Question: When a muffin is packing this much chocolate, can it still legitimately be considered breakfast?

The secret to big, fluffy vegan muffins

The secret is that there is no secret! This recipe is so basic. Using only a handful of ingredients for the muffin base batter, you’ll wonder why muffins ever need eggs or dairy at all. These muffins puff up like magic and dome beautifully on top. The chocolate chips remain suspended so you get a welcome chocolatey hit with every mouthful.

My love affair with salted hot chocolate

I had my first taste of salted hot chocolate roaming the restaurants of Vienna in search of apple strudel. When I found churros with salted hot chocolate instead, I forgot all about the strudel.

Ultimately, if you love sea salt-sprinkled chocolate chip cookies, you will go nuts for these jetpuffed muffins.

The magical almond-hot chocolate topping

They have a crunchy topping of flaked almonds, hot chocolate powder and sea salt. I stir these ingredients with melted vegan butter to create a paste that is spooned onto the muffin batter once the cases are filled.

The salty-nutty-chocolate mixture bubbles and toasts in the oven to create a nobbly, domed top that tastes intensely like almond praline.

Ingredients you’ll need for Salted Hot Chocolate & Almond Muffins

• Plain flour
• Caster sugar
• Light brown sugar
• Unsweetened almond milk
• Oil (any unflavoured)
• Aquafaba (water from a can of unsalted chickpeas)
• Salt
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Vanilla extract
• Dark chocolate chips (any vegan)
• Your favourite vegan hot chocolate mix (I use this one)
• Flaked almonds
• Vegan butter
• Sea salt flakes

Step-by-step: How to make Salted Hot Chocolate & Almond Muffins

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Salted Hot Chocolate & Almond Muffins

Tall, dark & handsome vegan SALTED HOT CHOCOLATE & ALMOND MUFFINS; you’re looking hella fine, babes! Studded with dark chocolate chips and topped with a crunchy almond hot chocolate crown, this is a muffin for serious chocolate lovers only.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword almond, cake, chocolate, dark chocolate, hot chocolate, muffins, vegan

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Ingredients

For the muffins:

• 350 g flour
• 100 g caster sugar
• 100 g light brown sugar
• 200 ml unsweetened almond milk room temperature
• 100 ml unflavoured oil of your choice
• 100 ml aquafaba
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 75 g vegan dark chocolate chips tossed in 1 tbsp plain flour

Topping:

• 4 tbsp your favourite vegan hot chocolate mix
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds
• 1 tbsp melted vegan butter
• 1 tsp sea salt flakes
• Extra chocolate chips if desired

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F. Line a 6-cup muffin tin with large tulip cases.
• In a small bowl, mix together the hot chocolate powder, flaked almonds and vegan butter. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, fine salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the almond milk, aquafaba, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk until just combined. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfectly smooth. Fold in the flour-dusted chocolate chips.
• Fill the muffin cases, a little over 3/4 of the way up. Top with some of the hot chocolate and almond mixture. Sprinkle with sea salt and extra chocolate chips if desired.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden and risen. If a metal skewer inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean, they’re done. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

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Like this? You’ll love these Vegan Lemon Meringue Cupcakes!

Get my delicious Vegan Lemon Meringue Cupcake recipe here.

Love Sanjana

The post Salted Hot Chocolate & Almond Muffins appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

In an attempt to create all that I seek in a good brownie, I’ve tried no fewer than 25 variations of this recipe before . My aim? To strike the perfect balance between fudgy and cakey, chocolate-rich but not overwhelmingly so, and of course, to produce the highly-coveted glossy, crackly top.

The entire process has been as intense as the cocoa solids in the chocolate I was baking with.

A great vegan brownie recipe

My final bar is everything I look for in a truly wicked brownie. Squares of dense chocolate fudge, 2.5cm deep, encased in light chocolate cake, and crowned with a glossy, paper-thin “meringue-ish” patina. They’re moist, but not so much that they don’t benefit from being washed down with a glass of cold milk. And most importantly, they’re not so intensely flavoured that they feel too grown up to be a nostalgic treat.

Brownies will only be as good as the chocolate you use

Brownies made with dark chocolate will produce a brownie with more more bitter notes than brownies made with milk chocolate. I follow the school of thought that advocates the use of the best quality chocolate you can afford. After all, brownies are all about showing off great chocolate.

