Jump to Recipe
Lemon and blueberry must be one of the most loved combos out there. It’s a classic and it’s hard to miss when combining these two ingredients. As I was developing a recipe for these blueberry lemon cream slices it was more a matter of texture than taste. Although they do taste divine.
Fresh and easy
Lemon always brings freshness to desserts or savory dishes. A bit of lemon zest and the dish might become something completely different. The combination of blueberry sweetness and lemon sourness is something people crave big time. We all know blueberry lemon muffins, don’t we? Lemon juice or zest can bring a new dimension to the dish and that’s exactly what we did with these blueberry lemon cream slices.
Yogurt alone might work, but lemon brings freshness to the cream and creates a lovely bond between the blueberry and yogurt layers. Yogurt’s freshness is a fantastic start to any summer-ish dessert, but adding lemon takes it to a new level.
I’m personally a fan of raspberries and while lemon and raspberries would work nicely, blueberries make a lot more sense. Raspberries already contain a certain level of acid which makes them luscious. I crave them many times not just because the raspberry aroma is something that speaks to my soul but also because of the sweet and sour combination.
While blueberries might contain a certain level of sourness, their aroma works better with lemon. They are somehow more earthy and not as fresh as raspberries in my opinion. Combining that “down to heart” blueberry tone with the sparkly freshness of lemon makes this combination rock.
Blueberry lemon cream slices have three layers, which makes them look slightly complicated. But they are actually not complicated at all. All three layers are really simple to make. Putting them all together is nothing complicated either. Which makes this dessert really simple yet fabulous.
Creating a recipe with no animal products
As you might know, I work with a big international retailer – Spar. This recipe was created for them in January which is known as Veganuary. The idea was to show people how to replace animal products with plant-based options.
In cakes of all sorts, we can find butter, milk, and eggs, sometimes even cream or yogurt. Yogurt and milk are easy to replace, but butter can be tricky for some people.
I always use coconut butter as I avoid margarine. Coconut butter might be “problematic” as it contains naturally occurring saturated fats, but margarine contains various different hydrogenated and refined fats which is much worse, in my opinion. The taste might be a bit different, but as far as I’ve had experience with people eating vegan desserts, no one ever complained.
When it comes to eggs we always have to think about what are we using eggs for. Is it for bonding? Is it for fluffiness? Is it practically just for colour? In this case, I’d be using egg whites and foam them into the snow, then use this foam to make the sponge cake fluffy. Instead of egg whites, I used aqua faba. Aqua faba is the water in which chickpeas are stored (in cans or glass jars). We can even make it at home but that’s a story for another time.
In case you want to use eggs in any different way, I’ll be posting an article about that soon.
Creating blueberry lemon cream slices
I had this brilliant idea of making layered blueberry lemon cream slices. I knew exactly what kind of texture I want for the yogurt cream, I knew I wanted a visible layer of blueberries and yet my first try was a disaster.
When I tried the sponge cake layer for the first time it was dense and not fluffy at all. Too wet, I assume. So I had to go through a few more trials to get the perfect fluffiness. I used aqua faba to bring in more air bubbles and more fluffiness. At last I’ve made it and the sponge cake was brilliantly fluffy and light.
Then came blueberries. Putting the layers together seemed like too much work so what if I just add blueberries on top of the sponge cake before baking and do two things in one? Not a good idea. Blueberries were not visible and they didn’t bring enough taste to the table.
Yogurt cream was probably the worst of all. I knew I needed to use agar agar but I also wanted the cream to be kinda creamy. The result was a cream with too little agar and a cake that was melting apart as I took a piece out. Not great. I had to do quite a few trials to get it right. It turns out creaminess was not the best idea and a sturdy cream turned out to be much better.
What do we love about these slices?
-> The sponge cake is light and the rest is creamy – a lovely combo
-> The taste is a perfect combination of sweet and sour
-> Freshness of these slices feels good in winter and in summer
Ingredients for creamy slices
I’ve talked about replacing a couple of classic ingredients like milk, butter, and eggs a bit earlier in the article, but let’s go through the whole list of ingredients:
Flour: We’ll be using all-purpose flour in this case as we need the sponge cake to be light and fluffy. We can’t get that texture with wholemeal flour.
Sugar: I’m usually using demerara brown sugar instead of white sugar as it contains more minerals than white sugar. It goes for this recipe, too.
Oat milk: Any plant milk would do, but I’d recommend using natural tastes, like natural soy, almond, or oat milk.
Coconut oil: As I mentioned before, I’m not a fan of margarine unless it’s necessary to use it for a specific reason. I’d much rather opt for coconut oil instead.
Aqua faba: This is the water chickpeas are stored in when we buy cooked chickpeas in the store. It’s usually found in cans or jars of cooked chickpeas. The consistency of this water is a bit thicker than natural water. Aqua faba foams nicely, especially when we add a bit of lemon juice. Lemon juice acts as a stabilizer in this case, which gives the foam nice consistency and hold it together.
