Vanilla Slice

Squee! This post got a mention on the Vegan Mofo daily roundup. Check out their blog if you haven't already - it leaves me drooling on a daily basis. :)

These are a few of my favourite things... my computer, coffee, and dessert! I have an awful lot of favourite things, though. Life's more fun when you get excited about everything.

I apologise for not having photos of the process of making this slice, or even of the entire slice when it was finished. I made it to take to lunch at the house of some good friends, and I was entirely distracted with making sure that it turned out properly. Quite honestly, I was using completely unfamiliar puff pastry and custard powder, and I expected it to be a disaster. Thankfully, it turned out beautifully and was enjoyed at the lunch. I really ought to be more optimistic sometimes, because I'd probably have a lot of photos in times like these.

Still, I was made to take home a slice (I wasn't exactly protesting, but I'd eaten more than my fair share already!) and some of my friend's amazing vegan lemon cupcakes. I'm always spoiled rotten when I go to their house! The slice looks a little worse for wear after the journey home (two hours) but I always maintain that imperfect food tastes the best. The cupcakes survived beautifully. They are pretty addictive, and they don't often make it back to my house... I might have still been full from breakfast, but there's always a need to snack on the train. I mean, today I certainly wasn't doing the study that I was supposed to be doing, so it's only fair that I was otherwise engaged. Ahem.

Vanilla Slice
serves a large table of guests, plus extra for you to nibble while you drink red wine, instead of having dinner.

1 box (of 6 sheets 10x15cm) of puff pastry*

2x sachets custard powder (in German, "vanilla pudding") or 6 heaped Tbsp

2L soymilk

sugar, to taste (about 4Tbsp is good if your custard isn't already sweet)

1 lemon

250g icing (powdered) sugar

4 Tbsp dessicate coconut

Cook the puff pastry according to the box directions. Mine took 12 minutes in a 200 degree oven. Allow to cool slightly, until you're able to easily touch them, and press them down with your hand to compact the sheet. It doesn't matter if it shatters.
Cover the bottom of the dish with one layer of pastry, saving the other for the top, and nibbling on any pieces that you had to cut away to make it fit.
Put the custard powder into your pot and add about 1 cup of soymilk, or enough to mix all the custard powder so that there are no lumps. Add the rest of the soymilk and cook over a medium-high heat until it's really thick. If you stand a spoon in it, you want your spoon to hesitate before it slides over.
Pour the hot custard over the puff pastry and lay remaining other puff pastry on top, so that you have an incredibly delicious custard sandwich. Allow to cool.

To make the icing, mix the icing sugar with lemon juice and a tablespoon of finely grated zest. How much juice you add depends on how thick you like the icing. I find it easiest to drizzle my icing over the pastry, because it's broken, but you can do something of a 'crumb coat' if you double the icing and simply spread the first layer.

Spread the icing evenly over and sprinkle with the coconut (for the authentic 'Australian' touch). Refrigerate for 2 hours to allow for a firm set, and therefore easier slicing.

*Size of the puff pastry doesn't matter. I recommend using a 9x9in baking dish, in which case, you can just buy the full-sized sheets. I bought the mini ones and just trimmed them to size for my non-standard dish.