I’m yet to find a vegan milk chocolate I love, so I stuck to my two favourite dark chocolate brands in this recipe. If you do makes these brownies with milk chocolate, note that the recipe will result in brownies that are lighter in colour and much sweeter than the original.

My best advice is to choose the chocolate brands you actually like the taste of. It sounds silly but this is an easy thing to overlook. Having said this, feel free to mix things up with a couple of different brands. Baker extraordinaire, Stella Parks suggests blending multiple chocolate brands in her fabulous cookbook, Bravetart. Using multiple varieties allows you to build depth of flavour in your brownies. It works.

These vegan brownies are the ultimate balance between fudgy and chewy, chocolatey and sweet.

Finding your flavour inspiration

Whilst the most important flavour of any brownie comes from the chocolate, there is a simple beauty in being able to customise them to your taste.

Some great brownie mix-in ideas

• Chopped nuts
• More chocolate (your favourite candy bar, for example)
• Crushed cookies or cookie dough
• Fruits like cherries or raspberries
• Spices. If you know me, I’m all about masala magic

My midnight brownies are flavoured with star anise and orange zest. It’s a truly breathtaking combination that was meant to be paired with chocolate.

The eight-pointed star releases a delicious liquorice aroma when ground into a fine powder. Muddling it with the zest of an orange mellows it down for Asian vibes your brownies will welcome.

Baking for relaxation

Do you ever get an itch to wander into the kitchen and bake? I do. It’s an inexplicable longing to make magic for the people you love (including yourself because self-love is important too).

It’s not often I go in to the kitchen completely sure of what I’m going to make. I’ll have something in the fridge or cupboard I know I want, then I forage about until I find the perfect partners for what I fancy and they could be totally bizarre combinations I’ve never tried before.

If I’ve learned anything from all my years of experimental cooking is that you have to be fearless. FEARLESS. Yeah sure, sometimes things don’t turn out the way you plan but that’s what takeaway pizza and shop-bought ice cream is there for.

Ingredients you’ll need to make my Vegan Crackled Midnight Brownies

• Plain flour (all-purpose flour)
• Icing sugar
• Cornflour
• Cocoa powder (not hot chocolate mix)
• Baking powder
• Ground flax seeds
• Aquafaba (water from a can of unsalted chickpeas or beans)
• Water
• Refined coconut oil
• Dark chocolate (1-2 of your favourite brands)
• Light brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Ground star anise
• Orange zest
• Fine salt

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Vegan Crackled Midnight Brownies

Named so because of all the nights I stayed up until midnight trying to perfect the recipe! These vegan brownies are the ultimate balance between fudgy and chewy, chocolatey and sweet.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword baking

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Author Sanjana

Equipment

• 20cm x 25cm x 10cm-deep (8" x 10" x 4"-deep) non-stick baking tin or 9" x 4"-deep square

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 120 ml aquafaba hot
• 100 g plain flour
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 125 g dark chocolate chopped (I used a blend of two of my favourite brands)
• 60 g coconut oil
• 200 g icing sugar
• 50 g light brown sugar
• 60 ml hot water
• 1/4 tsp ground star anise
• Zest of 1 medium orange

Instructions

• Grease and line a 20cm x 25cm x 10cm-deep (8" x 10" x 4"-deep) traybake tin with coconut oil and baking parchment. Leave an overhang at either side to lift the brownie out easily later.
• Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
• In a small bowl, mix together the ground flax seeds and hot aquafaba. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
• Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cornflour, baking powder and salt.
• Place the chocolate and coconut oil over a bain-marie and allow it to melt, stirring gently. Once melted, remove from the heat and set aside. You can also microwave them in a glass bowl on high power in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir gently between each blast. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Add the icing sugar, brown sugar, flax-aquafaba mixture, hot water, orange zest and ground star anise. Whip for 2-3 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth and shiny.
• Add the sifted dry ingredients and whisk again until smooth and glossy, about 90 seconds.
• Pour into a lined pan and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the tin before slicing for perfect squares.

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If you like this recipe, you’ll love these Vegan Rice Krispie Treats made with REAL vanilla!

