• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Laylita's Recipes logo
  • Home
  • En Español
  • About Laylita
  • Videos
  • Recipe Index
  • Ecuadorian Recipes
    • Ecuadorian Breakfast Dishes
    • Ecuadorian Street Food
    • Ecuadorian Soups
    • Ecuadorian Main Meals
    • Ecuadorian Appetizers
  • Latin Recipes
    • Ceviches
    • Empanadas
    • Plantain Recipes
    • Fish and seafood
    • Latin desserts
  • Sites
    • Receitas da Laylita
    • Recettes de Laylita
    • Travel
    • Viajes
Home » All » By Course » Desserts » Espumillas or guava meringue cream

Espumillas or guava meringue cream

By Layla Pujol 22 Comments

Ecuadorian espumilla

Espumillas are a popular Ecuadorian street food, the word espumilla means foam. These delicious guava meringue cream desserts are made with fruit pulp, typically guava o guayaba, egg whites and sugar. It’s very common to find street vendors selling espumillas at the exit of most schools in Ecuador. You can also find them outside of the fruit markets in many cities and at most main plazas on the weekends or holidays. Espumillas look like ice-cream and are sold in ice cream cones. This traditional Ecuadorian dessert can be confusing for tourists or those who are not familiar with them. The first time my husband saw them on the street, he asked me “how do they keep that ice-cream from melting?”

En Español

Espumillas or guava meringue cream

Espumillas are a a popular street food in Ecuador, this dessert is a meringue cream made with fruit pulp, typically guava or guayaba, egg whites and sugar.
4.81 from 68 votes
Print Pin Your Questions and Comments
Course: Dessert, Snack, Street Food
Cuisine: Ecuadorian, Latin
Keyword: Ecuadorian Meringue, Espumillas, Guava
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 8 ripe guavas or guayabas – if you can’t find fresh guavas you can get them frozen in Latin grocery stores and defrost them
  • 1 - 1 ½ cups sugar adjust based on your preference, you can start with 1 cup and then taste and add more if needed
  • 2 egg whites

Garnishes:

  • Arrope or berry syrup
  • Sprinkles and/or coconut flakes

Instructions

  • Peel the guavas -they should be very soft and ripe- with a vegetable peeler. Remove the seeds and just keep the meaty flesh parts. Put the guava pieces in a large bowl and mix it with sugar until everything is pureed. You can use a fork or a vegetable masher for this part.
  • The alternative method is to cut the guavas in halves, place them in the blender (no water), and blend until you have a puree. Then strain the puree and use an electric blender to mix in the sugar.
  • Add the egg whites to the guava and sugar puree, mix using the electric mixer until you have stiff creamy texture. As mentioned the texture will be coarser if you made the guava puree by hand and smoother if it was done in the blender.
  • Serve immediately in ice cream bowls or ice cream cones, drizzle with the arrope or berry sauce and sprinkles or coconut flakes.

 
Espumillas are a fun to make dessert that we would typically make with family and friends after school or on weekend get-togethers. Usually the entire process of making espumillas is done by hand and using a fork to mash the fruit and then the same fork to beat the egg whites until the espumillas have the right texture. For this espumilla recipe, I simplified it and made the process easier by using an electric mixer to beat the egg whites, but if you feel like your arm needs a massive work-out feel free to do it by hand. I also tried two different methods for peeling and removing the seeds from the guavas. You only need the meaty part of the fruit and the way it is done in Ecuador is to peel each fruit and then remove the seeds. The second way to do it, also known as Laylita’s lazy carishina method, is to put the guavas in the blender until they are pureed and then strain it. I joke about being lazy, but I feel like you waste a lot of the fruit by doing it the traditional way, and that by straining the blender puree you only get rid of the unnecessary bits. The espumilla texture will be coarser if you used the first way of pureeing the fruit – which is what you would usually get with homemade espumillas – and smoother if you used the blender process.

 
The most common flavor for espumillas is guava, which we call guayaba in Ecuador. You can also make them with other fruits such as banana, strawberry, mora or blackberry, naranjilla, passion fruit, etc. Guavas work great also because they have a consistency that thickens nicely with the egg whites and sugar. If you make espumillas with fruits that don’t have the same texture then you might need to add some unflavored gelatin to the fruit pulp – in fact, the extra spongy ones that are sold on the streets usually have gelatin in them. Homemade espumillas on the other hand don’t usually have the gelatin, it’s more of an eat and make immediately dessert. Some of the espumillas sold by the street vendors also usually have food coloring added to give the meringue cream more color. As you can see with these guava espumillas, even though the guava flesh is pink the end result is still a white-ish cream.

 

Espumillas are typically served garnished with an Ecuadorian blackberry syrup called arrope de mora, as well as some sprinkles or coconut flakes. To make the arrope, blend a cup of moras or Andean blackberries with ½ cup of water, strain the mix, and then cook it for about 30 minutes with ½ cup of sugar and a dash a lemon juice.

