Vegan strawberry tart… with a twist

#glutenfree #lactosefree #dairyfree #vegan

My cakes have so far been inspired by the great baking tradition of Ireland and the UK where I lived for 17 years. I still remember arriving in Ireland to start my Erasmus exchange – the first place where myself and my friends had dinner, we had the most divine chocolate cake. So cake and the British Isles for me go hand in hand.

However, since returning to Belgium, I’ve reacquainted myself with the Flemish/Belgian baking tradition and I can see it slowly starting to find its way into my own baking. It’s less easy integrating vegetables into tarts and pies rather than cake, but I’m up for a challenge (especially in these challenging times, baking is my haven). So here is a recipe I’ve been working on for a week now. It’s a bit more work than a regular cake which takes like an hour start to finish, but it’s worth it seeing the face on my kid’s face when he goes ‘moooore’!

Ingredients

For the cake:

110g boiled and mashed cauliflower (add a splash of water if it won’t mix well)

120g rice or buckwheat flour

25g cornstarch

20g tapioca starch

20g coconut milk powder (you can use regular milk powder here too)

1,5 tsp psyllium husk

120g sugar or substitute

110g coconut oil, melted and cooled

100g almonds

For the custard (recipe adapted from No Milky Way):

500ml nut milk (I make my own cashew milk)

40g sugar or substitute

30g corn starch

4g agar agar

1/4 tsp curcuma

For the decoration:

strawberries (or any other fruit)

shape cutter for the tart

Instructions:

Make the dough either early in the day or the day before, because this will have to cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the tart together and knead until it comes together into a sticky ball. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

When you’re ready for the next step, pre-heat the oven to 175C.

Take the tart dough out of the fridge and start kneading again until it’s supple enough to manipulate (you might have to take smaller chunks and knead those separately until you can put it all together again – coconut oil gets very hard.)

Roll out the dough in between two baking sheets until it’s about an inch (2,5 cm) thick. (Use whatever you have left to cut out shapes for decoration.) Put the pastry on a low round baking mould that you’ve prepared with oil and a baking sheet, and bake for 20 mins or until it gets brown. Bake whatever shapes you have made for about 10 mins – make sure they don’t get too brown.

Leave to cool entirely. The coconut oil will make sure it hardens and makes it easier to manage as it cools, so don’t be tempted to try to take it out of the mould when it’s still warm.

Next make the custard.

Put all the ingredients into a small pot and put it on a medium heat. Mix well until the mix starts to thicken. Add a bit more sugar if you’re so inclined.

When the tart has cooled down, pour the custard into it and put it into the fridge so it can set.

After half an hour or so, decorate with strawberries and the shapes you have cut out of the leftover dough – or decorate to your liking! Enjoy!