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Even the chocolate lovers will ask you for more of this delicious vegan Lemon Meringue Christmas Log!
Vegan Lemon Meringue Christmas Log
Serves: 8 people
Ingredients
For the aquafaba meringue*:
- 2 cans of chickpeas
- 4 tsp lemon juice
- 300g superfine cane sugar (for best results grind the sugar into a spice grinder)
For the dry ingredients:
- 250g all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
For the wet ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp flaxseeds (finely ground) soaked in 5 tbsp. water
- 80g dairy-free milk (almond or soya)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 30g rapeseed oil
Forn the lemon curd:
- 200g cashew nuts (soaked)
- 100g soya cream
- 80ml maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp dairy-free milk
- The juice of 2 lemons
- 1/2 tsp. agar agar + 30ml water
Method
For the lemon curd:
- Place the cashew nuts in a bowl filled with water and leave for 4 hours minimum (overnight is best).
- Drain the cashew nuts and place them along with the soya cream in a food processor. Blend until it has reached a smooth consistency.
- Add the maple syrup, the dairy-free milk, the lemon juice and blend.
- Pour 30 gr of water into a small saucepan over a medium heat and sprinkle the agar agar over the top. Let it simmer for a few minutes without stirring.
- Once it has reached a boil reduce the heat and whisk gently for 1 minute.
- Leave it to cool before adding it to the lemon curd.
- Blend the lemon curd one more time. Transfer to a bowl and put in the fridge minimum 2 hours or until ready to serve.
For the aquafaba meringue:
- Drain the can of chickpeas and reserve the liquid (aquafaba). Pour the aquafaba into your mixer with 1 tbsp. of superfine cane sugar and 2 tsp. of lemon juice.
- Whisk for a minute while gradually increasing the speed of your mixer.
- Incorporate the rest of the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, increasing the speed of your mixer gradually until there is no sugar left.
- Next, whisk (without stopping this time) at medium speed for about 10 minutes or until the meringue is firm and glossy. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
For the sponge:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment and brush lightly with oil. Cover the flaxseeds with water and let them sit for about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the dairy-free milk and apple cider vinegar; set aside for 10 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, mix together the dry ingredients.
- Add the flaxseeds and rapeseed oil to the dairy-free milk and whisk.
- Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold in HALF of the whipped aquafaba (reserve the rest to decorate the top of the Christmas log)
- Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Preparing the cake:
- Cover the sponge cake with a clean and wet tea towel and roll it up (watching YouTube videos is helpful to learn the technique). Let the cake cool a little.
- Uncurl the sponge, and spread the inner side with the lemon curd filling.
- Gently roll up the sponge again as tight as possible without cracking the sponge.
- Pipe the rest of the aquafaba meringue mixture on top of the cake and using a blow torch brown the meringue.
