VEGAN RECIPE

VEGAN RECIPE

Lemon Tiramisu

By The Little Blog of Vegan

The best vegan tiramisu with a fruity twist. Zesty lemon ladyfingers dipped in dairy-free milk, layered with lemon mascarpone cream and fresh lemon curd, topped with dairy-free whipped cream and fresh lemon zest. This Vegan Lemon Tiramisu is bursting with flavour, a must-make for the Diamond Jubilee weekend, or all through summer.

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

  • Ingredients for the ladyfingers

    180ml of aquafaba (chickpea brine)

    12g of cream of tartar

    180g of caster sugar

    60ml of sunflower oil

    20g of dairy-free vanilla / lemon yoghurt

    80g of coconut cream

    2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste

    2 teaspoons of baking powder

    300g of plain flour

    Zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

  • Ingredients for the lemon curd

    3 tablespoons of corn flour + 2 tablespoons of water

    100g of dairy-free butter or margarine

    100g of caster sugar

    170ml of lemon juice

    Zest of 3 small unwaxed lemons

    100g of vegan condensed milk

    Pinch of turmeric (optional: used to enhance colour)

  • Ingredients for the lemon mascarpone

    250g of dairy-free butter block (softened)

    420g of icing sugar

    1 teaspoon of lemon juice

    80g of dairy-free vanilla / lemon yoghurt

Method (ladyfingers)

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan, and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper. This recipe will make around 3-4 trays, so you’ll want to bake 1 tray at a time.
  2. Pour the aquafaba (chickpea brine) into a medium / large mixing bowl and whisk on low, adding in the cream of tartar. You will want to use an electric hand whisk or stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. Whip on high speed for 5-8 minutes until soft peaks form.
  3. While the aquafaba mixture is still whipping on high speed, sprinkle in 150g of the sugar, a little at a time until it’s all in the bowl. Allow this to whip for 5-8 minutes until stiff peaks form. If you can hold the bowl upside down and the meringue doesn’t move or slide out of the bowl, it’s ready.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, yoghurt, coconut cream, vanilla bean paste and remaining sugar. Whisk this together to combine.
  5. Use a spatula to carefully fold the meringue mixture into the yoghurt mixture, do this in 2-3 stages as you don’t want to and deflate the air we made in the meringue.

6. Sift in the baking powder, flour and lemon zest, carefully fold this in to combine. Fold until no dry ingredients are visible, and be careful not to over-mix.

7. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle.

8. Pipe lines of the mixture (around 4 inches/10cm long and 1½ inches/4cm wide) onto the lined trays, making sure to space them out as they will spread in the oven.

9. Place 1 tray at a time into the middle of the oven and bake the ladyfingers for 15 minutes, making sure not to burn them. You will know they’re ready when the edges of the ladyfingers turn golden brown.

10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray before peeling them off the paper and placing onto a wire rack to cool down in full. Repeat until you’ve used all of the mixture.

11. Once cool, keep all the ladyfingers fresh by placing them in a sealed container at room temperature until you need them. You will want to use them when fresh, ideally within 24 hours. Don’t leave them too long in the container or they could soften.

Method (lemon curd)

  1. In a small bowl, combine the corn flour and water. Stir into a thick paste.
  2. Add the corn flour paste, dairy-free butter, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, condensed milk and a pinch of turmeric if using (for a more yellow colour) into a medium-sized saucepan.
  3. Place the saucepan on the hob and heat over low to medium, stirring constantly, preferably with a whisk. After around 5-8 minutes the lemon curd will thicken. If the curd isn’t thickening, turn up the heat and constantly whisk.
  4. Pour curd into a heat-proof jar or bowl, cover, and place aside to cool down.
  5. You can either put it in the fridge or keep it at room temperature to cool. Before you use it, give it a good stir as it will thicken.

Method (lemon mascarpone)

  1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free softened butter. Using a hand whisk or stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment, whip the butter for 5-8 minutes until pale.
  2. Sift in the icing sugar and add in the lemon juice. Whip on high speed, adding in the yogurt. Keep whipping for around 5 minutes. The mixture will turn very thick and creamy. If your mixture looks like it is splitting, keep whipping it! It will come together.

Assemble

  1. Add dairy-free milk into a bowl and sprinkle in some lemon zest. This will give the milk a slight lemon flavour. Give it a little stir.
  2. Dip the ladyfingers into the milk (making sure not to over dip them, or they will become soggy), place into your desired dish to make the first layer.
  3. Spread half of the lemon mascarpone cream evenly over the first layer of ladyfingers. Use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer.
  4. Spread, pipe or drizzle some of the lemon curd over the mascarpone and spread out. 
  5. Repeat the ladyfinger and mascarpone layers 2-3 times until you’ve used all of the mixture.

6. Whip up the Elmlea cream (or any good quality dairy-free double cream) with the cream cheese and vanilla bean paste until thick, add into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle and pipe blobs all over the top of the dessert.

7. Sprinkle some lemon zest over the top. Then place into the fridge for 6-8 hours or overnight to chill (my preferred method is overnight as it makes sure everything is set).

8. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice the chilled tiramisu into square servings. TIP: Wipe the knife clean with kitchen paper between each cut, this makes for neat slices.

9. To lift the tiramisu out of the dish, use a flat spatula – this really helps to get underneath the tiramisu and lift it up without damaging the dessert too much. The first slice is always the trickiest to get out of the dish.

10. Serve the tiramisu with a swirl of dairy-free cream, or a scoop of ice-cream, and enjoy. Store in a sealed container in the fridge. Best enjoyed within 3 days of making.