Hi baking friends!
Another day another recipe I’m very proud to share with you. I have a small obsession with French desserts and this is one of my all-time favourites. Ever since I went vegan I never thought I would be able to try something like this again considering how many eggs are used for the flan. However, 3 years ago I tried a vegan Parisian flan made by the wonderful Cocolico at a London vegan market and my mind was blown! So here we are 3 years later and I’ve finally perfected my recipe.
I would consider this recipe a lot easier than the non-vegan version because there’s no risk of curdled or uncooked eggs. However, some care is still required in handling both the crust and the filling. If you’re new to pastry and want some visual cues for making the crust, please see the tutorial I’ve included in my lemon meringue pie recipe. It’s almost identical to the process here, we just use a deep cake tin instead of a pie dish. Also we don’t need to poke holes in the pastry nor “blind bake” it!
One ingredient you may not have expected here is custard powder. I apologies to any purists who were looking only the most authentic ingredients for a French flan but I stand by my decision to use custard powder! Because we’re not using eggs, we need something to replicate the shade of yellow that eggs usually provide. Custard powder provides this colour as well as some much invited stability. Also, who knew custard powder was vegan?! I was certain it might include dairy milk but after some research I found that the most popular brand of custard powder in the UK is naturally vegan!
For a finishing touch, make sure to use a neutral glaze such as apricot jam to make the top of the Parisian flan shiny and inviting. I typically mix a tablespoon of apricot jam with a tablespoon of warm water and then brush it on!
Vegan Parisian Flan
This luscious, vegan Parisian Flan is an elevated but underrated showstopper for all occasions. A perfect platform to celebrate that delicious vanilla bean who is ultimately the star of the show.
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 200g plain flour
- 100g vegan block butter (75%+ fat)
- 25g (2 tbsp) caster sugar caster sugar
- 1-2 tbsp ice cold water
- ½ tsp sea salt
- Filling:
- 1L soy milk, organic
- 170g caster sugar
- 1.5 tsp agar agar powder
- 2 tbsp (20g) custard powder
- 45g cornstarch
- 100g vegan block butter
- 2 tbsp vanilla paste (at least 2 vanilla beans)
- pinch of salt
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 180C (356F). Line a loose-bottom 8-inch cake/tart tin with a circle of parchment.
- Step 2 Place all the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it starts to form a ball of dough. If you don’t have a food processor then chop up the vegan butter, add it to a large bowl and mix it into the dry ingredients with your fingers. Add the water last to pull the dough together.
- Step 3 Cover the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes to relax the gluten.
- Step 4 Take the dough out of the fridge, lightly dust a surface with flour and roll out the dough to 4mm thick.
- Step 5 Drape the pastry over the tart tin and gently push the dough into the base. Trim away any excess. My loose-bottom tin is fairly deep so I keep the crust “walls” about 2 inches tall. Place the crust in the freezer while you work on the filling (they will be baked together).
- Step 6 In a small bowl, thoroughly mix together all the dry ingredients (sugar, agar agar powder, custard powder, cornstarch and salt).
- Step 7 Pour half a cup of the 1L of soy milk into a sauce pan and whisk in all the dry ingredients. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and all the dry ingredients have dissolved.
- Step 8 Pour in the rest of the soy milk and turn on the heat to a medium-low setting. Add the vegan butter. Stir continuously for 5 – 10 minutes while the mixture slowly heats up and thickens. The mixture will become very thick but keep mixing until it reaches a simmer (i.e. a few bubbles pushing through the custard filling). Cornstarch starts to thicken around 70C whereas agar activates at boiling point so we must make sure we hit at least that.
- Step 9 Once you reach the simmer, turn the heat off and quickly mix in the vanilla. Once it is completely smooth, take the crust out of the freezer and pour the filling straight into the crust.
- Step 10 Place the whole flan into the oven for 50 minutes to bake. Keep an eye on the flan towards the end to make sure the top isn’t burning. If it does brown too quickly, cover it in foil for the last 10-15 minutes.
- Step 11 The flan is ready when it only jiggles a small amount. Don’t get too crazy with shaking it though because you may ruin the lovely browned surface on top!
- Step 12 Carefully take the flan out of the oven and leave to cool for at least 1 hour before covering it and placing it in the fridge to chill overnight. Brush the flan with apricot jam or maple syrup to get a decorative shine and then serve!
I live in Germany and the custard powder here also is mainly corn starch and sugar… would it still work?
Thank you for All the amazing recipes!
Hi! How can i sub the custard powder? thank you!!
Awesome recipe, sent me right back to my childhood memories of custard tarts! The flan is bang on flavour and texture-wise.
I messed up a little by piercing the bubble that rises up during baking, causing it to spill all over my oven. I approached Tom about this and they were happy to help me figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
Baked it again a couple of days later and it came out a dream! Absolutely perfect.
Will be making this regularly i’m sure.