From the moment I took it out of its paper bag, I knew this vanilla slice was something special. The pastry was a glorious oven-baked brown, the custard was the sunshine yellow of fresh egg yolks, and it smelled like real vanilla. There were layers of thinly sliced almonds resting snugly between the custard and its protective pastry. This vanilla slice was one of the best I've ever had. I wondered if it could possibly be beaten, and so embarked on what has come to be known as the Great Vanilla Slice Taste Test.
The vanilla slice has changed a lot in the years since I first had one as a child during school holidays at Dad's workshop. To keep me quiet for an extra 15 minutes, Dad always got me a vanilla slice when the smoko truck rocked up with its many delights for workers. Those vanilla slices were bright yellow with pink icing, wrapped together so tightly their square edges became rounded and squished. They were amazing.
Today, just as it was for the smoko van, the vanilla slice is big business. This is especially true for many small towns, which rely on its bakeries to attract travellers to the main street. Many will go out of their way to travel through a town with a great bakery, which is how our family road trip ended up in the agricultural township of Ouyen in the Mallee region of Victoria.
Ouyen's Mallee bakery boasts a bold yellow sign which welcomes you to the “home of the vanilla slice”. The bakery itself is massive, and its range of baked goods would rival any big-city bakery. It was hard not to get distracted by the other delicious-looking treats, but I had come for the vanilla slice.
The custard was so pale it was almost white, and with its thick white icing it looked a bit anaemic. The knife wasn't able to get through the dense pastry without making the custard bulge out the sides. The slice's casing was disappointing, but the custard itself was incredible. It had a superior vanilla bean flavour, which was creamy and delicious. While the colour may have been bland, the flavour was anything but.
I disagree with Lum on that front. I love flaky pastry on a vanilla slice, and chocolate drizzles just make it even tastier. The absolute best vanilla slice of our recent road trip came from Belair in the Adelaide Hills, in a small but bustling bakery that has made it a mecca for vanilla slice pilgrims. The custard is thick and creamy, with a good vanilla taste. The pastry is crisp and has the texture of the lovely end bits of a croissant, a skill the baker learned during his apprenticeship under a French pastry maker.
Jason Spencer, the baker and owner of Banana Boogie, explains that the swirls are called feathering, and they can mean the difference between winning and losing big vanilla slice competitions.