Love Sanjana

The post Vegan Crackled Midnight Brownies appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Aquafaba, or chickpea brine is the magical egg white alternative rocking the vegan food world. From Vegan Macarons, to Pavlova, Meringue Nests, Meringue Kisses and even vegan cheese, the discovery of aquafaba by Goose Wohlt opens up a whole lot of possibilities for eating the foods you love and sticking to a vegan diet.

As many of you already know, I love playing around with this ingredient, conjuring up my own takes on dishes I adore, and all the while veganizing them for my family, friends and you fantastic people.

My favourite Sunday morning ritual when I have friends or family over is to start on a big batch of pancakes while everyone’s still asleep. Not only does it make the entire house smell like the inside of a bakery that just had a massive vanilla cake eruption, it also ensures I get a huge smile and hug from everyone when they come downstairs. And I love a good cuddle, me.

With the pears, these pancakes become extra special. The light, fluffy, crispy pancakes soak up all that vanilla and cardamom-spiced syrup like little sponge frisbees you’ll want to play with all day long. The pears offer a very welcome fresh, tender, and juicy texture that’s perfect for balancing out the fluffy richness of the pancakes.

This is my basic vegan aquafaba pancake recipe for sweet pancakes. If poached pears aren’t your thing, you could add blueberries, raspberries or chocolate chips (pop them on top of each scoop of pancake batter before the pancake has a chance to cook through on the pan).

A photo posted by SANJANA • K.O RASOI (@sanjanamodha) on Aug 20, 2016 at 4:18am PDT

I’ve even adapted this recipe (skipped the sugar and vanilla) to make savoury pancakes with chillies, vegan cheese and corn. Weirdly, I like to top those with a drizzle of golden syrup, too. If you have a soft spot for sweet and salty combinations, I recommend it!

Fluffy Vegan Aquafaba Pancakes with Vanilla-Cardamom Poached Pears
Serves 4

For the vegan aquafaba pancakes:
275g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
325ml almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml water from a can of chickpeas
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp groundnut oil, plus extra for the pan

For the pears:
4 Williams pears, slightly underripe
600ml water
200g golden syrup
100g golden caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise and scraped
6 whole cardamom pods, roughly crushed (leave the pod on)

Method

1. To make the poached pears: Place the sugar, golden syrup and water in a deep saucepan. Bring to the boil and add the cardamom pods and vanilla bean paste.

2. Peel the pears, keeping the stalk attached and slice them down the middle. Remove the pear cores.

3. Place the pears in the saucepan and ensure they’re completely submerged. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the pears to cool completely in the syrup.

4. Once the pears have had a chance to cool completely, remove them from the syrup and bring the syrup back to the boil. Allow to simmer until it has reduced by half and is sticky and syrupy.

5. To make the vegan aquafaba pancakes: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

6. Mix together the almond milk, apple cider vinegar, sugar, vanilla, and groundnut oil. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes and then whisk briefly.

7. In a large, clean bowl of a stand mixer, whip the chickpea liquid until stiff peaks form. You could also use an electric beater.

8. Add the wet almond milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. It’s important not to over mix this.

9. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the whipped chickpea meringue into the batter until you have a light, foamy batter. Try your best not to deflate the mixture by mixing too much.

10. Heat up a large non-stick pan greased with groundnut oil. You want a low-medium heat. Not too high or the pancakes will burn before they get a chance to cook through.

11. Use an ice cream scoop to dollop the pancake batter on to the pan so that you get even-sized pancakes. Ensure you leave some space around each pancake as the mixture will spread slightly.

12. Allow to cook until small bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake and the edges lose their raw shine, about 40 seconds.

13. Flip and cook briefly on the other side. Remove from the heat. Repeat to make the rest of the pancakes.

Serve with the poached pears and pour the extra syrup into a jug for drizzling over the pancakes like glorious waterfall. Dive in quickly and with purpose.

What are your favourite pancake add-ins and toppings? Let me know in the comments below and let’s see if we can re-create some of them here.

Love Sanjana

The post Fluffy Vegan Aquafaba Pancakes with Vanilla-Cardamom Poached Pears appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

It’ll come as no surprise that the secret ingredient in these eggless/vegan macarons is aquafaba – the vegan chickpea water that replaces egg whites in meringues, pavlovas and rich vegan chocolate mousse.

