Vegan Marjolaine

Directions

• Meringue Layers
• Reduce the chickpea water to 200ml by simmering on low heat on the hob (my preferred method) for 10-12 minutes or microwave in 4x3minute intervals with a quick stir in between. Leave the reduced aquafaba in the fridge to cool for a few hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
• Line one large baking tray with baking parchment.
• For the dacquoise, put the hazelnuts and almonds in a food processor and pulse until finely ground.
• Spread the ground nuts out in a layer on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes until golden-brown.
• Take out of the oven and leave to cool. Once it is cool, mix it with 75g of the caster sugar.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 140C/120C Fan/Gas 2.
• Pour the aquafaba into a (clean!) bowl of stand mixer fitted with a whisk and whisk on medium speed for 5-10 minutes until mixture is white and frothy. Sometimes I drop 1/4tsp of cream of tartar in the aquafaba to help with the beginning of this process.
• Increase the speed and add the remaining 175g caster sugar one spoon at a time to get a meringue with stiff peaks.
• Gently fold the toasted nut mixture through the meringue.
• Pour the meringue into a baking tray (or pipe it- if you have the patience this will help with dissecting the cooked meringue into seperate layers as you can cut a long the piped “lines”) and use a palette knife to flatten it down. The depth should be about 1cm, anymore and the meringue layers might be too thick.
• Bake for 50-60 minutes until light golden-brown and firm. If meringue starts to crack in the oven then open the door slightly. Turn off the oven and open the door and leave the meringue to cool completely (1-2 hours).
• Remove from the oven and carefully invert onto a sheet of baking parchment. Carefully remove the baking parchment from the bottom of the meringues.
• Chocolate Ganache
• Pour the coconut cream into a pan on low-heat and warm up until just simmering.
• Pour the cream over the chopped up chocolate (in a heatproof bowl) and stir until all the chocolate is melted and smooth.
• Leave to cool and then chill until thick enough to pipe. This can be tricky as the ganache might get too cool and then become too stiff to pipe, if this happens just pop it in the microwave for 5-10 second bursts before putting it in the piping bag.
• Coffee buttercream
• (coffee flavour can be skipped in this section if you don’t like coffee- a could alternate flavour would be adding a praline or a salted caramel to balance all the sweetness!)
• Put the vegan butter and shortening in a stand mixer and beat on high until soft, light and pale (5-10 minutes).
• Mix instant espresso powder with vegan cream/milk in a separate bowl. This is to dissolve the dry espresso granules (we don’t want grains of coffee in the buttercream).
• Turn the speed down and add the icing sugar (so it doesn’t splash everywhere).
• Slowly add the espresso liquid (test the flavour and add more if necessary).
• Turn back up to medium/high and beat until fully incorporated (~3 mins).
• Spoon into a piping bag and leave in fridge until ready to use.
• Final Construction
• Put the sliced almonds in the oven on 180C for 5-6 minutes to toast them. Put in the fridge to cool.
• Cut the dacquoise sheet into 4 (if you used 1 baking tray) or into 2 (if you you used 2 baking trays).
• Plop some buttercream on your plate and place the first layer of meringue as the base. Spread on 1/4 of the buttercream onto the meringue layer. Even out with a palette knife.
• Add a second sheet of meringue and spread 1/3 of the ganache (I like to pipe it on so it’s easier to control). Add the third sheet and top with buttercream again.
• Add the final layer and spread buttercream on top and on the sides of the entire structure.
• Spoon the remaining ganache into a piping bag and decorate the marjolaine as seen below. Fill the gaps with chopped pistachios and crushed hazelnuts.