Vegan Lemon Tiramisu

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, yogurt, 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 yogurt 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 there is not dry ingredients visible, 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 11/2 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 fully. Repeat until you’ve used up all 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 on the day of making, or the next day. Don’t leave them too long in the container or they could soften.

Method (lemon curd)

1. In a small bowl, add in the cornflour and water. Stir together into thick paste.
2. Add the cornflour 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 layer and mascarpone layer 2 / 3 more times until you’ve used up all of your 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 squares / servings. TIP: Wipe the knife clean between each cut with kitchen paper, this makes for neat slices.
9. To lift the tiramisu out of the dish, use a flat spatula, it 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 whipped cream, or a scoop of ice-cream, and enjoy.