I’ve tried to nail the perfect eggless/vegan macaron for years and as soon as aquafaba came along, it was like all my baking prayers had been answered. It was the magic ingredient needed to form the basis of hundreds of recipes I’d always wanted to recreate without eggs.

I’ve tried making macarons with both French meringue and Italian meringue and each time, the French meringue would look so promising and the end results were a total disaster – they’d puncture in the oven and ooze even though they had been rested for hours, were dry to the touch and baking at a low temperature.

It had to be a problem with the stability of the aquafaba French meringue. I read online that even with regular macarons, the eggs should be aged and that Italian meringue offers tonnes more stability due to the hot sugar syrup being boiled to 115C – past the soft ball stage and verging on the hard ball stage. This means the fluffy whites hold stiff peaks, whether you’re using eggs or aquafaba. All that beating in the stand mixer allows the proteins and acids in the whipped-up whites to bond with the sugar and create a stable network to trap in air for volume that wouldn’t look out of place in a L’Oréal advert.

My recipe is based on a classic French macaron recipe in most ways – it contains equal measures of ground almonds, icing sugar and caster sugar. The changes I’ve made are that I used thick, reduced aquafaba in place of the eggs (which you absolutely cannot taste in the final product, I promise). I also made my sugar syrup for the Italian meringue with strong brewed jasmine tea for a gorgeous aroma and flavour. The rest of the changes come with baking the macarons.

I tested several batches of macarons, baking each sheet at different temperatures and found that the key to getting even ‘feet’ on every macaron depends on several things, baking temperature being an integral one. Here are some tips I learnt along the way.

How do I made vegan macarons?

1. Aquafaba from a can is rich in protein but contains a lot of water. You should reduce it by half the night before you want to make the macarons, pour it into a bowl and keep it in the fridge – the resting and cooling time is essential for a thick, viscous ‘egg white-like’ replacer.
2. Use a sugar thermometer to measure when the syrup reaches 115C – don’t eyeball it.
3. Sift the almonds with the icing sugar – I skipped this when making a previous batch and the tops weren’t as smooth as I’d have liked them to be.
4. After adding the sugar syrup to the foamy whipped aquafaba, beat it for ten minutes. It won’t be as voluminous as making French meringue with aquafaba but that’s okay.
5. Don’t hold back when combining the almond paste and Italian meringue. Add all of the almond mixture in one go. Use a spatula to make sure it’s well mixed, pressing it against the sides of the bowl and folding, 20 times or so. The batter should look like light and airy molten lava, dropping off the spatula and becoming one with the mixture within 10-15 seconds. Some people like to imagine magma oozing from a volcano.
6. Pipe the macarons straight from above, at a 90 degree angle.
7. Make sure you tap the tray hard on the surface at least 5 times to remove any air bubbles. I did it 3 times whilst working on a batch and my macarons were lop-sided.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 150C and as soon as your tray of macarons goes in, turn it down to 115C. This will give them the shot of heat they need to develop feet and also cook evenly. If your oven has hot spots, make sure you turn the tray after the first 5 minutes of cooking has elapsed.
9. Allow the macarons to cool completely before attempting to lift them off the greaseproof paper.

I chose to fill my macarons with vegan white chocolate ganache – I love the feeling of chilled, set ganache against the chewy almond texture of the cookies. This is best achieved after filling the macarons, placing them in an airtight container and refrigerating overnight.

If you want to make dark chocolate macarons, replace the white chocolate ganache with your favourite darker variety.

How do I decorate my vegan macarons?

The shells are flavoured with jasmine tea and fresh vanilla. I added a little blue colouring to some of them for a pretty watercolour effect you don’t have to. The gold was edible gold dust painted on with a clean paintbrush.

Eggless/Vegan Vanilla and Jasmine Macarons
Makes 28-30 macarons

Ingredients

For The Macaron Shells:
350g aquafaba – from 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas in water (not salted water)

180g icing sugar
180g ground almonds
100ml strong brewed jasmine tea
180g golden caster sugar
Seeds ½ vanilla pod, scraped
Blue gel food colour and gold petal dust, optional

For The Whipped White Chocolate Ganache:
200g vegan white chocolate
200g thick coconut milk

You will also need:
5 x (13in x 9in) baking trays lined with silicone greaseproof paper
Piping bags
1cm round piping nozzle
Sugar thermometer
Stand mixer with whisk attachment

Method

1. Take two 400g tins chickpeas and pour the liquids into a bowl on a weighing scale. Weigh out 350g.

2. Pour the mixture into a pan and simmer until the liquids have reduced to 150g. Pour into a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Allow to cool, and then place in the fridge overnight.

