Aquafaba swiss meringue buttercream - also egg free meringue, imbc, macaron...

Hi all!

This is a recipe I’ve used twice now to make smbc without eggs- its the smbc recipe I promised you in the writeup to my book cake posted yesterday. Aquafaba is the water you get from a can of chickpeas/ garbanzo beans, or after boiling them. A genius called Goose Wohlt figured out you can whip it just like egg whites and use it in pretty much the same way. The lovely Mila from Pure Cakes by Mila has posted today about using it in RI, which reminded me to post this.

You can whip aquafaba up like egg whites, or use it in recipes unwhipped (some people have reported successful cakes with it but it seems not everyone has managed it, you’d have to try). It works out cheaper than eggs – and I guess it’s good news for our friends in the US with the egg shortage I’ve read about.

Substitute it 1:1 for eggs in the recipe. I found it a little softer than my usual smbc so great for a filling, but you might want to up the butter content or reduce the liquid over a heat before using, to get it firmer.

Ive also included a super-duper easy method from cake paper party which means you don’t even have to whip the aquafaba up (or eggs). Smbc in 3 minutes flat – who can argue with that?

Enjoy!
Sawsen
Xx

Super easy egg free SMBC

Ingredients

• 1 part by weight of water drained from a can of chickpeas – aquafaba
• 2 parts by weight of sugar (or your preferred ratio, as much or little as you like, really)
• 2.5 parts by weight very soft butter

Directions

1. Put the aquafaba in a small saucepan with the sugar. No egg therefore no double boiler needed, yay!
2. Heat until the sugar melts and you have a clear syrup. You don’t want it to colour though. Transfer to a shallow container and allow to cool.
3. Put your soft butter in a stand mixer with the whip attachment. Whip it up a little to make sure its soft and smooth.
4. Pour the chickpea syrup over the butter (don’t freak out haha trust me) then start to whip on medium low speed. You could use the paddle if you prefer but it might take a little longer.
5. You see the familiar smbc stages happening before your eyes… Curdling, then emulsifying, then whipping up and increasing in volume. In a few minutes, it’s done! Flavour as usual.

Use as standard smbc, or for a stiffer bc, add more butter or reduce the chickpea liquid over a heat until its 1/3 of the volume, before you measure parts.

Faq:

• Doesn’t taste like chickpeas.
• In a blind test my family preferred it to regular smbc
• Cheaper, as technically it’s free (and you can still use the beans of course), and still cheaper than eggs even counting the cost of the can
• You may be able to use other bean juice – Google it
• You can still whip aquafaba up like meringue if you prefer. Others have done it for smbc and imbc.
• Whips to the same volume as meringue style smbc method, I tried both ways.
• You can make straight up meringues with it, and macaron. Google it.
• You can boil your own chickpeas and use the liquid, but be sure to Google ratios to get the consistency right.