Vegan Cardamom French Toast with Blackberry Compote & Ricotta

French toast holds a special place in my heart because it was one of my mom’s favorite dishes. She ordered it whenever we went out for brunch, and it became something of a tradition for her to have french toast on her birthday. She passed away in 2017 and I miss her fiercely, so when her 80th birthday came around this past January I decided to create this recipe in her honor. Mom and I had pretty similar palates, so I’m sure she would have loved the flavor combination of this vegan twist on french toast – the cardamom-scented bread, sightly tart blackberry compote, and lightly sweetened ricotta work perfectly together.

This gorgeous and delicious dish is super easy to make, and thanks to the wonders of aquafaba, you won’t miss the standard egg-based custard that most french toast recipes rely on for soaking the bread. Frozen blackberries are absolutely fine for the compote, so don’t wait until summer to make this delicious french toast! If you can’t find a decent vegan ricotta, use your favorite dairy-free yogurt – just strain it so it’s nice and thick. Good gluten-free bread seems to be getting easier to find, so use whichever one you typically buy (I always have a stash of homemade bread in the freezer so I use that, but I know bread-baking isn’t for everyone). Challah is a traditional base for french toast, but good vegan challah is rare and the gluten-free stuff can be super delicate. I actually like to use sourdough instead, because it’s heartier and holds together after soaking in the aquafaba custard. The key here regardless of what type of bread you use is to make sure it’s nice and dry. You can either leave the slices sitting out on your counter overnight, or see the Notes in the recipe for instructions on how to “stale” bread in the oven.

So, let’s get cooking! The compote is up first and it’s really simple. Add the sugar, water, lemon juice and lemon zest to a saucepan, and whisk them together. Drop in the slice of ginger and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the blackberries, cover the pan partially with a lid, and simmer until the berries release their juices and start to break down. This should take 8-10 minutes, and you’ll want to give it a stir every couple of minutes to keep things cooking evenly. Once your compote looks like the one in the photo, turn off the heat, discard the ginger, and set the pan aside. Compote is done, easy peasy.

At this point you can sweeten your ricotta or yogurt with some maple syrup, and set that aside as well.

Now that the toppings are ready, it’s time for the main event. The aquafaba custard comes together in seconds, and you can either make it in a blender, or get an old school wrist workout with a mixing bowl and a whisk. Either way, combine the aquafaba, milk, sweetener, vanilla, cardamom, and salt, and blend or whisk until nice and frothy.

Here’s my custard before blending…

…and After. Frothy and uniform so it will coat and soak into the bread slices beautifully.

Pour the custard into a shallow rimmed dish that’s big enough to fit a single slice of the bread. I like to dip them in the custard one at a time so they don’t get too soggy. Traditional wheat-based bread can handle it, but GF bread – particularly the store-bought stuff – is kinda delicate and might fall apart with a longer soak.

Before you start soaking the bread, set a *well-seasoned* cast iron pan or griddle over medium-high heat and let it get nice and hot. I really recommend using cast iron here for a crusty exterior on your french toast. If you don’t have any cast iron, you can totally use stainless steel but you’ll likely need to add extra cooking fat to the pan to keep the bread from sticking. I’m not a fan of nonstick pans for this, because you don’t get a good crust.

Okay, back to the bread. While the pan is preheating, soak your first slice in the custard for 10-20 seconds on each side (heartier bread like sourdough can go for the full 20 seconds, but for delicate sandwich bread I’d pull it after 10-12). See the bread above? I like to make sure the dish size allows the custard to reach about halfway up the side of the bread when soaking.

When the pan is hot, drop in a teaspoon of vegan butter or coconut oil to melt, and lay the soaked bread in the pan; it should sizzle nicely. Let the bread cook for a good 3-4 minutes before attempting to flip it, you want a golden brown crust on the underside. It should release pretty easily, but if it’s sticking a bit try wiggling a flat offset spatula under there. 

Flip the bread and let it cook for another 3 or so minutes on the other side, adding a bit more cooking fat to the pan if it seems dry. (Umm, look at that gorgeously toasty first side!!) When it’s done, transfer the toast to a plate or tray, and repeat the soaking and cooking steps with the remaining bread. After all the bread is cooked, cut each slice in half.

All that’s left to do now is plate this delicious vegan french toast and dig in. I like to set up an assembly line to simplify things, but do whatever works for you. Lay a piece of toast on a plate, spread about a tablespoon of ricotta over it, and spoon some blackberries on top. Stack another piece of toast over that, and repeat with more ricotta and blackberries. This recipe makes four servings, so repeat with three more plates, and each one will have a double stack of french toast and two layers of ricotta and compote. After all the french toast is plated, take the lovely blackberry juices that have pooled at the bottom of the pan, and drizzle some over each plate.

Miss you every day, Mom. This one’s for you.