I’m not sure I’d call this a cake recipe, I think it’s more of a no-bake dessert, but I suppose you could serve it up as a cake. It says it should be made a day ahead, which makes it a great dessert for summer lunchtime bbqs.
This another one of those 70s Copha slices. I think they were popular because they didn’t need baking, made a large quantity and were quick and easy to make. All pretty good reasons when you think about it.
I couldn’t resist adding this recipe for Chocolate Truffles to make for the festive season. In our house you can’t have too many rum balls, apricot balls or chocolate truffles – the more the merrier.
Marshmallows, coconut and chocolate with a few nuts added – a great sweet treat for Christmas entertaining. Although I think I’d be tempted to change the walnuts for some glace cherries just to make them even sweeter.
This is another no bake slice from the Keysborough Bowls Social Club Simple Slice Recipes cookbook. Cochineal is just red food colouring and a few drops will give this slice a nice cherry pink colour, just like a Cherry Ripe bar.
This little recipe book compiled by the Keysborough Bowls Social Club is overflowing with great slice ideas so I’ve decided to try to post a recipe each week.
I’ve made this slice many times myself, but I have it in my collection as Wanganui Slice. I’ve always thought that it was named after the New Zealand town of Whanganui. Whatever the name, it tastes good, although it is rather on the sweet side.
I like the combination of ingredients in this slice recipe. Caramels, chocolate, peanuts and rice bubbles sound like they’d go well together. If you were worried about adding in the peanuts it would be quite easy to double up the chocolate, can’t see why that would be any sort of problem.
This homemade take on a Cherry Ripe comes from Mum’s friend Thel, who was a great cook and gave Mum some terrific recipes.
RIPE CHERRY SLICE
Melt chopped chocolate and copha in double saucepan. Line 2 – 25x8cm bar tins with foil, pour half chocolate mixture over base of each tin (reserve the other half for top). Refrigerate until set. In bowl combine coconut, ground almonds and sifted icing sugar. Add unbeaten egg whites and rum, mix well. Chop cherries roughly, add to coconut mixture and mix well. Spread over chocolate in tins, pour remaining chocolate over. Refrigerate until set. Allow to stand at room temperature 30 minutes before cutting. Remove from tins, remove foil before cutting.
Slices that used condensed milk and copha were very popular in the ’70s and ’80s. In our family there were quite a few recipes that were shared between Mum, my aunties and even by then my sisters-in-law. Instead of icing the slice this one uses a bar of milk chocolate as the topping. The copha is added in to prevent the chocolate cracking when you cut it.
It looks like Mum’s collected this recipe off the back of the condensed milk tin. I don’t especially remember her making it, but it looks great and I think I’ll try it out myself.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 