It's the height of summer and time to indulge so lets check out how to make a Vegan Eton mess. A classic traditional summer dessert, but here with a vegan twist for our friends who like to eat responsibly but also deliciously well. To begin with you might be wondering what is an Eton Mess?
What is an Eton Mess?
Essentially it's a traditional English dessert made from strawberries or other berries with meringue and whipped cream, which to be fair when you think about it seems a pretty tasty mix. There are a number of ways and ideas as to how to make a Vegan Eton Mess version of this very popular dessert. Probably a bit of a clue in the title as to why the dish is so named but why Eton mess? The first mention of the dish in print was in 1893. It's a commonly held belief that it was served at the annual cricket match between the Eton College and Harrow school, when held at Eton, therefore gaining it's now well known title.
How to make a Vegan Eton mess
So, if Eton mess is a classic then no less so is the vegan version(s) which offer a superb vegan dessert alternative to the original. There's two main features that need to be replaced to offer a vegan dessert Eton mess. These are not surprisingly, the meringue (normally from egg whites), and the cream (dairy). Once those matters are sorted it's pretty much plain sailing but how do we get the features that cream and meringues which are essential components of the original, bring to the party?
Check out the recipe below, summarised from BBC good food for one way to sort it.
Ingredients are as follows;
the drained liquid from a 400g tin of chickpeas (source of the meringues)
100g golden caster sugar
500g mixed berries
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tbsp rose water
400ml vegan vanilla yoghurt
(rose petals to serve if you fancy)
Right, how to make a vegan Eton mess ingredients sorted, now for the making. Pre heat your oven to 110c / 90c fan and line a tray with parchment.Using an electric whisk (it may take a while even so) whip up the chickpea liquid and then when it begins to hold it's shape and becomes white and fluffy, add in the caster sugar and whisk until you see those stiff peaks forming. Spoon onto the parchment and cook for around 1.30 hrs or until they lift easily from the parchment. Leave them to cool.
Next, mix up the berries, rose water and icing sugar and leave for 30 minutes to get those flavours infusing.
Finally, put the yoghurt into a large bowl, add in the crushed meringues and stir through a third of the mixed fruit. Serve in bowls and top with the remaining fruit and, if you sourced them, the rose petals and voila!
You should be the proud maker of a stunning yet pretty simple, classic vegan dessert. Delight your friends, get them over, fire up the BBQ, put on your 'earth friendly' chef hat and top it all off with a sensational vegan dessert finale. What's not to like?
Even better, this is a dish you can personalise with your own little additions and choices. Maybe coconut cream with coconut yoghurt for instance. Use more icing sugar instead of the caster sugar? It's your choice, but whatever you decide should result in a classy vegan dessert for you and your fellow diners.
It would seem to all intents and purposes you would really struggle to make a mess of this dish. Don't hang about though, the summer won't be around forever so hit the sunshine menu and mix it up with a traditional classic.
If 'slaving' over a hot stove, or doing a bit with the oven and some other stuff doesn't suit your style or tastes, never fear. Head over to our Kakoa site and smash it in a matter of clicks. Cast an eye over the delight of our ice cream inspired cookies and creams for a very smooth vegan dessert type chocolate that will rival any pud. White chocolate combined with vegan cookie crumb, boasting the richness of creamy oat milk, absoulutely bob on. Fancy, friendly and frighteningly good.
Still working on the vegan dessert theme, who could knock our awesome chocolate brownie?A lovely fudgy plant based cracker. Rich, vegan milk chocolate overcoat, high cocoa centre. Fab, sick, awesome, mega, all good ways to describe this beauty. You could probably enjoy one or two even if you did tub out on the Eton mess. Gotta love summer.