Very Vegan Chocolate Tart

Suitable for vegans

Hello! Jon here!

You will recognise my name from the Vegan Lemon Biscuit recipe posted recently. I am a close friend of both Bekki and Pippa, who also happens to be a dab hand in the kitchen. I specialise a little more on the veggie and vegan side of things, having experimented in vegan baking for two years now, and a committed vegetarian for the past year.

Looking through the recipes on here, there were so many I’ve tried already, that the girls and I have discussed. But there was one that always alluded me- Bekki’s Very Berry Chocolate Tart! I am not a pastry specialist (shop bought all the way!), but on the two prior occasions, I was able to follow the traditional recipe and method.

So in discussing this recipe, Bekki challenged me to veganise it! For those unfamiliar, this involves using no ingredients that come from an animal- so no eggs, no dairy, no meat-based ingredients (gelatins etc.) Not an easy task. At all. In fact really difficult when the two keys things- homemade pastry and homemade creme patissiere! Plus I needed to replace no less than six ingredients from her original recipe.

Luckily for me, I have not only a few tricks up my sleeve, but a strong vein of winners luck when it comes to making something for the first time (my fiancé will agree that my first ever Pavlova was my best to date, after six years of practice!) The pastry is… a little radical. As t’were. So before you throw your rocks and grab your pitchforks, hear me out!

So, here’s the all important bit:

Ingredients;

Pastry (enough for 1x 10 inch tart base)
250g Gluten Free White Bread Flour*
125g Icing Sugar
125g Cold Vegan Spread**
Splash of cold water if needed

*I had no Plain Flour, which was a good start to this venture…
**I used Tesco’s rather fancy new Coconut Oil spread (there’s an avocado one too, spread fans!), but usually for baking I use Pure Soya Spread.

Creme Patissiere
200ml Soya Milk (or Almond, or Coconut, if you wish, just not “Light” or “Fat Free” versions)
75g Golder Caster Sugar
2tsp Xantham Gum*
250g Vegan Chocolate (I use Kinnerton’s, which you will usually find in your Freefrom section in the supermarket, but whatever you can find that is Dairy and Milk free)
1tsp Vanilla Paste
Sprinkle of Rock Salt

*If you don’t have this, good old Cornflour will work!

Equipment;

10" loose bottomed tart base/springform cake tin

Oven Temp;

180c/350f/Gas 5

Method;

• Sift flour and icing sugar into a bowl, then drop in small lumps of the cold vegan spread. I used a tea spoon to scoop out small lumps of it into the bowl. The colder the better, so work swiftly! 
• Rub the dry ingredients through with the fat to make a breadcrumb style mix*, which will slowly start to come together. A splash of ice cold water will help bring it together at the last if needs be 
• Bring together in a rough ball (don’t knead or work it too much), get it into some cling film as quickly as possible, and bung it into the fridge, for 30 minutes (minimum) 
• While the pastry is in the fridge, you can begin work on the cream pat. In a pan, warm up 200ml of dairy-free milk, with 150ml of cold water, and the sugar, until the sugar dissolves 
• Put the Xantham gum into a small cup/bowl/ramekin/vessel of some sort, and add a few spoonfuls of the warm milky mixture, and mix quickly till smooth. Add this into the pan 
• Bring to the boil, and add 200g of the chocolate (you’ll need the rest later!), the vanilla and a pinch of salt, and whisk through until smooth, glossy and thick. Pop the oven on- 180C/350F 
• Allow to cool, continuing to whisk to help reduce the temperature. While this is cooling, you can return to the pastry. Get it out of the fridge, unwrap it, and pop it onto a lightly floured surface 
• Roll out to the of a £1 coin thickness, keeping it moving so as not to stick, but also working quickly so it doesn’t warm up too much. Roll it up onto your rolling pin, and line the greased tin. 
• Trim roughly, prick with a fork, cover in baking parchment, and blind bake using dried pulses or ceramic beads. 15 minute with beads, then a further 10-15 without, so it is biscuit brown 
• Allow the base to cool a little, and then, melting the remaining 50g of chocolate, brush the entire inside of the tart case with the chocolate, so as to protect it from moisture and help it stay crisp 
• Add the creme pat to the cooled tart case, smooth with a palette knife, and if you haven’t already, finish trimming your tart case, for presentation purposes (if you so wish) 
• Allow to chill for an hour. Remove it from the fridge at least 15 minutes before serving. Top with fresh berries, and a dusting of icing sugar, or rock salt and vegan caramel sauce**

*I have “plastic” ice cubes at hand for pastry working, as I can hold onto them prior to working the pastry to chill my hands, without the getting wet. Alternatively, run your hands under cold water for thirty seconds, and dry with paper towel before working the pastry.
**Vegan caramel is a doddle- recipe to follow in the future!

Verdict;

I really thoroughly enjoyed making this. Mostly because now Bekki now has to copy the recipe and try out my veganised version for herself, but also because it proves that something as terrifying as pastry and creme patissiere can be made a bit less scary by reducing the number of (usually more expensive) ingredients, and just having a go. 

So for my first effort it turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. Unwieldy vegan pastry was a little on the thick side, but that comes down to my inexperience with it than anything else. I also wish I had a springform tin to hand (that was another hurdle I faced before I’d even begun!), oh the joy of moving house and losing everything you thought you had… 

An eight inch cake tin sufficed on this occasion! If you have any comments, feedback or other recipes you’d like me to attempt to veganise, you can leave a comment below, or drop me a line on either my personal IG or the Roll With The Thymes IG, both also linked on the left in the "Follow Us" section!