About Us

As  a classically-trained pastry chef, I was taught to bake with sweet  butter, whole milk and fresh eggs. Most recipes had at least one or all  of these ingredients. So, when I decided to transform my recipes and  retrain myself to bake using only plant-based ingredients, I found the  egg replacer to be the most difficult ingredient to substitute. I turned  to the different available options for egg replacers. Aquafaba checked  all the boxes. However, creating a consistent aquafaba with the right  viscosity was critical. My goal was to perfect a measurable reduction of  clean, organic aquafaba that would be the base for structurally sound  meringues which could be used in a variety of applications in my bakery.
 

From  my work with aquafaba, I have developed a line of decorating  ingredients that are replacements for baking staples including a formula  for an eggless meringue powder to make royal icing and handcrafted  sprinkles with all natural plant-based colors. As a nut-free bakery, I  have upcycled the chickpeas by slow roasting them into a nut substitute  which is ideal as a replacement for nut-based pie crusts and nut-free  'notella'.
 

For any questions about how to use aquafaba or any of these products, please send inquiries to diane@meringueshop.com.

Happy Baking!

Diane Forley is a professional chef,  product developer, and writer. Diane was chef-owner of Verbena  Restaurant and the wine bar Bar Demi, both formerly in New York City.  Diane trained in restaurants in New York and Paris including the River  Café, Arpege, L’Ecole Le Notre, and Gotham Bar and Grill where she was  the pastry chef. Diane’s cookbook, Anatomy of a Dish,  summarized her plant-based approach to cooking – one that bridges the  divide between the culinary and the botanical. She currently spends her  time between Meringueshop and her kitchen at Flourish Baking Company.