Vegan & Gluten-Free Passionfruit Vanilla Slice

I've never said not make one of my recipes, but this might be the closest I get – because this is a labour of love (stress and elbow grease). It's achievable I promise, but it takes time and effort. It's the one – very good – microbakery recipe I didn't include in I Want Dopamine for Dinner because it's just not simple, nor very accessible so I couldn't justify including it. But a few people asked about it hopefully and lamented when I told them it's not in the book, so I knew I had to share it eventually!

So here is my incredibly scrumptious, rich, creamy and nostalgic Passionfruit Vanilla Slice. I personally think the only worthwhile way of eating vanilla slice is with passionfruit icing on top, but if they're not readily available where you are, you can either use tinned or frozen passionfruit pulp or just swap the passionfruit for hot water in the icing to create a plain, sweet topping (which is just as common here in Australian country bakeries).

The puff pastry recipe is a veganised version of Georgia McDermott's in Intolerance-Friendly Kitchen.

Slice lasts for 3 days, refrigerated. Best eaten not fridge cold. I let mine sit out for 20–30 minutes, for the best texture.

I used a 27.5cm x 17.5cm slice tin in this recipe.

TOP TIP Read the entire recipe from top to bottom a couple of times before starting!

INGREDIENTS

Puff Pastry

Custard

Icing

METHOD

  1. START THE PUFF PASTRY at least 1-2 days before serving. In a medium bowl add the rice flour, tapioca starch, castor sugar and xanthum gum. Gently combine (it will be dusty). Cube in the 50g of butter and use your fingertips to rub it through the dry ingredients (like you would when making a crumble). Once evenly distributed, add ONLY A SPLASH of the cold water and mix with a spoon to combine. Add more water as needed to bring the mixture together into a dough. I generally need only about 100ml. Fashion into a square about 12–15cm large, wrap in baking paper or cling wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours–overnight.

    Shape the remaining 150g of butter (into what's called a butter pack, which you'll use to laminate the pastry dough). Meaning, add the butter to a large sheet of baking paper, and fashion into a rectangle or square about 12cm square – so that it's slightly smaller than the pastry square you just made.
  2. TO LAMINATE YOUR PASTRY take the dough and butter pack out of the fridge. If you've refrigerated the dough overnight you may need to reshape it with the warmth of your hands into a ball and then back into a rectangle so that it's warm enough to roll without cracking.

    Dust a clean bench and rolling pin generously with tapioca starch. Roll the pastry dough into a vertical rectangle facing you (think a narrow, portrait A4 sheet of paper shape), so that it's approximately twice as tall as the prepared butter pack. Add the butter pack into the middle of the dough, then (I use a dough scraper to "pick up" the dough flaps from the bench) fold the top and bottom over the dough so that it's covering the butter back. You can pinch off any excess dough from the sides to cover any exposed areas of butter.

    Sprinkle everything with tapioca starch then gently roll out the dough into another vertical rectangle about the same size as the one you just created (it can be approximate). For the first fold, a gentle tap, tap, tap from the rolling pin to encourage the butter and pastry to smoosh down somewhat can be helpful, before you start rolling. The main thing is to apply even pressure from the rolling pin. Fold the pastry into thirds – top down and bottom up – with the pastry overlapping itself this time (like you would fold an A4 sheet of paper into thirds for an envelope), then repeat the rolling and folding processes 4–5 more times. The process usually feels like a messy chaos until the 4th-5th folds. Refrigerate the puff pastry until cold (at least 2 hours).
  3. TO BAKE THE PUFF PASTRY SHEETS preheat your oven to 200C/400F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Divide the puff pastry rectangle into two even pieces by slicing it in half, you can eye-ball this.

    On a clean surface, generously dusted with tapioca starch, roll out one half of the puff pastry – applying even pressure with your rolling pin – until it is slightly larger than the base of your slice baking dish (mine was 27.5cm x 17.5cm). Let there be about 1-4 cm of overhang on each side, as the puff pastry shrinks in the oven. We will trim it for neatness after baking. Carefully transfer the roll out pastry to one of the lined baking trays. Repeat with the other puff pastry portion. Prick each sheet of puff pastry with a fork a couple of times.

    Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, or until puffed and lightly golden (there will likely be uneven air bubbles, that's to be expected). Let cool on the trays or on wire racks, until the Custard's cool enough to assemble.
  4. MAKE THE CUSTARD either a couple of hours before baking the puff pastry – as it takes a few hours to cool – or just after the puff pastry comes out of the oven.

    Blend all the Custard ingredients together in a high powered blender until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides with a spatula as necessary. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk constantly for 10–15, until thick. At the 10 minute mark (RIP wrists), it will start to thicken so that's when you need to be whisking like you mean it. The mixture is done when it's thick enough that you can briefly see the bottom of the pot while whisking. The mixture will also 'blob' rather than 'pour' off of a spoon. Take off the heat.

    Either leave to cool in the pot or speed things up by transferring to another bowl, cover with cling-film and place in the fridge for 30–60 minutes. Once the Custard is warm, but not hot you can assemble the vanilla slice.
  5. TO ASSEMBLE THE SLICE line the baking tin with a large piece of baking paper so that there are two overhanging flaps for easy removal. Use a folded piece of baking paper for reinforcement, so that it's strong enough to lift out the heavy slice.

    Using a large serrated knife, trim one of the large sheets of cooked puff pastry to be the size of the bottom of the tin (it might not cover the entire base, that's ok). Place in the lined tin. If there are large air bubbles, you can gently push them down to form a flat-enough surface. Pour the custard (give it a whisk first to smooth the consistency if it's congealed during cooling) over the pastry and smooth it out into an even layer.

    Trim the remaining piece of puff pastry to the size of the tin like you did the first, but then slice the top layer into as many pieces as you plan to cut it into once set. This will allow you to easily cut the slice, without squishing the custard layer out the sides. Arrange the pieces next to each other on top of the custard, like a puzzle. They will be snug. Wrap the entire slice in cling-film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours–to overnight (or until set). Once set, you can make the Icing.
  6. TO MAKE THE ICING place the icing sugar and melted butter in a small bowl and add the pulp of one of the passionfruits. Mix with a spoon, adding a little more passionfruit pulp at a time until you reach a thick, but spreadable icing consistency.
  7. TO FINISH & SERVE decant all the icing on top of the slice, then using a palette knife, spread the icing over the pastry squares in an even a layer as possible. Dipping the palette knife in hot water occasionally will help achieve a smooth finish. Be aware it's a very hard dessert to make look neat. So don't sweat your best attempt. Return the slice to the fridge for about 10+ minutes, for the icing to set.

    Run a blunt-ish knife around the edge of the slice pan, then lift the slice out of the tin using the overhanging baking paper. Using a sharp knife dipped in hot water (to warm it up), cut the slice into the smaller pieces marked by the top layer of pastry you divided up earlier. Serve & enjoy!
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