Let's Make: Vegan Cardamom Crème Brûlée
Makes 12 Cupcakes (and some leftover cutout bits for snacking)
Ingredients:
Pastry Cream:
156 g Oat Milk (or other milk alternative)
403 g Coconut Milk (blended till smooth)
64 g Cornstarch
100 g Sugar
10 g Vanilla Extract
52 g Vegan Butter (sliced into 6 pieces)
2 g Salt
6 g Cardamom Powder
Cupcake:
355 g Oat Milk (or other milk alternative)
10 g Apple Cider Vinegar
344 g All-purpose flour
300 g Sugar
10 g Baking Powder
8 g Cardamom Powder
5 g Salt
113 g Vegan Butter (melted)
10 g Vanilla Extract
Topping:
100 g Sugar
Instructions:
Make pastry cream first to give it time to setup before using.
In a small saucepan combine oat milk, coconut milk, sugar, salt, and cardamom powder. Over a medium heat bring to a simmer, whisking continuously until thickening.
Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. Then whisk in the butter, one piece at a time until you have a smooth pastry cream. Cover with plastic wrap, pushing down to the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
Preheat an oven to 180ºC (350ºF). And line a muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
For the cupcake, combine oat milk and apple cider vinegar, give it a stir and set aside for 5 minutes to curdle slightly.
In a large bowl combine all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom powder, and salt. Whisk to combine.
Make a well in the middle and pour in the oat milk apple cider vinegar mix, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Whisk the wet ingredients together, and slowly bring in the dry ingredients to combine.
It should start thickening with 5 minutes to the point where you can add it to a piping bag (our pour from the bowl) and fill each cupcake liner evenly with batter.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool a bit.
Using a paring knife, cut out cone shaped indentations from the tops of the cupcakes. Snack on the left overs.
Take your pastry cream, which will look incredibly not smooth anymore. And blitz it in a food processor (scraping down the sides a couple of times) until a beautiful silky paste is formed.
Fill a piping bag with the pastry cream and fill each cupcake evenly. Use an offset spatula to smooth out and bring right to the edges.
Dip each cupcake in sugar to coat thoroughly.
Blowtorch until nice and golden brown and the sugar starts to drips off the sides (lining the surface is smart for this). Allow to firm up before cracking the top with a spoon or just tearing into like a wild animal.