A Disaster Saved

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!