Along the Way: Vanilla Custard Slice Take 1

 

Vanilla Custard Slice - Cheaty-McCheat version

INGREDIENTS

Base

• 200g pack of Arnotts Lattice biscuits

Filling

• 1/2 cup (65g) custard powder
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
  

Topping

• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture
• 4-5 tbs water (see Notes)
• 1-2 drops pink food colouring
  

 METHOD

1. Lightly grease the base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin.
2. Place 9 of the lattice biscuits in a 3x3 grid on the base of the tin (they should fit almost perfectly), and set aside.
3. Place the custard powder into a saucepan with 1/4 cup of the milk. Stir until all of the custard powder has dissolved. Add the remaining 2 1/4 cups of milk and the caster sugar.
4. Whisking continuously, heat the custard over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until it has started to thicken. Once the custard starts to boil, continue whisking for a further 2 minutes or until very thick. Place a sheet of glad wrap over the custard to stop it forming a "skin" and allow to cool for 20 minutes.
5. Pour/spread the cooled custard over the biscuits and top with another 9 biscuits in the same 3x3 grid.
6. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the food colouring.
7. Add the water 1 tablespoon at a time and stir until you have a smooth paste (that can be spread). Only add enough water to make the icing just spreadable - too much water will make the icing too watery and turn the slice soggy.
   
8. Spread the icing over the slice and place into the fridge for 3-4 hours (or overnight is best).
9. Cut the slice into 9 pieces using the shape of the biscuits to guide you.

NOTES - 9 September 2020

I chose this simplified recipe because I was aware that getting the custard consistency right would be a challenge. I therefore set aside the idea of getting pastry right at the same time. Unfortunately this was not a good custard recipe and I encountered a couple of other problems with this one.

The lattice biscuits are a fine stand-in for pastry for about the first two days after making, and then they begin to soften and curl in a most unattractive way. I would say it's worth the effort to do pastry from the get go, and don't go down this path. See the definitive recipe, it's not actually hard to use frozen puff pastry for this slice.

The custard turned out too yellow and too firm. This recipe seems to place a lot of emphasis on making sure the custard gets very thick, and so following that advice ended up with a very solid block of custard in each portion. The custard was more like a very firm jelly than the desired semi-firm cheese consistency that I think is required in this slice. In the image above you can see how it's almost flaking like a cheddar.

The quantities quoted for the icing in this recipe are bonkers - you can see I ended up with a very thick icing layer, and I used less than half the icing made up from the instructions. The colour ended up being a bit deeper than intended, because dispensing drops of food colouring is always a bit hit and miss. The consensus at home and abroad was that pink, as an icing colour for vanilla custard slice, is a bit out there, and so I won't be doing that again.

In all, I learnt a lot about how not to make vanilla custard slice from this recipe, and would not recommend using it without significant modification. However, the reason I used it in the first place is valid - if you want a quick result with a little less effort, the lattice biscuits are a good short-term stand-in for pastry.