The custard slice is an architecturally perfect piece of pastry. The crisp flakiness sandwiches the silky custard in just the right way, adding the perfect amount of texture. The added jam brings some fun to the party, injecting a layer of colour into your otherwise beige masterpiece. If you’re looking for a bit more sophistication the next level addition to this would be to use finely sliced fresh strawberries instead of jam.

Ingredients

2 sheets of shop-bought puff pastry, thawed, if frozen
1 jar of strawberry jam (or flavour of your choice)
375ml whole milk
375ml single cream
60g butter, chopped
2 tsp vanilla paste
150g caster sugar
100g cornflour
6 egg yolks
icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan and line your 20cm square tin using the snip method.

Line two flat baking trays, big enough to fit your pastry sheets, with greaseproof paper. Lay a sheet of pastry on each one, then top the pastry with another sheet of greaseproof paper and stack another flat tray on top. Alternatively, if you don’t have four trays, you can bake them separately. Bake for 20–25 minutes until golden and crisp, then set aside to cool.

Using the base of your lined, square baking tray as a guide, trim the cooled pastry sheets to size. A very sharp serrated knife will work best for this. Place the bottom pastry square into your lined tray and top with a healthy layer of the strawberry jam, spreading it evenly. Put to one side whilst you prepare the custard.

Add your milk, cream, butter, vanilla and sugar to a large pan and set over a medium heat. Allow the ingredients to almost come to the boil, then remove from the heat. In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornflour and 125ml water until smooth, then add this to the milk mixture, followed by your egg yolks. Put the pan back over a medium heat and bring to the boil, whisking continuously. Once the custard begins to boil it will become very thick but keep whisking vigorously for around 1 minute to cook out the cornflour, then remove from the heat. Immediately pass the custard through a sieve into a jug.

Pour the custard on top of the jam-covered pastry layer in your prepared tin, spreading it evenly into the corners, then lay the other square of pastry on top of the custard and press down gently. Put the tin in the fridge to set for a minimum of 5 hours.

Once set, gently lift the custard slice from the tin, holding onto the parchment paper for support, and place on a chopping board. Dust with icing sugar and cut into portions with a very sharp serrated knife.

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