Anyone here heard of Louise Slice or Louise Cake? It’s a soft biscuit base, topped with raspberry jam and coconut meringue. Anyone? No? Weird. Despite not particularly liking it, I ate quite a lot of it as a kid. Friends mothers (and sometimes my mother) made it quite a lot.
It’s funny moving to another country as an adult. You spend quite some time figuring out what foods from your home country and what is more widely spread. Sometimes it’s quite surprising even moving in between two countries as seemingly closely connected as New Zealand and Australia, to see which recipes belong to only one country and which are heatedly claimed by both countries.
Everyone knows about the great trans-Tasman debate over the origins of the pavlova. As a kiwi, I find it massively funny when not only do the Aussies claim inventorship of pavlova, but also insist that’s the correct topping for said dessert is kiwifruit. That’s just strange. On the other hand, both countries are obsessed with Lamingtons and the Aussies seem surprised to hear that Lamingtons are also a classic bakery treat across “the ditch” in NZ. I haven’t checked but I reckon the Lamington is probably an British invention anyway. lamingtons are great. Check out my current repertoire: Lamington Cupcakes, Rainbow white chocolate Lamingtons, Kiwifruit Lamingtons and Chocolate Jam-n-cream Lamington Cake.
Anyway I’m not here to talk about lamingtons, I’m here to talk about one of the things that should be a thing here in Australia, yet nobody seems to have heard about it: Louise Slice. I bet you’re confused on more than one level. Didn’t I just say I don’t like this stuff? Yes, I did. The jam variety is far too sweet, though I bet if you made your own jam and didn’t use something that cost three dollars in the supermarket it would be better. The usual Louise Slice is also made with desiccated coconut in the meringue, which I always found a bit dry.
My take on Louise Slice has none of these problems. It’s made with a deep layer of sweet, sharp and velvety lemon Curd, and has a topping of crisp-on-top, gooey-underneath shredded coconut meringue. It’s like my Lemon Delicious Slice, not deconstructed, but less constructed.
This stuff is ruinously addictive, and obscenely high in calories. Try not to eat more than two pieces at a time.
Lemon Curd and Shredded Coconut Louise Slice
Makes 16 pieces
Sable biscuit base
ingredients
120g butter
60g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
160g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
mixing
Line a 20 cm square pan with bake paper. It’s best to use a whole sheet of paper, folded up like half a present. If you are making your own Lemon Curd, do this first.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Sift in the flour and baking more powder and mix until smooth with a wooden spoon. Spread into the prepared pan. Prick well with a fork.
Bake the sable base for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Remove from the oven and spread the sable base with the Lemon Curd. Pour over the coconut topping and return to the oven. Reduce the heat to 150 degrees Celsius and bake a further 70 minutes until the meringue has cooked. It will be lightly golden, crispy on the surface and gooey but not liquid underneath. Cool the Louise Slice in the pan. When cold, cut into 16 squares. The slice will keep in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Lemon Curd and Coconut Meringue topping
ingredients
500g lemon curd
2 egg whites
1 egg
180g caster sugar
1 tsp coconut essence
125g shredded coconut
mixing
Enjoy!xxx
