Vegan Strawberry Flødeboller

Method (strawberry compote)

1. Place the strawberries into a medium-sized saucepan and sprinkle over the sugar, cornflour / cornstarch and water. Once the strawberries have softened, mash them with a fork.
2. Place on top onto the hob over a medium to high heat and bring to the boil. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Keep stirring with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to prevent the mixture from sticking and burning. It will start to turn thick. Once thick, remove from the heat and allow to cool before using. As it cools, it will thicken up even more and turn into a jellified sauce.
3. Store in a sealed container in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

Method (biscuit bases)

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees c fan and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the plain flour, melted coconut oil, maple syrup and freeze fried strawberries. Alternatively, you can add in a splash of strawberry flavouring (optional).
3. Bring together with a wooden spoon or your hands until a dough forms. Add more flour if the dough is too wet or add more melted coconut oil if too dry. You want it to be a stiff but smooth dough.
4. Roll out the dough in-between 2 sheets of grease proof paper (this prevents sticking), then using a 2 inch cookie cutter, cut out the circles and place onto the lined tray. If you don’t have the correct cookie cutters, you can use a knife to cut out the shapes. You can print off the shapes you want from a computer and use that as a guide.
5. Place the biscuits into the oven and bake for 9-10 minutes or until lightly golden in colour. The edges of the biscuits will turn a light golden colour.
6. Once baked, carefully place them onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool fully before adding on the cream swirl.

Method (swirl filling)

1.  Pour the chickpea brine (aquafaba) into a small saucepan and place onto the hob, over low / medium heat. Allow to reduce to half of the original mixture. Check if you have the right amount by pouring it into a bowl over some scales, you want 55g of reduced aquafaba. Once ready, remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Add 100g of the sugar and all the water into a small saucepan, place onto the hob over medium heat and allow it to simmer/boil. You want the mixture to come up to 116°C (240°F). This will take around 10 minutes. Use a kitchen thermometer to get an accurate reading.
3. In the meantime, pour the reduced aquafaba into a clean bowl and add in the cream of tartar. Whisk on high for 5-8 minutes until soft peaks form. I use a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment but an electric hand whisk works great too.
4. Add in the remaining 40g of sugar, continuing to whisk. It should turn glossy.
5. When the sugar syrup has reached it’s temperature, turn down the speed of the mixer, slowly drizzle it into the bowl, turn up the speed again and whip until incorporated. You want to whisk the aquafaba mixture until the sugar syrup has cooled down. The bowl should be cool to the touch. If it’s too hot, the butter will melt when added so keep it whipping until its cool.
6. Add in 4 tablespoons of cooled strawberry compote. Whip to combine. Make sure the compote is cold / cool. If it’s hot, it will melt the buttercream and will go very soft.
7. Add in the dairy-free butter, little chunks at a time until it’s all in the bowl. Once all the butter has been added the mixture be thick like buttercream, continue to whisk on medium / high for 5 minutes.
8. Add in the icing sugar, whisk again on medium / high for another 2 minutes to combine.
9. Transfer the meringue / cream filling into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle and pipe a high swirl onto each biscuit
10. Hidden core: Add 2 heaped tablespoons of strawberry compote into a piping bag with a small round tip nozzle. Alternatively, snip off the tip. Pipe some of the compote down the centre of each swirl. Watch how I do it here.
11. Place them into the fridge or freezer to set whilst you melt the dairy-free white chocolate for the coating. You want them to be firm enough that they don’t slide off the base when dunked into the chocolate.

Method (chocolate coating)

1. Add the dairy-free white chocolate into a heat proof bowl. Fill a medium sized saucepan 1/4 full with water. Place the saucepan on the hob over low / medium heat, and add the bowl on top. This creates a bain-marie. Allow the white chocolate to melt. Stir with the metal spoon to keep the chocolate moving.
2. Once the chocolate is melted, add in a drop of pink food gel. Don’t add too much or it will effect the consistency of the chocolate. Only use a food gel, as any other colour will drastically change the texture of the chocolate! The best pink food gel is linked here. If the chocolate hardens when the food gel is added, add some coconut oil into the chocolate. It will loosen everything off making for a smooth chocolate for coating / dunking.
3. Dunk or drizzle the white chocolate over each swirl and place on grease proof paper. As the swirls are chilled, the chocolate will set quickly.
4. You want to be quite quick with adding on the freeze dried strawberries so that they stick to the wet chocolate.