Steps to Prepare the Grandma’s Vegan Cake

• First, prepare the vegan shortcrust pastry (see recipe).

  While the pastry rests in the fridge, prepare the vegan cream:

  It’s very simple: in a saucepan, combine the cornstarch and sugar with the vanilla soy milk, mix well to remove any lumps from the starch, add the lemon zest, then put the saucepan on the heat, and while stirring continuously, wait for it to thicken. As soon as the mixture begins to thicken, lower the heat, continue cooking for about a minute, then turn off. At this point, add a pinch of turmeric, if desired, and stir to blend the color.

  👉 Turmeric is not essential, the cream can be used in its pale color. To make it yellower, just use turmeric on the tip of a teaspoon: it adds color without altering the taste of the cream.

  ☝ I advise not leaving the cream in the hot saucepan, but to pour it into a bowl to let it cool down. Stir it occasionally with a spoon to help it lose excess heat and to prevent a surface film from forming.

  Roll out two-thirds of the pastry with a rolling pin. Place it in a 8.66-inch pan lined with parchment paper or greased and floured. Create a pastry edge high enough to contain the cream.

  Distribute the cream (it doesn’t need to be cold, it’s fine if it’s still hot or warm, as it needs to be put in the oven immediately) over the pastry, leveling it with the back of a spoon.

  Roll out the remaining shortcrust pastry.

  👉 With the remaining pastry, you should obtain a disc of dough to completely cover the cream, as the traditional grandma’s cake recipe requires. However, I preferred to cut out cookies for decoration.

  I liked the idea of leaving the cream uncovered for decorative reasons, because the shortcrust flowers seemed suitable for Grandparents’ Day, but also because I wanted to “study” the cream 😊 that is, I wanted to watch it while it cooked to understand its possible behavior during baking, which I wouldn’t have seen if it was under a pastry lid (what a strategy, eh! 😄 ).

  Distribute the pine nuts (amount as desired) over the cream.

  

• Bake at 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) (midway through, I lowered it to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit)) and bake for 15 minutes, give or take a minute, just enough time to cook the pastry.

  I feared the pine nuts might burn, but they didn’t. Instead, they remained light. I took the cake out of the oven as soon as the pastry started to brown. Maybe two more minutes of baking would have given a bit of color to the pine nuts, I’ll try that next time 😉

  The classic grandma’s cake is usually finished with a nice sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. Since this is a vegan recipe, I recommend using vegan-approved powdered sugar. In any case, its use is entirely optional, as it does not alter the taste.

  Remember, as it always happens with all tarts… this grandma’s vegan cake is even better the next day, so remember to prepare it in advance!

  

• This apple variant doesn’t need particular explanations, perhaps in this case, calling it grandma’s cake is a bit inappropriate. After all, it’s an apple and cream cake, or an apple and cream tart, or to put it another way, a cream tart with apples and cinnamon… we got it, you can call it whatever you want. The important thing is that, I assure you, it’s… not just good, but more than good! (Is there still anyone who underestimates vegan desserts?! I hope not!).

  

• For this variant, proceed simply as follows:

  Peel and thinly slice an apple, or more (depending on how large your apples are or how densely you want to place the slices).

  After distributing the cream on the pastry, vertically push the apple slices into the cream.

  Decorate with pine nuts and sprinkle with cinnamon powder before baking.

  Baking time is essentially the same as the version without apples.

  The cinnamon does its job, the aroma of this cake is fantastic, and moreover, the apples pair excellently with this vegan cream.

  🌞 This cream is fantastic and, to be honest, I didn’t think it would turn out so well. I will definitely make it again and experiment with other plant-based drinks instead of soy.

  🌞 Edit: here are the two versions I prepared later: the one with soy milk (not vanilla) and the one with almond milk and limoncello, choose the cream you like best!

  Do you agree with my enthusiasm? Let’s talk about it! Let me know if this grandma’s vegan cake was loved by you too! And which one, the one without apples or the one with? 😊