
Raw Avocado Chocolate Tart with Vegan Meringue
Equipment
- 1 23cm tart pan
Ingredients
For the tart base:
- 170 g nuts, of choice
- 170 g dates, pitted and soaked in hot water
- ½ tsp salt
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted or water
For the filling:
- 300 g avocado pulp (we use Avolands)
- 35 g cocoa powder
- 80 g hazelnut butter or almond butter
- ⅓ Cup maple syrup or coconut nectar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 40 ml Flora Plant Bake
For the meringue:
- 1 Can (Serena brand only) chickpeas
- Castor sugar, to be weighed off in calculation
- Water, to be weighed off in calculation
- 1 g cream of tartar
Instructions
- Blitz the nuts in a food processor to make a fine nut flour.
- Drain the dates, reserving the liquid and then blitz to a paste, adding a little reserved liquid if needed.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the nut flour, date paste, salt, cocoa powder and coconut oil. Add some more liquid if needed to stick together.
- Press into a tart pan, lining the base and sides evenly.
- Refrigerate to set while making the filling.
- To make the filling, blend all ingredients together in a food processor and taste. Add some maple syrup if needed.
- Spoon into the base and spread out evenly
- Refrigerate overnight to set.
For the meringue
- Open the chickpea can and separate the chickpeas from the brine, reserving the brine. Weigh off the brine and note down the ml - some maths is needed!
- Cook the brine on high in the microwave in a microwaveable container, uninterrupted for 3 minutes.
- Leave for an hour to cool down.
- Measure out the caster sugar as follows:
- Using the chickpea brine measurements, a ratio isused to calculate the amount of sugar required. 82% of the total chickpeabrine. This number of 82% is the amount of grams of caster sugar needed. Let's call it "Y." 0.82Y.
- Water is measured out by using "Y" - the amount of water is30% of Y, or 0.3y. So the water calculation is 0.82Y x 0.3.
- Once measured, mix the water and caster sugar together in a bowl and let sit for a minute before transferring into a hot saucepan.
- Do not stir the sugar. Let it come to a boil on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- While the sugar is boiling, pour the chickpea brine into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer and add the cream of tartar. Start whisking on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Once the sugar starts to turn a bit golden, make sure you move the liquid around the pan (using the handle to tilt) for even heat distribution.
- Turn up the speed of the mixer to create stiff peaks of raw meringue.
- Once the sugar is nicely golden, just before it starts to go darker and the meringue is fuller in volume, slowly pour the sugar into the mixing bowl while still beating.
- The chickpea meringue will be white and very fluffy by this stage.
- Whip for a further 5 minutes to stabilise and then use.
- Spoon mounds of meringue onto the tart and decorate with edible flowers before serving.
Video
Notes
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