Recently, my mum has been a watcher of Rick Stein and his various escapades across Eastern Europe and Asia. One of the recipes he made as a "Dalmatian Fig Tart": probably one of the most un-vegan recipes you can think of: a pastry made with eggs and a filling made with mascarpone cheese and honey, plus figs. But damn, does this tart look delicious and beautiful! Is it just me or are figs one of the prettiest fruits out there? I was determined to have a hack at making this tart not only vegan, but also gluten free and (mostly) refined sugar free (tofutti cream cheese has sugar added to it).

Now, I have never ever tried mascarpone cheese before, so I have no idea what it tastes like. However, my old mate google informed me it is an Italian cheese made from cream that is coagulated with an acidic substance: like vinegar or lemon juice. So how did I attempt to make a vegan version? I just added lemon juice to vegan cream cheese. Probably not the same, but it does help to get that "tang" that I imagine the real mascarpone cheese has. I would probably view this as a glorified cheesecake that is super pretty!

Makes one large tart, serves 8.

Prep: 30 minutes, refrigeration: 1 hour 15 minute, cooking: 65 minutes. Total Time: 2 h 35 minutes.

You will need:

For the pastry (altered from Minimalist Baker):

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
6 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp natvia sugar
4-6 tbsp ice cold water

For the filling (altered from Rick Stein):

450 g vegan cream cheese (tofutti)
juice of one lemon
1 tbsp lemon zest
6 tbsp rice malt syrup or vegan honee (or really any liquid sweetener!)

Plus 3 figs, halved.

Method:

1. For the pastry, sift all the flours together and then add the salt and sugar. Mix in, then "cut" in the vegan margarine. Then add the water until a pastry is formed. Roll into a ball and leave in the fridge for an hour or more.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Roll out the pastry, dust with gluten free flour as needed, and press into a spring-form tart pan. Pierce the pastry with a fork, cover with baking paper, then fill with baking beads. Blind bake this for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the pastry from the oven, take off the baking beads and baking paper, then place back in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove, then turn the oven down to 160 degrees.
4. For the filling: add the cream cheese, lemon juice, zest and rice malt syrup to a saucepan on low-medium heat. Whisk until the cheese softens and it becomes smooth.
5. Pour the filling onto the pastry base, top with the figs and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. You can either serve warm (letting cool for around 30 minutes) or let it set in the fridge overnight. Letting it set in the fridge overnight assists in cutting the tart, but it is delicious both ways, in my opinion!