3. I like to line my trays well ahead as I draw a stencil (2cm rounds) on the reverse of the greaseproof paper so I can ensure the macarons are the right size and spaced far enough apart. For this recipe you’ll need 5 heavy bottomed trays lined with silicone greaseproof paper.

4. The next day, sift the ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl. Add 60g of the chilled chickpea liquids and stir to combine.

5. Pour the rest of the chickpea liquids into a clean, grease-free stand mixer. Turn the mixer on to medium speed. It will start getting foamy.

6. Pour the jasmine tea into a pan and add the caster sugar. Boil until the mixture registers 115C on a sugar thermometer.

7. Turn the mixer on high speed and carefully but quickly pour the sugar syrup into the whipped aquafaba.

8. Add the vanilla and beat the mixture for 10 minutes. It won’t be massively voluminous but it’ll become thick, glossy and rather like marshmallow fluff. After 10 minutes, you should have a mixture that resembles a bird’s beak on the whisk when it’s pulled up.

9. Add the almond mixture to the meringue and use a spatula to incorporate fully. Use a spatula to make sure it’s well mixed, pressing it against the sides of the bowl and folding, 20 times or so. The batter should look like light and airy molten lava, dropping off the spatula and becoming one with the mixture within 10-15 seconds. Think magma oozing from a volcano.

10. Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round tip with the macaron batter. Add any colours you might want to use.

11. Take your pre-lined trays and pipe the macarons from straight above, not on a slant. If your batter is the correct consistency, you’ll see it spread slightly and smooth out within 30 seconds or so for each round.

12. Once all your macarons are piped, give each tray a firm but steady bang on the countertop – I do it 5 times.

13. Allow the macarons to air-dry in a cool place for about 2 hours.

14. Pre-heat the oven to 150C.

15. To make the vegan white chocolate ganache, place the coconut milk and vegan white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high power for 90 seconds and leave it to sit for 10 minutes. Give it a gentle mix. Once it’s uniformly melted, cover and refrigerate until set.

16. Once the tops of the macarons are touch-dry, bake the macarons, one tray at a time. Once the tray is in the oven (middle rack), turn the temperature right down to 115C. Set the oven timer to cook for 25 minutes. During the time they’re in the oven, pay to your oven’s hotspots and turning the tray if you need to (after the first five minutes if you do).

17. Remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool. Repeat the baking process for each tray.

18. While the last tray is in the oven, remove the ganache from the fridge and whip it until fluffy and light. Add vanilla if you like.

19. Once the macarons have cooled fully, gently peel them away from the greaseproof paper.

20. Match the macarons up by shell size. Pipe the ganache onto one half and gently press the two shells together for the perfect macaron sandwich. Decorate as you wish.

21. They taste WAY better the next day. Line an airtight container with kitchen paper and arrange the macarons in a single layer. Put the lid on and refrigerate overnight.

Try not to eat them all in one go. I struggled with that part.

Now go and make these and enjoy looking like a baking wizard in front of all your friends.

Love Sanjana

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I was so desperate to get my mitts on them, I immediately went on a mango hunt after leaving work on Friday. Stepping into the Indian shop closest to my London train station, my eyes darted from shelf to shelf. There were rows upon rows of lentils, spices and green vegetables, but alas, there was not a mango in sight. My heart sank.

As I meandered through the tiny, yet unfathomably packed shop, my nostrils filled with the smell of ajwain, dried turmeric, fenugreek… and then finally, the sweetest scent of fresh mango. There they were, a pile of mango boxes lying in wait like treasure in Aladdin’s cave, except better.

I pounced on them faster than Shere Khan on Mowgli, the man child in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. As usual, the two mango varieties were Alphonso and Kesar. When given the choice, I get Alphonso. They have more fragrance and a super-lush orange colour.

