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Vanilla slice

Sink your teeth into a slice of nostalgia.

By Emma Knowles
  • 20 mins preparation
  • 20 mins cooking plus cooling
  • Serves 6 - 8
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Who can resist a classic vanilla slice, all flaky, buttery pastry and vanilla-flecked custard filling? For the finishing touch simply dust it with icing sugar, or drizzle with a vanilla-scented icing like we've done here.
Seeking a vanilla slice recipe with passionfruit icing?

Ingredients

  • 2 sheets (375gm each) butter puff pastry (see note)
  • 500 ml milk
  • 375 ml pouring cream
  • 70 gm butter, coarsely chopped
  • 2 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped
  • 120 gm caster sugar
  • 40 gm (⅓ cup) cornflour
  • 6 egg yolks
Vanilla icing
  • 2½ cups pure icing sugar
  • 50 ml milk
  • Scraped seeds of ½ vanilla bean or ½ tsp vanilla bean paste

Method

  • 1
    Preheat oven to 200C. Cut a 25cm square from each sheet of pastry, place each square on a baking tray lined with baking paper and prick all over with a fork. Place a 2cm high cutter in each corner of each tray, place baking paper over the cutters and place another tray on top (this helps the pastry rise evenly). Bake, swapping and turning trays partway through cooking so pastry cooks evenly, until dark golden and puffed (10-15 minutes). Cool on wire racks, then trim to 20cm squares with a serrated knife and place one square in the base of a 20cm-square cake tin lined with baking paper that extends above the rim for easy removal.
  • 2
    Bring milk, cream, butter and vanilla beans and seeds just to the simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, whisk sugar, cornflour and yolks in a bowl to combine. Pour milk mixture in, whisking continuously, then return to pan and whisk until thick (4-5 minutes). Remove from heat, discard vanilla beans and pour onto pastry in cake tin. Press remaining pastry square on top and refrigerate until set (2-3 hours).
  • 3
    For vanilla icing, stir ingredients in a bowl until smooth, adding a little water to thin to drizzling consistency.
  • 4
    Remove vanilla slice from tin and carefully cut into rectangles with a serrated knife. Drizzle with vanilla icing and serve.

Notes

Note We prefer Carême puff pastry, which comes in pre-rolled 375gm sheets. If it's unavailable, substitute another good butter puff pastry.