Ask a Vegan Baker

I on this site I found many good and healthy recipes made with fruits and vegetables a site slow juice Estrattore a freddo , I recommend you have a look because there are many interesting items if you do not know the italiano used an online translator

So I made a pretty standard vegan custard (similar to the italian one you posted), and it turned out to be very tasty... but it wasn't an egg custard by any means. Fast forward a few days and I mixed in the vegg.

The problem is that the vegg tastes more like a hard boiled egg yolk than the kind of taste you would want for an egg custard. It didn't really satisfy the missing egginess, and in fact I think it tasted worse than the original custard I used (my portuguese mother insists that it doesn't taste eggy enough, but I can't even imagine putting in more than I did). It did, however, thicken it up and provide a very nice color. I'm going to play around with varying amounts of it and see what I can do, but I'm somewhat skeptical.

Interestingly enough I found this on the Italian veganblog:
http://www.veganblog.it/2010/08/03/pasteis-de-belem/
And even more interesting the cook used commercial frozen flaky layered crust and commercial cream mix, also vegan, both of which seem to be easily found in Italy!
Apparently the result was spectacular and quite similar to the original!
About replacing the egg yolk, I read the non vegan recipe you shared and it seems that is used both for binding and for flavoring.
There is a product called the vegg which is an egg replacer that tastes somewhat like egg yolk and when whipped has a similar consistency. I don't know how well it mimics the binding qualities of egg. You might want to play with it first and see. Probably more starch would replace the egg fairly well.
As with all the vegan replacements of foods we used to eat, the memories and your hunger for that particular food will fuel your experimentation.
It can be done! I used to think I'd never eat frittata or tiramisu again, and yet, I make vegan versions of both that make (non vegan) people rave!
And when you get a good result please share it!
All the best!
Daniela

Awesome, thanks for the recipe! Here's a recipe for the non-vegan custard so you have a better idea: http://leitesculinaria.com/7759/recipes-portuguese-custard-tarts-pasteis-de-nata.html

I'll definitely try the italian cream out. Do you know of any good replacements for the egg yolks that I can throw in there too?

hi, I don't know the pastry you are planning to make, and I am not sure if the custard is anything like the Italian Pastry Cream, but here is a recipe I gleaned from the italian vegan blog/community www.veganblog.it that might help you.
Share the results please!!
Daniela

Pastry Cream:
1 Qt soymilk
1 C sweetener (sugar or agave syrup)
1/2 C flour (or 1/4 C flour and 1/4 C corn starch)
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP vanilla powder (or extract, to taste)
the rind of one lemon, no white (it can be cut in one long piece, it gets removed after it's cooked)

Mix everything in a pot and cook, stirring all the time, till it's thick. (Make it like you would gravy, adding the liquid to the four a little at the time, to prevent lumping. Or blend everything in the blender and then cook.)
If it doesn't get thick when it boils (it happened to me) add more flour diluted with a little cold milk and stir and cook some more.
Make sure it doesn't stick or burn on the bottom, stir all the time.
When it's thick, it's done. It has to be thick like pudding. Let it cool with plastic wrap on top so it doesn't form a skin. To speed it up, put in the freezer or refrigerator.