Vegan pavlova with pistachios and figs
With this three-layer pistachio meringue cake from Dosia bakt vegan, you’ll steal the show. No one can resist a slice of this crunchy nut cake with creamy buttercream.
”Serving the cake straight away? Then you can also use stiffly whipped sweetened vegan cream and mix chopped pistachios through it. The cake won’t be as tall, but it will save you a lot of work!”
Method:
1. Draw three circles approximately 16 cm in diameter on baking paper. Place the baking paper on one or two baking trays. Preheat the oven to 140 °C.
2. Reduce the aquafaba to 120 ml. Leave it to cool completely, then chill it in the refrigerator. For beautifully green nuts, optionally pour some boiling water over the pistachios, leave them to soak briefly and squeeze them out of their dark skins. Pat them dry and place them in a frying pan over very low heat for a few minutes.
3. In the small bowl of a food processor, grind 200 grams of the pistachios while they are still warm into a paste as fine as possible. Leave the rest to cool and finely grind 100 grams of nuts together with the almond flour, icing sugar and cornflour.
4. Degrease the bowl and beaters of the mixer with a little lemon juice. Whisk the aquafaba with the lemon juice until stiff peaks form. Then, while whisking, add the sugar one spoonful at a time. Wait approximately 30 seconds before adding the next spoonful. Whisk until you have a beautifully glossy meringue with no sugar granules remaining. Carefully fold in half of the pistachio–icing sugar mixture. Then fold the other half into the meringue.
5. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag and pipe a neat layer inside the three circles (or spread it out with a spoon). Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 110 °C. Bake the meringue layers for approximately 2 hours. Then turn off the oven and leave them to cool completely and dry further for approximately 5 hours, with the door ajar.
6. Meanwhile, make the pistachio buttercream. Mix 1⁄3 of the buttercream (recipe follows) in the small bowl of the food processor together with the pistachio paste. Fold the mixture into the remaining buttercream together with the lime juice and zest. If you want a lighter cream, optionally fold in a little extra whipped aquafaba. Spread 1⁄3 of the cream over the centre of one meringue layer, place the second layer on top and spread another 1⁄3 of the cream over the centre. Place the third circle on top and spread the remaining cream over the centre. Coarsely grind 3⁄4 of the remaining pistachios.
7. Press the ground pistachios against the sides and sprinkle them over the cake. Decorate with some whole nuts and, optionally, the figs and rose petals.
For the buttercream:
1. Beat the butter with a mixer until light and fluffy. While beating, gradually add the icing sugar and continue beating until you have a beautifully light and airy mixture. If necessary, loosen it slightly with a little of the milk. Keep well covered in the refrigerator until ready to use (for up to approximately 1 week).
*Does your meringue cake not necessarily have to be vegan? You can also use regular buttercream.
Title: Dosia bakt vegan
Author: Dosia Brewer
Price: €29,99
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers
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