Egg-less Custard Tarts Recipe

Did you know that you don't need to use eggs to make a beautiful rich and delicious vanilla custard!

Custard Tarts are one of Mr Cakes absolute favourite sweet treats! They have a crisp and buttery pastry shell, filled with thick and creamy baked vanilla custard. They traditionally have a little sprinkle of nutmeg on top and the custard is baked until almost set, so that it still has a slight jiggle in the middle. They are delicious slightly warm or Mr Cakes likes to eat them cold!

This recipe makes around a dozen small custard tarts. They are best eaten within 1-3 days, as the pastry will start to absorb the moisture from the custard. Store in an airtight container in a cool and dry place.

Makes 12 small tarts

Pastry ingredients;

250g plain flour

30g caster or granulated sugar

150g vegan block butter

1-3 tbs cold water

Custard ingredients;

70g caster or granulated sugar

24g vegan butter

360g plant milk + extra 30g

1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla powder - depending on how vanilla-y you like your custard!

30g cornflour

1 tsp nutmeg to decorate

You will also need; a mixing bowl, whisk, small saucepan, small bowl, rolling pin, large circle cookie cutter, 12 hole tart tin, spoon or ladle

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How to make your cakes;

1. Begin making your pastry. In your large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar and vegan butter

2. Use your fingers to crumble the butter into the dry ingredients to make a fine breadcrumb texture

3. Add 1 tbs of cold water and use your fingers again to mix it through the pastry dough

4. Begin to bring the pastry together by gently squashing the dough into a ball

5. The dough should feel soft and pliable. If the dough is too dry and crumbly, add another tbs of cold water and bring it together again

6. Try not to overwork the dough as this will make the pastry taste tough

7. This pastry is quite soft, so if you have time, wrap it in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes until chilled. This will make it easier to work with

8. Pre heat the oven to 180°c

9. Get your cold pastry out of the fridge. Flour your worktop and rolling pin so that the dough does not stick

10. Roll out your pastry dough quite thinly, to around 3-4mm thick

11. Cutout 12 circle shapes and gently press them into the tart tin to make the cake base

12. Bake for around 12-15 minutes until they are lightly golden with no wet pastry patches underneath

13. While the pastry is baking, make your custard filling

14. Add the sugar, butter, vanilla powder and plant milk to the saucepan and heat on a low-medium heat until everything has melted together

15. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornflour and extra 30g of plant milk to form a smooth paste

16. Slowly pour the cornflour paste into the melted custard mixture while whisking continuously. Keep whisking until the custard feels thick, smooth and glossy. Do not stop whisking while the custard is cooking, as this is when lumps can appear

17. Use a spoon or ladle to pour the custard into the baked pastry shells. Fill each cavity to just under completely full. This will make sure that the custard doesn't spill out while baking

18. Return to the oven for another 5-8 minutes just to bake the custard into the pastry shell

19. Once out of the oven, sprinkle a pinch of nutmeg on top of each custard tart

20. Leave the tarts to cool and then they are ready to eat!

Tips & Tricks!

• Try not to overwork the pastry dough, as we want to keep the pastry as light, buttery and crumbly as possible. If you knead it too much it will become tough and chewy to eat.

• This is the 12 hole perforated tart tin I use; https://amzn.to/48Fcw04

• These are the circle cutters I use; https://amzn.to/3KGUeUu

• This is my large rolling pin; https://amzn.to/4pKk9JW

• The key thing to remember with the custard is to keep whisking while it is cooking, if not you may end up with cornflour lumps instead of a smooth and glossy custard!

• My vanilla powder is always from Vanilla Mart; https://amzn.to/3NKcmOq