In this post we share the recipe for a classic Vegan Mille-Feuille, a staple of French patisserie. Get the recipe below.
Some of you might know this dish as a Napoleon or a Vanilla Slice or even a Custard Slice.
Making a Vegan Mille-Feuille requires mastering a couple of techniques that are a core part of French patisserie. This includes making a vegan crème pâtissière. If you want to make the whole thing from scratch you'll also need to make your own puff pastry. You can find instructions for making your own vegan puff pastry here. The rest of the instructions can be found below.
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Ingredients
A classic mille-feuille is made up of 3 components: (1) puff pastry (2) crème pâtissière (also known as pastry cream) and (3) icing.
In this recipe I use store bought puff pastry, many varieties are vegan as they are made with oil instead of butter. This makes them the perfect shortcut for this recipe.
For the crème pâtissière you will need:
- Plant milk
- Cornflour
- Vegan butter
- Vanilla paste
Together these ingredients are cooked until thick enough to pipe.
For the icing decoration on top you will need:
- Icing sugar
- Dark chocolate.
Once you have the ingredients for these three components you can begin baking!
Step-by-step instructions
- Step 1: To make the crème pâtissière, begin by whisking plant milk and vegan cream in a saucepan with vanilla paste and cornflour.
- Step 2: Heat the crème pâtissière mix over a medium heat, stirring continuously until you have a thick custard.
- Step 3: Remove the custard from the heat and whisk in the vegan butter until incorporated fully
- Step 4: Transfer the crème pâtissière to a bowl and cover with clingfilm pressed against the surface to avoid a skin forming. Leave to cool before transferring to the fridge.
- Step 5: Roll out your puff pastry and cut into 6 equal rectangles.
- Step 6: Place a baking tray on top of the puff pastry and bake in the oven until crisp and golden.
- Step 7: Decorate 4 of the puff pastry rectangles with white icing. Before the white icing sets, pipe lines of melted dark chocolate and use a skewer dragged back and forth to create a feathered effect.
- Step 8: To assemble, pipe crème pâtissière on 8 of the rectangles. Stack two on top of each other and finish with one of the iced puff pastry rectangles.
Hint: if the crème pâtissière gets a little rubbery when refrigerated try using an electric whisk to bring it back to life and make it smooth and fluffy.
Variations
You can jazz up a mille-feuille by adding fruit or making a chocolate or even coffee flavoured crème pâtissière.
Substitutions
Baking is a science and unfortunately in this recipe you will need all of the ingredients listed.
Equipment
To cook the puff pastry you will need two baking trays which fit together snuggly. This is because you want to place a baking tray on top of the puff pastry to weigh it down and to keep it crisp and flaky rather than puffed up.
For the crème pâtissière you will need a saucepan and a whisk.
You don't need any fancy equipment to make the icing - a bowl and spoon will do - but to make the feathered pattern on top you will need a piping bag and a skewer.
Frequently asked questions
Let the chocolate cool slightly before piping so it's less runny. But don't leave it too long or it will be too thick to pipe! You need to time it just right.
The recipe
Vegan Mille-Feuille
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets
- 1 piping bag
- 1 Offset spatula
Ingredients
To make the vegan crème pâtissière
- 50 g cornflour
- 350 ml plant milk
- 150 ml vegan cream
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 50 g vegan butter block butter, not spreadable butter
For the puff pastry
- 320 g vegan puff pastry ready rolled
For the decoration
- 100 g icing sugar
- 2 tablespoon water
- 100 g dark chocolate
Instructions
To make the crème pâtissière
- Place the cornflour in a pan and slowly whisk in the milk to avoid any lumps.
- Next whisk in the cream, caster sugar and vanilla paste.
- Place the pan over a medium heat and whisk continuously until it just begins to thicken.
- keep whisking until it starts to bubble and boil.
- Remove from the heat, add the butter and whisk until the butter has melted and fully combined with the rest of the crème pâtissière mix.
- Scrape the crème pâtissière into a bowl and cover with clingfilm that is directly touching the surface (to avoid a skin forming).
- Place into the fridge until ready to use.
To make the puff pastry
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 392F / gas mark 6.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet on to a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Cut into 12 equal rectangles.
- Top with a sheet of baking paper then place a second baking sheet over the top of the pastry.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
- Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
To assemble
- Remove the crème pâtissière from the fridge and whisk until fluffy and smooth.
- Put the crème pâtissière in a piping bag and pipe onto 8 of the 12 puff pastry rectangles.
- In a small bowl, mix together the icing sugar and water until smooth and spreadable.
- Using an offset spatula, spread this over the remaining 4 puff pastry sheets.
- Melt the dark chocolate and add to another piping bag.
- Pipe 3 thin lines of dark chocolate on top of the icing and then, using a skewer, create a feathered pattern by dragging the skewer back and forth through the chocolate and icing.
- Stack 2 of the puff pastry sheets topped with crème pâtissière and one of the puff pastry sheets that has been decorated and serve.
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