6 minute read
'Vegans Deserve Better Than A Fruit Salad' by Danielle Maupertuis
My name is Danielle Maupertuis. I’m a Belgian Vegan Pastry Chef that has worked for 5 star hotels as an Executive Pastry Chef in the UK (Marriott, Red Carnation Luxury Hotels) and abroad in Greece & Lebanon, including ‘the Beirut Marriott Hotel’, the first international 5 star hotel opened after the Lebanese civil war. Given daily power cuts, we had to prepare our first wedding banqueting by candlelight!
I won several gold and silver medals in international competitions (plated desserts, showpieces, buffets, petits fours). Among them the ‘Salon Culinaire de la Gastronomie au Liban’ with an international jury.
A few years ago, as a Pastry Chef, I was struggling to offer our vegan guests a decent choice of desserts. When a choice was offered (and it usually consisted of a fruit salad or sorbet!) it still suffered from poor presentation and disappointing taste.
This is what enticed me to create my own range of vegan desserts, focusing on taste and presentation.
My challenge, as a Pastry Chef, is to convince people that Vegan desserts are easy to make, taste yummy and look fantastic!
Dessert: ‘Singing in the rain’
Dessert: ‘Hommage au liban’
Inspired by classical and iconic desserts from the UK and abroad, it covers the main fields of pastry - buffets, plated desserts, petits fours, birthdays… Classical English desserts will have a place of honour. A modern twist will bring them to the front of stage, from an Eton Mess to a sticky toffee pudding. A special attention is brought to the basics of vegan pastry too, often neglected in the existing vegan cooking literature.
How does the classic pastry world look upon the vegan revolution?
A recent article published in the ‘Pastry Art Magazine’, the renowned classical pastry magazine devoted to fine dining pastry (issue published 6th March 2021) made the case that it’s important that establishments make vegan dessert options available, citing statistics such as GlobalData’s percentage of self-declared vegans in the US rising from 1% to 6% from 2014 to 2017. In the article they are quoted as saying “The cake sector seems to be one of the largest areas of opportunity as creative bakers find new ways to substitute traditional ingredients for plant-based options that appeal to American consumers”, as well as finishing with “As a modern food professional, you’ll want to keep up with new trends that can help you better serve your customers. Many restaurants and dessert chefs expect to embrace vegan desserts to satisfy customer demand. A recent study by Grand View Research shows that vegan foods will grow 10% annually through 2027“. Chef Crystal Bonnet was quoted as saying “This is a great article and a big step forward for pastry arts to recognize vegan desserts like this. Thank you for sharing!“
Great news indeed, yet the Pastry Art Magazine is far behind a wave of a new young Chefs whose imagination, creativity & skills allow them to invent unique and fabulous desserts.
I will present you some of these talented Chefs in our next issues – I promise you will be impressed!
Clarisse Flon
Founder & Director of The Sunny Spoon
thesunnyspoon.co.uk
Celine Lee
Founder & Director of Cocolico
cocolico.co.uk
Crystal Bonnet
Owner, Crystal Dawn Culinary
crystaldawnculinary.com
Now, enough talking, let’s cook!
One impressive-looking cake. Built up with layers of meringue and strawberry mousse, then encased in meringue sticks… A hit for a summer party!
Preparation notes:
Makes 1 cake for 12 persons, springform tin 23cm diameter
Preparation time: 40 minutes + extra time to set
Cooking time: 1 ¼ -1 ½ hour
1. MERINGUE
90g reduced aquafaba
170g unrefined golden caster sugar
Method
1. Firstly, reduce the aquafaba. Pour the water of a chickpea can in a saucepan, gently simmer on medium heat until it has reduced for about 40%. (If the water of a chickpea can has an average weight of 180g, it should be reduced until +/- 100g). Reduced aquafaba can be stored in the fridge up to 1 week.
2. Heat the oven to 100C /gas mark ¼ and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
3. Using cardboard, draw and cut out a circle that is 22cm diameter. Then draw and cut out a rectangle with a height of 7cm. These will be the dimensions of our meringue sticks. Place them on the baking trays, under the silicone mat or parchment paper.
4. In a perfectly clean bowl, whisk the reduced aquafaba until it reaches soft peaks. Slowly add the sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks. 5. Pour the meringue in a piping bag with a plain nozzle 12mm diameter.
5. Pipe the meringue over the cardboard circle and the sticks over the rectangle cardboard. This way, they will all be the same size.
6. Bake the sticks for about 30-45 minutes and the circles for about 1h15-1h30 at 100C.
7. Let the meringue rest at room temperature for 10 mins before removing from the mats.
2. STRAWBERRY PUREE
850g fresh strawberries
150g unrefined caster sugar
Method
Bring the strawberries and sugar to the boil, let them simmer for a few minutes and purée the fruits in a blender. Keep refrigerated.
3. STRAWBERRY MOUSSE
1kg strawberry purée
4 tsp agar agar powder
3-4 Tbsp golden caster sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
650g silken firm tofu
Method
1. Strain the tofu through a muslin.
2. Dissolve the agar agar in the purée and bring to the boil, whisking continuously. Keep it boiling for another 20 seconds.
3. Transfer all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz until smooth and silky consistency.
4. ASSEMBLING
2 punnets of assorted red fruits (strawberries, raspberries, pomegranate…)
1. Place a first meringue circle in the bottom of the springform tin. Cover with half of the strawberry mousse. Let it set at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Repeat these steps and transfer the cake to the freezer for 30 minutes at least.
3. Unmould the cake and place on a plate. Let it defrost for 20 mins at least before you start to fix the meringue sticks all around the cake.
4. Decorate with the fruits.
5. BON APPETIT!
I really hope you enjoy this creation. I love it enough to have made it the cover of my first cookbook ‘Vegans Deserve Better Than A Fruit Salad’, so I really hope you love it too.
Do you want to learn more about Vegan Pastry?
I invite you to follow one of my online courses:
UDEMY COURSE
A Udemy course for beginners: Through 5 classical desserts, you will learn how to use the main vegan substitutes in pastry and create amazing decorations.
https://www.udemy.com/user/danielle-maupertuis-2/
ONLINE COURSES
1-2-1 online courses for those who want to develop their skills and knowledge in Vegan Pastry.
This remains the best way to get the maximum out of a course!
https://freefromdesserts.com/courses/
ZOOM TUTORIALS
Regular ZOOM themed Tutorials – the next ones will celebrate our seasonal fruits - strawberries, apricots & cherries.
Through these live sessions, you will exchange comments, questions and - I promise - increase your self-confidence: the key to your success in vegan cooking!
https://freefromdesserts.com/courses/