Espumilla recipe

Step by step preparation photos for Ecuadorian espumillas or guava meringue cream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Similar Recipes

Filed Under: Andean, Comfort food, Desserts, Ecuador, Eggs, Fruits, Guava or guayaba, Kid friendly, Latin America, South America, Street food

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robyn says

    November 17, 2019 at 2:19 pm

    Fresh guava are not available in New Zealand. Would drained, canned guava work?

    Reply
    • Layla Pujol says

      November 21, 2019 at 7:34 am

      I haven’t tried, but it should work. If it works with frozen guavas, then the canned ones should be fine. Someone also told me that they made espumillas using guava jam – use less sugar than the recipe call for if you try this method.

      Reply
  2. Ashley Lanchi says

    June 1, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    Rico ! Thanks for all of your recipes I’m married to an Ecuadorian and I’ve learned so much from you . Can’t wait for your cook book

    Reply
  3. Dee j. says

    March 29, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    It’s really hard to get guava where I live so can this be done with mango or any other fruit?

    Reply
    • Layla Pujol says

      March 31, 2017 at 5:16 am

      Yes, bananas work great and mangoes will also be good, just make sure the mangoes are very ripe.

      Reply
  4. Patricia Murillo says

    February 18, 2014 at 3:11 pm

    Hola Laylita soy del Ecuador la espumilla me trajo tantos recuerdos de mi ninez. Es tan facil la preparacion gracias por todas las deliciosas recetas.

    Reply
  5. Mari says

    February 16, 2014 at 2:04 pm

    Hi Laylita, first time I see this recipe. It looks delicious and I will most definitely try it. Will keep you posted.

    Have a wonderful week.

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Post notifications by email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Available Now ¡Cómpralo ahora!

Yo cocino latino cookbook

Recipes by Category

Welcome

 Layla Pujol is an Ecuadorian modern-day nomad who loves to cook and travel. She lives in Seattle and is currently working on her first cookbook, which will focus on delicious Ecuadorian and Latin recipes (adapted to her style). More

Traditional Ecuadorian

  • Pan de yuca or cassava cheese bread

    Pan de yuca or cassava cheese bread

    Pan de yuca, also known as cheese bread or yuca bread, are yummy melt in your mouth warm breads made with cheese and yuca or …
  • Chaulafan de pollo {Ecuadorian chicken fried rice}

    Chaulafan de pollo {Ecuadorian chicken fried rice}

    Chaulafan de pollo is an Ecuadorian chicken fried rice made with rice, chicken, bacon, onions, garlic, peppers, bell peppers, peas, carrots, scrambled eggs, raisins, spices …
  • Humitas or steamed fresh corn cakes

    Humitas or steamed fresh corn cakes

    Humitas are savory steamed fresh corn cakes made from a mixture of freshly ground corn, onion, garlic, cheese, eggs, and cream, which is placed inside …

Footer

Stay connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

laylapujol

It’s finally here!!! #YoCocinoLatino Por fin ll It’s finally here!!! #YoCocinoLatino

Por fin llego el día oficial y ya está a la venta este hermoso libro de cocina que hicimos con Vero de @lacocinadevero Clara de @simplebyclara Ale de @piloncilloyvainilla y Erica de @mycolombianrecipes 

Lo pueden encontrar en http://penguinespanol.com/ (el link también está en mi perfil)
 
#comidalatinoamericana #comidalatina  #comidacriolla  #recetaslatinas #recetas #delicioso #cocina #food #comida #foodie 
#librosenespañol #penguinenespañol #librosderecetas #laylitasrecipes #recetasdelaylita
Quick lunch salad with smoked salmon, avocado, tom Quick lunch salad with smoked salmon, avocado, tomato, cucumber, pickled onions and a soft boiled egg - on top of a bed of salad greens (tossed with a simple lemon olive oil dressing)

#easysalad #smokedsalmonsalad #softboiledegg #avocado #quicklunch #ensalada #salmonahumado #aguacate
{Patacones rellenos con cóctel de camarones en sa {Patacones rellenos con cóctel de camarones en salsa rosada picante y aguacate } Green plantain baskets filled with spicy shrimp cocktail + avocado 

#patacones #cocteldecamaron #salsarosada #plantains #shrimpcocktail #latinfood #ecuadorianfood #comidaecuatoriana #comidalatina #adios2020 #goodbye2020
{Mariscos al ajillo} Mixed seafood in a creamy gar {Mariscos al ajillo} Mixed seafood in a creamy garlic white wine sauce

Recipe is on the blog // La receta está en el blog

#mariscosalajillo #garlicsauce #alajillo #shrimp #camaronesalajillo #mariscos #comfortfood
#ecuadorianfood #comidaecuatoriana #comidalatina #latinfood #recetas #laylitasrecipes #recetasdelaylita
#recetasecuatorianas #cocinaecuatoriana
Load More... Follow on Instagram
  • En Español

© Laylita.com 2021, all rights reserved. No copy without authorization. Privacy policy | Contact

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.