Vegan Strawberry Meringue

These Vegan Strawberry Meringues are so simple to make and perfect component for any vegan plated desserts.

Vegan meringues shards are delicate decorations that bring sophistication to the plate. Their thin-ness allows for a light and satisfying snap. Bring lightness and an exciting texture to your desserts.

I have created strawberry meringue shards but you can give any shape you like, sticks, drops, discs.. and so on.

For these vegan strawberry meringue shards I used “Potato whip” from Sosa, as substitute of the egg whites.

In order to make the protein ‘active’ it needs to be hydrated. The hydration ratio is 3-4% of Potato Whip per 100g of water. Once combined with water the mixture needs to be blended to thoroughly combine the protein with the water before leaving in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. After this step you will be left with a foamy and brown base mix. This is the mix that can then be whipped up just like egg whites.

To give the meringue more stability and structure, I always add a little xanthan gum (usually 0.3-1% per 100g)
Instead of the potato protein you can use aquafaba, but I haven’t tested for this recipe yet.

Most importantly, don’t be intimidated. These little guys are really easy to make. Three key things to remember are:

1) unlike with egg-whites, it is impossible to overwhip “Potato Whip”
2) before you start adding sugar make sure the potato protein has doubled is size and nice whipped.
3) add the strawberry sugar syrup very slowly.

Recipe:

For the Vegan “egg whites”:
100g Water
5g Potato whip from Sosa

For the meringues:
100g Vegan whites
25g Caster Sugar
0.5g Xanthan gum
100g Caster Sugar
75g Strawberry puree

Make the Vegan “egg whites”:

1. Mix water and potato whip using a small whisk, and leave in the fridge at least half hour, to rehydrate.

Make the meringue:

1. Place the 100g of vegan whites into a bowl of a stand mixer, and using the whisk attachment start whipping until double size.

2. While the vegan white are whipping, place into a small pan, Strawberry puree and 100g sugar and bring to 117°C (it will take at least 10 minutes).

3. Mix the 25g of sugar with the Xanthan gum and slowly add to the vegan whites (in three batches), while it’s continuing to whip.

4. Once the sugar and puree reach the 117°C pour on the vegan whites very very slowly.

5. Continue to whip until firm.

6. Once is shiny and firm using an offset spatula, spread the meringue thinly (about 2mm thick) onto a silicone mat.

7. Dehydrate the meringue using a dehydrator oven at 50°C for 5-6 hours.

Vegan strawberry meringue shards are featured in one of my plated dessert "Grow big, or go home" plated dessert, that I created for The Dessert Lab, monthly challenge.

The dessert is composed by a Vegan Cinnamon-Basil semifreddo , Cinnamon-Basil Gel, cinnamon crumbs, strawberry sorbet, candied basil leaves, and vegan strawberry meringue shards.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe as much as I did. Have fun and if you would like to share with me your version, please send it to me on my social channels!