Vegan Lavender Pavlova with Mixed Berries

YOU GUYS

AQUAFABA IS THE COOLEST THING, EVER! Sorry. All caps were necessary.

Remember last week when I shared these cookies that used aquafaba, but didn’t really get a chance to talk about how cool this shit is? This is a much better recipe to show off it’s amazing powers anyway 🙂

Let me just say…I had done extensive reading about how amazing aquafaba is, and seen pictures, but you just can’t fully grasp it until you see for yourself.

That is a 100% vegan meringue. It looks just as glossy, stiff, and gorgeous as a traditional meringue made with eggs, and tastes the same, too.

As a recap, aquafaba literally transaltes to bean water. It is the liquid found in cans of beans, or the liquid leftover from cooking your own beans. It sounds like a super weird thing to use in baking, but no, your products will not taste like chickpeas or white beans.

Here’s a bit of info snatched from the very informative official aquafaba webpage:

Aquafaba is unique among egg replacers in that it captures some but not all of the characteristics of both egg white and yolk. It can be used as a thickener, binder, emulsifier, foaming agent, and more. Unlike protein isolates and starch-based egg replacers, this broad spectrum allows aquafaba to be used in applications where its superior organoleptic properties are needed, and where traditional albumen falls short.

Aquafaba is still a rather new discovery, and people are still figuring out everything it can do. This is amazingly fascinating to me!

Anyway, I used aquafaba in my cookies last week to help bind them, but here I used it to make a lavender meringue for a pretty pavlova.

When I went to the grocery store the other day, there was an abundance of fresh, local berries, and I had to have all of them, lol. I thought showcasing them on a stark white pavlova would be perfect (plus I got to use aquafaba again!).

I added a bit of lavender into the meringue base because I adore lavender paired with berries. The berries I use were tayberries, golden raspberries, and red and white currants.

The cream you see on top is simple coconut cream whipped up with a touch of sweetness and some more lavender, and it’s divine.

Seriously though…can you believe this is vegan?? I made it and I still can’t, haha! And it tastes freaking incredible! The meringue is crunchy throughout, and gets a bit chewy mixed with the cream and fruit, just like a pavlova should!

But real quick…how the hell do you serve a pavlova? I mean individual ones are easy… but is this something that is just destined to look sloppy in the most beautiful way? I think I may be able to live with that.