Egg-free Raspberry Pavlova

Here’s the second outing for my winning no egg meringue recipe – this time making one large meringue as the base for a Pavlova (for the lovely Somer, you can still have a Pavlova! :-)). I wasn’t sure it would work, but the base turned out great, it just took longer to cook in the oven. I can’t claim that this is exactly the same as a traditional pavlova made from egg whites and oodles of cream, but it’s a pretty fine vegan/allergy-friendly version. Just make sure to assemble just before eating or the meringue base will start to meld with the cream, losing the chewy, crispy meringue layer.

Egg-free Raspberry Pavlova (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan) warning: contains soya

makes one pavlova that easily serves 4

• 6 tbsps icing sugar, sifted
• ¼ tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp soya protein
• 3 tbsps cold water
• ½ tsp cider vinegar
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1½ tsps soya protein
• 1 pack soyatoo whipping cream
• 1 punnet raspberries, ¼ of which crushed, sieved and mixed with 1tsp icing sugar
• icing sugar, to dust

– Preheat the oven to 110 degrees Centigrade/Gas Mark ½

– Line a baking sheet with baking paper/parchment

– In a small bowl whisk together the icing sugar, xanthan gum and 1 tsp of soya protein. Set aside.

– In a large bowl place the water, vinegar, vanilla and 1½ tsps soya protein. Whisk on high speed for up to 10 minutes until it has increased considerably in size, and is fluffy and bubbly.

– Keeping the whisk on high add the icing sugar mix, 1 tbsp at a time. The mixture should eventually turn pure white and leave stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted out of the mix (I found the peaks were not quite as stiff as one would expect from an egg-based meringue)

– Pipe or spoon the mix onto the lined baking sheet, and spread into a thick circle.

– Place in the oven for up to 2½ hours, until the meringue are totally set and will easily peel off the paper.

– Remove from the oven, peel off the paper and leave to cool.

– When ready to serve: whip the soya cream and smother the top of the meringue.

– Scatter raspberries all over the top. Drizzle the crushed raspberry sauce over the top.

– Dust with icing sugar, and serve