Trouble with making Vegan Pastila

I've been trying to make Pastila from the following blog post.

However, I can't eat egg whites, so based on a conversation I had in the comments, I was suggested to use aquafaba as a substitute.

Here's my progress:

Peeled some granny Smith apples and cored them

Baked with a quarter inch of water for an hour, and then extracted the applesauce.

Mixed in aquafaba in a ratio of 1 apple to one tablespoon.

Whipped it for 20 minutes in my stand mixer (didn't turn out white as in the guide, but still was foamy)

Poured into a pan and have been baking for 8 hours at 180 F

However, it's still very loose. Any ideas?

baking apples

Best Answer

As Billy Kerr commented, pastila is really quite similar to a meringue. Aquafaba sets to produce fine meringues (I did this the other day while I was making vegan pastila, in fact!) so this substitution itself likely isn't the problem.

I think the issue is more likely (a) the amount of water left in the apple sauce affecting the ratio of water to aquafaba (I cooked the puree down on the hob for about twenty minutes) or (b) the consistency of the sauce - did you blend the sauce or leave it fairly chunky? I think it needs blended. My guess would be option (a).