The Fluffiest Vanilla Slice
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus cooling time for custard and overnight setting
Cooking time: 30 minutes
- 2 sheets butter puff pastry
- 600ml/21flozs. full cream milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 300g/10.6ozs. caster or superfine sugar
- 4 tablespoons cornflour or fine cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste extract or paste
- 2.5 tablespoons gelatin powder (or 7.5 sheets leaf gelatin)
- 125ml/4flozs. water
- 500ml/17.7flozs. cream
Icing
- 180g/6ozs. icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons thick coconut cream
- 45g/1.7ozs. butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons passionfruit puree
- 50g/1.7ozs. shredded coconut
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 220C/440F and line two trays with parchment. Dock each sheet of pastry with a fork and bake for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp and cooked on the base. Set aside to cool. Line the base and sides of a 20x20cms or 8x8inch square tin with parchment (with extra parchment so you can lift the sides of the parchment to remove the slice easily). Then trim each square of pastry to fit your tin and place one square inside.
Step 2 - Make the custard base (you'll need to leave this to cool completely). Heat the milk in a saucepan until almost boiling. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a jug and then add the cornflour. Add a little of the hot milk into the eggs and gradually add more so that it is well incorporated. Slowly stir to form a custard on low medium heat (try not to over stir), just try to avoid it sticking to the base of the saucepan. When it is thick and coats the back of a spoon add vanilla and transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film touching the surface.
Step 3 - Sprinkle the gelatin powder on top of the water and then microwave for 20 seconds or until liquid. Cool for 1-2 minutes and then stir it into the custard (make sure that the custard and gelatine are around the same temperature or lumps may form). Whip the cream until you get thick peaks and then add the custard gelatine mixture and whisk until it becomes a fluffy, cohesive mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth over. Then cover with the other square of pastry. Chill for 2 hours.
Step 4 - Make the icing by placing the icing sugar in a food processor/ Add the coconut cream and puree and then add butter. Stir in the passionfruit (don't blend or the seeds will grind up). Spread on top of the slice and then sprinkle with shredded coconut. Allow to set completely overnight. Carefully remove from the tin and cut into 9 squares using a sharp, serrated knife.
Some of the vanilla slices that I've eaten have ranged from wonderful to woeful. Then there was the time where I had the very worst vanilla slice of my life. We were travelling and came upon a cafe. I had never seen so many rules in my life.
“Do not use mobile phones”
“Do not run in store”
“Do not touch displays”
“Wait to be seated”
“We don’t accept bankcard”
“No substitutions”
We were lured by the sandwich board sign which read “Try our famous vanilla slice-Grandma's recipe”. Being big fans of grandmother's recipes we followed the trail which led us here.
It was a second hand store mixed with a cafe but we remind ourselves that sometimes the best things don’t come in sleek or charming packages. There are two ladies sitting at one booth who have finished off some scones and a woman by herself sitting at a table reading a fiction novel and finishing off a bowl of salad.
What was formerly a shop has been converted into a cafe and to demarcate the food prep area from the eating area are cupboards perched on top of each other. A man comes out from behind the cupboards.
“Mmmay we sit over there?” we ask nervously.
“Okay,” he says giving us an unsure look to try and gauge what kind of people we are. He’s probably eyeballing us and comparing us to a checklist of qualities he wants in a customer. That is:
“No troublemakers”
“No noisy people”
“No men with long hair”
“No gum chewers”
“No loose women”
“No substitutions”
He stops by our table and gives us two glasses of water. Then he pops two tubes of hand sanitiser on our table in a small wicker basket lined with a doily and raises his eyebrows as if to say "Yes, I'm dead serious". He was clearly ahead of his time with this pandemic.
With our newly minted germ free hands we take a look at the menu. Things are incredibly cheap here and a sandwich is $3.00. However we are here to try the vanilla slice.
“I can’t wait for the vanilla slice,” I tell Mr NQN trying to break the silence.
There is the sudden ping of the microwave and then a few minutes later another ping and then another. The shrill ping is clear as there is virtually nothing separating us from the kitchen. I’m suddenly alerted to the fact that there are no telltale cooking smells and sounds. No sizzle, no sauté, no frying, no boiling and no aromatics. Just the microwave and its constant ping.
Our vanilla slice arrives. I am stunned. I’ve never seen a vanilla slice like it in my life. It’s golden yellow, not even that highlighter yellow that some come in. This one is dark, especially at the sides where it is cut and the cut edges have a light brown dry edge.
“Maybe it will taste ok?” I say trying to avoid the inevitable. Mr NQN's eyes widen.
I take the little cake fork and dig it in. The puff pastry is wet and tough as damp cardboard and I manage to wrestle a corner off. I taste it. I would estimate that there is probably about four times the amount of custard powder that it needs, giving it that hard plastic look and complete lack of jiggle.
We pay after just eating a corner. He is friendlier now-I suppose we’ve shown that we aren’t troublemakers because we've paid and we used the hand sanitiser as instructed.
“Let’s just pretend that NEVER happened,” I say to Mr NQN and he nods in agreement.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever want to walk out of an eatery and if so, do you? Do you like vanilla slices?