Don’t hate me, I jumped on the aquafaba bandwagon. Since I make my own beans in my slow cooker I wasn’t sure if it would work. It does! I used a 2 cups of dried beans to 6 cups of water ratio when I cooked my chickpeas and I saved most of the brine from cooking 4 cups of beans. As the brine sat in the fridge for a week I researched different recipes using aquafaba and pinned the ones I really liked.
Everyone is making meringue with this stuff! I wasn’t sure if you could use it for anything else. I found a ton of different things from butter to pasta to french toast. It was then I realized, DUH this is an egg replacement. Even with all those options I just had to make meringue. I was bound and determined to make THE FIRST pumpkin pie meringues that I was just sure everyone would go crazy over.
It started out really well. I was amazed at how quickly that chickpea brine frothed up. It was time to add the pumpkin and everything went down hill from there. I thought maybe I needed to add more brine to make up for the pumpkin puree. That was probably a mistake. I kept adding more and more sugar thinking it would eventually turn into meringue. I got to 2 1/2 cups of sugar and I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
I was not about to waste all that I had put into this so I decided to turn it into a cake. Let me give you some background on this cake. In my pre-vegan days I would make a pumpkin cake every year that everyone would go crazy over. It was so moist and delicious. I even bribed a college professor with it one year. That recipe came from one of the very first cookbooks I got as a kid, The North Pole Village Cookbook: Santa’s Favorite Recipes. The recipe was called Rimpy’s Pumpkin Wreath. I haven’t made the cake since becoming vegan and I have missed it. Every year I think about veganizing it and I never do. This was the perfect opportunity and I love the way it turned out! I’m actually happy I ruined my meringue recipe and saved it with this. I really hope you enjoy sharing this with your loved ones over the holidays.
Mama Tummy’s Pumpkin Wreath
makes 1 bundt cake
vegan, soy-free, nut-free
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup aquafaba (chickpea brine)
- 2 1/2 cup caster sugar (*see note)
- 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 vanilla bean OR 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, optional (I used Enjoy Life)
*If you can’t find caster sugar, take cane sugar and pulse in a blender until it becomes very fine, almost to a powder.
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and liberally oil a bundt cake pan, I use refined coconut oil.
- Whip the chickpea brine with the oil and sugar until all is combined. I used a stand mixer with the beater attachment for this, but a hand mixer would work just as well.
- Beat in the vanilla bean, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Mix in dry ingredients, except chocolate chips, until just combined. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Evenly spread batter into pan and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until sides are pulling away from the pan.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes, remove and let cool completely. Enjoy!