Delicious vegan meringue nests with vegan passion fruit curd. These mini pavlovas are made using aquafaba and are great served with dairy free cream. They can be made a in advance and served up on your summer gathering or garden party!
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.