Vegan mini pavlovas with chocolate | v + gf 

It has been silent here for quite a while now but I’m so excited to be back with a new recipe for you guys. I’m really beginning to feel the spring vibes now (even though it’s snowing today), and that means I’m using more and more summer-y fruits and vegetables when I’m cooking. What I’ve been most obsessed with is definitely berries of different sorts. Still waiting for the first rhubarbs though.

Another thing I’m being more or less obsessed with lately is flowers. We live about 10 minutes away (walking distance) from a big flower shop, which is very dangerous. When I’m out running, I often stop by on my way back to buy some fresh flowers to use in my photos.

When I visited last week, the shop was filled with tulips, anemones, cherry blossoms, and magnolias. It really felt like spring and even though I was super tired after my run, I felt so inspired by all the beauty. And that’s when I got the idea to make a vegan pavlova, top it with summer berries and include some spring flowers in the photos. So, I grabbed my flowers and ran home to experiment with my new recipe.

That first time I made it, it failed completely. The pavlova, well what was supposed to be a pavlova, just floated around on the baking sheet. I figured I needed to use something to hold it together and after googling for a bit I found out that arrowroot, corn starch or potato starch should do the trick. Let’s just say that my second attempt went much better than the first one. It’s all about trial and error, but that’s one of the things I love about this job.

Since it’s not that easy to get your hands on any fresh summer berries at the moment, I decided to save the summer version of the pavlova for later. It’s just not the same when you use frozen berries. But, I still wanted to share a pavlova recipe with you, so I decided to make another version. One with chocolate. And it’s just as delicious, trust me. For the chocolate version, I also decided to make mini pavlovas, rather than a big one.

I hope you’ll like this mini cakes as much as I do. They’re really, really good, I promise. And they’re so easy to make. You only need six ingredients and even though it takes about 4 hours to make them, the recipe is super easy. Most of the time is waiting time so don’t freak out when I say it takes several hours to make. All you need to do is beating the aquafaba for a while, and that’s pretty much it. Let’s have a look at the recipe!

Vegan mini pavlovas with chocolate | v + gf

makes 5 mini pavlovas

3/4 dl aquafaba (chickpea broth*)
1 1/4 dl icing sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 vanilla pod
1-2 tsp raw cacao powder

*broth from canned chickpeas.

Topping

200 ml vegan heavy cream (I used Oatly)
Maple syrup or sugar (optional)
25 g vegan chocolate, shredded

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 100°C.

2. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the aquafaba so that you get a fluffy batter. Continue until stiff peaks begin to form.

3. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue beating so that you get a shiny meringue.

4. Add the lemon juice, cornstarch and vanilla. When the batter seems to be solid, carefully turn the bowl upside down. If it’s ready, the batter stays in the bowl even when turned completely upside down. If not, beat a little bit longer and try again.

5. Add the cacao powder and stir carefully to make a nice swirl (the cacao shouldn’t be completely mixed in).

6. Pour the batter onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Draw a few small circles on the paper beforehand if you think that’ll make it easier for you. The circles should be about 7-8 cm in diameter.

7. Make the edges of the meringue slightly higher than the middle of the pavlova.

8. Bake for 1,5 -2 h in the lower part of the oven.

9. Turn off the oven and leave the pavlovas to cool down (in the oven), which takes about another 2 h.

10. Prepare the topping: add as much maple syrup as wanted (optional) to the heavy cream and beat until fluffy. Personally, I don’t sweeten the cream, but you do as you like.

11. When the pavlovas have cooled down, carefully remove them from the parchment paper.

12. Pour the cream into the middle of the meringue(s).

13. Top with shredded chocolate and serve!