquafaba
- Add the aquafaba to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer until it has reduced by half in volume.
- After 5 minutes of simmering, check the volume by pouring the liquid into a bowl on your weighing scales or measure the volume by cups (be careful as it’s going to be hot!). If there's more than half of the original liquid volume continue to simmer until it reduces to half.
- Allow the aquafaba to cool to room temperature and pour it into a jar and refrigerate to chill.
What is vegan lemon curd made of?
- Lemon Juice and lemon zest: The main ingredient for this curd. I always recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice in recipes, and in particular lemon curd recipes.
- Passion fruit pulp: Consider this vegan lemon curd with a tropical twist! Using passion fruit with lemon is not new to the world of desserts and that's because they are a match made in heaven. The sweet tropical notes of passionfruit help to balance out the bright zesty lemon. If you'd like to keep this curd 100% lemon, simply double the quantity of lemon juice in place of the passion fruit.
- Vegan butter: Vegan butter adds richness to the curd as well as is a setting agent.
- Caster sugar: Sugar counters the bitterness of the lemon juice. Sugar also provides structure to lemon curd.
- Cornstarch: Also known as cornflour. This is the thickening agent that replaces the properties of eggs in regular lemon curd.
- Sweetened condensed oat milk or Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk: This finishes off the vegan lemon curd with a beautifully smooth, silky consistency and sweet flavor.
More vegan meringue recipes
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Description
Ingredients
Meringue Nests
- 1 cup (236 g) aquafaba, *see notes
- 1 ¼ cups (250 g) caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon (1.5 g) cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) cornflour/cornstarch, sifted, plus extra for dusting
Lemon Passion Fruit Curd
- ½ cup (118 ml) lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- ½ cup (118 g) passion fruit pulp, approx 7-8 small passion fruit
- 100 g vegan butter
- ½ cup (100 g) caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon (6 g) lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons (30 g) cornflour/cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) water
- 100 g sweetened condensed oat milk , or Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk
Lemon Passion Fruit Cream
- 400 ml chilled coconut whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla bean paste
- 3 tablespoons (57 g) reserved lemon passion fruit curd
Instructions
Meringue Nests
- The first step is reducing the aquafaba, this can be done the night before or at least two hours in advance of making the recipe. Add the aquafaba to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow it to simmer until it has reduced by half in volume. After 5 minutes of simmering, check the volume by pouring the liquid into a bowl on your weighing scales or measure the volume by cups (be careful as it’s going to be hot!). If there's more than half of the original liquid volume continue to simmer until it reduces to half.
- Allow the aquafaba to cool to room temperature and pour it into a jar and refrigerate to chill.
- Preheat your oven to 100°C (212°F). Line a baking pan with some parchment paper and dust with a thin layer of cornflour - this will make it easier to lift the meringues once they are ready and prevent them from sticking to the paper.
- Take a large clean bowl, and make sure it's completely dry and free of any grease. Add the aquafaba and cream of tartar to a large bowl and whisk on high speed for 10 minutes until soft peaks form.
- Add the caster sugar one tablespoon at a time while continuing to whisk and incorporate the sugar into the aquafaba. Whisk in each tablespoon for about 30 seconds before adding the next. Continue this process until you have incorporated all of the sugar, then whisk for another 10 minutes until thick and glossy.
- Carefully fold the cornstarch through the meringue mixture using a spatula until it is just incorporated - do not over-mix.
- Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe nests onto the baking tray, leaving a well in the center. Allow a couple of inches between each next.
- Bake in the oven for 2 hours. Once ready, leave the meringues in the oven for another 15 minutes with the door ajar. Take the tray out of the oven and allow the meringues to cool completely for another 30-60 minutes before removing them from the tray.
Lemon Passion Fruit Curd
- Scoop the flesh and pass it through a sieve to separate out the seeds. Use the back of a spoon to press and squeeze out all of the pulp. Reserve the seeds for later.
- Add the butter to a saucepan and melt over medium heat. Add in the lemon juice, passion fruit pulp, caster sugar, and lemon zest and simmer for 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and water to form a paste. Add the cornstarch mix to the saucepan and simmer for another 3 minutes, whilst whisking vigorously.
- Remove from the heat and add the sweetened condensed coconut mil, whisk well to combine. Lastly, add 1 tablespoon of the reserved passion fruit seeds back to the curd and mix well. Allow it to cool to room temperature for 30 minutes or so before transferring it to the fridge to chill until ready to use.
Lemon Passion Fruit Cream
- Add the chilled coconut whipping cream to a large bowl and whisk for 30 seconds to a minute until thickened. Add the vanilla bean paste and 3 tablespoons of the cooled lemon passion fruit curd and whisk again to combine.
- Transfer the cream to a piping bag until ready to assemble the mini pavlovas.
Assembly
- Add a couple of tablespoons of the lemon passion fruit curd to the center of each meringue nest. Pipe a layer of the lemon passion fruit cream on top, followed by more curd, and serve immediately.
Storage
- If you don’t plan on serving all of these at once, store the meringue nests in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days. Store the curd and cream in jars or covered bowls in the fridge and assemble the pavlovas just before serving.
Notes
- Aquafaba: The liquid part from tinned chickpeas.
Nutrition
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