They were only sold in boxes of twelve so I got the whole lot. The only glitch was that I had to carry the entire box back home. The entire train carriage was filled with the heavenly scent of fresh mango – a welcome change from the stench of somebody’s hot Burger King dinner *shudder*. You’re welcome, fellow commuters. You’re welcome.

After eating three of twelve mangoes, I figured I better whip up one of my favourite desserts before they all disappear. This egg-free Alphonso Mango Pavlova Cheesecake is a true showstopper.

It’s a malted milk biscuit base, sweet mango and vanilla mascarpone cheesecake filling topped with eggless pavlova, fresh cream and all your favourite fruit. This pavlova cheesecake is rich, decadent and unashamedly two of the most awesome desserts ever stacked to make one epic masterpiece.

If you’re a lover of Indian Alphonso mango, this is a glorious way of celebrating it.

Here’s how I did it.

Alphonso Mango Pavlova Cheesecake (Eggless Recipe)
Serves 12-14

Ingredients

For the pavlova layer:
1 x 400g tin chickpeas in water (left in the fridge overnight)
280g golden caster sugar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp arrowroot or cornflour
3 tsp vanilla extract

For the cheesecake base:
260g malted milk biscuits (you could use ginger biscuits or NICE biscuits too)
100g unsalted butter, melted

For the Alphonso mango cheesecake filling:
500g mascarpone cheese
300g full fat cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)
200ml double cream + 100ml extra
450g icing sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tsp vanilla extract
300g Alphonso mango, blended (this was approx. 3 mangos for me)
2 tbsp agar agar powder

For the decoration:
Whipped cream
Mixed fruits of your choice (I used more mango, kiwi, strawberries, grapes, physalis, blackberries and figs)

You will also need a 24cm spring form tin.

Method

1. First, you’ll need to make the pavlova. Preheat the oven to 120C.

2. Take a piece of non-stick baking parchment and draw a circle on it, using the removable base from your cake tin. Flip the paper over and place it on a large baking tray. You now have the perfect outline for your pavlova.

3. Drain the can of chickpeas and reserve the water. Put the chickpeas in a container and use it to make Channa Masala or Hummus later.

4. Pour the chickpea water and vinegar into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the balloon whisk attachment. Make sure your bowl is really clean and grease free. Any oil could cause your meringue to deflate.

5. Whisk on a high speed for 4 minutes. Mix together the sugar and cornflour. Gradually add the sugar mixture a tablespoon at a time and continue to beat until you have stiff glossy peaks. Congratulations, you’ve just made your own vegan marshmallow fluff! But right now, we’re making pavlova.

6. Dollop the meringue mixture onto the piece of baking paper, staying inside the circle you traced. Even it out using the back of a spoon, creating a little crater in the middle for your cream and fruit later. I like to keep it looking craggy and rustic so don’t fuss over it looking too perfect.

7. Place into the middle shelf of the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 100C. Bake for 2 hours 30 minutes. Once this time is up, crack the oven door open a little and leave it to cool completely. You’ll then be able to peel it away from the non-stick paper.

8. Next, make the cheesecake base. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until they resemble the texture of sand. Stir in the melted butter. Press into the base of the tin, making sure it’s even and packed tightly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

9. To make the cheesecake filling, beat together the mascarpone, cream cheese, 200ml double cream, vanilla, icing sugar and lemon juice. Don’t overwork it.

10. Place the agar agar in a small bowl. Add 2 tbsp cold water and stir to dissolve. In a small saucepan, combine the agar agar and 100ml double cream. Heat gently, stirring all the time until the mixture comes to a boil. You will notice it will begin to thicken. Boil for a minute or so and then switch off the heat. Add the mango pulp and stir to combine. This will lower the temperature of the cream mixture.

11. Add the mango mixture to the cream cheese mixture and whip until fully combined. It should thicken very slightly.

12. Pile the cheesecake filling onto the cooled biscuit base and smooth out the top.

13. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

14. To serve, run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake and remove the sides of the tin. Place onto a cake plate or stand and place the pavlova on top. Fill the crater in the middle with whipped cream and fresh fruit. I recommend more mango, obviously.

Devour immediately.

Note: Wrap your cooled pavlova in foil overnight to ensure it stays crisp for serving the next day.

Love Sanjana

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