Baking powder: To get the fluffiness aqua faba on its own will not be enough so we’ll be using baking powder as a rising agent.
Vanilla sugar: I find vanilla to be a necessary part of almost any dessert. It gives the taste another dimension. I feel that without vanilla cakes can taste flat.
Lemon zest: In the blueberry layer we’ll be adding lemon zest, not only lemon juice. The lemon zest will add an even more lemony taste which complements the blueberry sweetness very well.
Blueberries: There’s no blueberry lemon cream slice without blueberries! You can use fresh or frozen blueberries.
Agar agar: This ingredient is a thickener and works a lot like gelatine, but comes from algae which makes it plant-based. We’ll be using it in both, the blueberry and the yogurt layer, as we need both of them to form a thick cream.
Coconut yogurt: To be honest, it could be any plant-based yogurt as long as it’s natural and not flavoured. I prefer coconut to any other.
Lemon juice: We need a lot of lemon juice to make our yogurt cream sour. It won’t actually be sour as we’ll add sugar to the cream, too, but we need that acidity for a spectrum of tastes.
Wanna pin this recipe?
If you like creamy desserts, here are more ideas for you:
-> Vegan Cream Slices a.k.a. Cremeschnitte – vanilla cream with classic cream and a crunchy bottom
-> Super Creamy Chocolate Pie – pie crust filled with creamy chocolate filling
-> Vegan Cheesecake Bars with Berries – creamy cheesecake with fruit
-> Vegan Spiced Pumpkin Pie – an autumn feel with pumpkin and pecans
Are you recreating any of my recipes? Don’t forget to take a photo and tag me on Instagram @littlekitchenvibes
Blueberry Lemon Cream Slices
Ingredients
Sponge cake
- 80 ml aqua faba
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- 80 g demerara brown sugar
- 200 g white flour
- pinch salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pack vanilla sugar
- 50 g coconut oil
- 100 ml oat milk or any plant milk
Blueberry layer
- 200 g frozen blueberries
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp agar agar see the packaging for exact amount - you need agar for 200 ml of liquid
Yogurt cream
- 800 g coconut yogurt or any plant yogurt
- 100 g demerara brown sugar
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 6 tsp agar agar see the instructions on the packaging! You'll need agar agar for about 700 ml of liquid as yogurt is already thicker than water
Instructions
- Start by melting coconut oil. Let it cool down.
- Add aqua faba to a large bowl and add lemon juice. Start mixing with an electric mixer and mix for a couple of minutes until you get a thick foam that sticks together well.
- Start adding brown and vanilla sugars at this point, mixing while adding the sugar to the bowl.
- In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Set milk to a jar and have it ready.
- Next, add half of the flour mix to aqua faba foam and mix it in with an electric mixer, set to the lowest speed. Then add half the milk and mix it in. Next goes the other half of the flour mix and then the rest of the milk. Make sure it's all well mixed together, but don't overmix it!
- Take a 20x30cm baking sheet. Place parchment paper into it. Pour or spoon the batter into the tray and even it out. It will be quite low at the start so make sure to even it out as much as possible.
- Bake it at 180°C for about 20-25 minutes. Once baked, let it cool down on the countertop.
- Don't prepare the creams in advance as they will thicken up and you won't be able to use them. Once the cake is baked and cooling down, prepare the blueberry layer.
- Add blueberries, lemon juice, and lemon zest to a pot and start warming it up slowly. As blueberries melt and let out the juice, blend the whole thing with a hand blender or a smoothie maker. Return the purée to the pot and add agar. Keep warming it up and cook it for 2 minutes. Then transfer the blueberry purée straight to the baking tray with the sponge cake. Pour it onto the sponge cake and even it out so it covers the whole sponge cake. Let it cool down while you make yogurt cream.
- Add all the ingredients for yogurt cream except agar to the pot. Mix them well using a whisk and bring the cream to a boil. At that point add agar and mix it in very well. Keep cooking it for 2 minutes. Then transfer it straight to the baking tray with the rest of the dessert. Before pouring the yogurt cream on top of the blueberry cream, make sure the blueberry cream has thickened up otherwise the yogurt cream will get underneath it and the beautiful layers will be destroyed.
- Pour yogurt cream on top of blueberry cream and even it out. Let the whole dessert to cool down in the tray for a bit and then transfer it to the fridge. Let it rest for at least an hour so the yogurt cream thickens up nicely and the whole dessert cools well.
- Once cooled, take the whole dessert out of the tray using parchment paper to extract it. Then unwrap the sides and cut the dessert into even pieces. Serve cold.
- You can decorate it with blueberries, slices of lemon, or lemon peel.
0 Comments