Cherry Bakewell Friands

If you'd told me 1 year ago that I would ever bake using the water from a tin of chickpeas, I would laugh and tell you that you were talking nonsense. However, it turns out that today I have ventured into the realms of proper vegan baking and used acquafaba. I think my baking skills using this peculiar ingredient need some refinement, but I've learn a lot from a couple of attempts at these little cherry and almond cakes. So, watch this space for some more recipes using aquafaba! In the meantime, you can give the recipe below a try. If you do, one tip for its use is that it takes longer to whip than egg white and seems less stable, so requires whisking to soft to stiff peaks and being very careful in folding it into other ingredients otherwise it easily collapses. I guess it's just about being patient and gentle.

Recipe - Makes 6

For the cake:

• Oil and flour, for greasing
• 40g ground almonds
• 40g plain flour
• 80g icing sugar
• 60ml vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 80ml aquafaba
• 60g fresh cherries, stoned and quartered

For the icing and decoration:

• 100g icing sugar
• 20g fresh cherries, stoned and halved
• 1/2 tbsp water
• 6 cherries, stoned and halved
• Flaked almonds, broken into small pieces

Start by preparing a 6-hole muffin tin by greasing lightly with oil and dusting with flour, then set aside until needed. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the ground almonds, flour and 60g of the icing sugar into a bowl, then add the oil and almond extract and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk the aquafaba until stiff peaks form, before adding the remaining icing sugar and whisking to combine. Gently fold the aquafaba into the almond and flour mix, adding 1/3 at a time. Divide the mix between the 6 holes of the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle on the cherry quarters. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned. Remove, loosen gently and place on a wire rack to cool.

Prepare the icing by pressing the cherries through a sieve (whizzing in a coffee grinder to a puree first makes this easier) then mixing with the mixing sugar. Add enough water to form a thick but runny icing that falls from the spoon. Put a spoonful of icing on each of the cakes and spread towards the edges, letting it drip down the sides. Leave for 5-10 minutes to start to set before topping with the cherries and almonds to decorate.