Monday, December 1, 2008

A cake by any other name ... Louise Cake


I love old-fashioned cakes, biscuits and slices. They remind me of growing up, being with Mum in the kitchen, visits from relatives and happiness. One of the many baked treats in Mum's repertoire when I was growing up was raspberry coconut slice, which she made effortlessly from a recipe in her head (which I do not have). This slice consisted of a buttery, cakey base, topped with jam and finally a fluffy coconut meringue.

I was therefore delighted when I received my copy of Ladies, A Plate by Alexa Johnston to see that raspberry coconut slice was a treat in New Zealand too - and that I now had a recipe to make it. Alexa's version goes by the very feminine name of Louise Cake, but is exactly the same as the more prosaicly named raspberry coconut slice.

To make this lovely old-time favourite, you will need:

70g butter
55g sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
140g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons raspberry jam (I used ligonberry jam)
115g white sugar
55g coconut


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 30cm x 21cm slice tin.

Cream the butter and the sugar, then beat in the egg yolks. Add the lemon juice, then stir in the sifted flour and baking powder to make a soft dough. Press the dough into the base of the tin, then spread with the jam.

Beat the egg whites to the stiff peak stage, then fold through the sugar and coconut. Spread the coconut over the top of the jam, being careful not to mix the two. Sprinkle the top of the slice with a little extra coconut.

Place the slice in the oven and bake for around 25 minutes or until the top of the slice turns golden brown. Remove the slice from the oven and cut it into squares while still warm.

This is a perfect tea time treat that looks and tastes lovely, yet is very easy to make.


10 comments:

Finla said...

I too love old fashion bakes.
This sounds eally yummy.
Did you use fresh coconut.
We do get desicated coconut, but they are litle bit finer , i have never seen flaked ones here.

Anonymous said...

What a comforting sight! There is definitely a place in my heart for these old fashioned slices :) Just lovely!

The Blonde Duck said...

It looks yummy! I love the little cupcake thing they're posing on!

Rosie said...

This cake looks soooooo good!! I remember eating raspberry coconut slice too as a child and wasn't it good??!!

This sounds a lovely book Cakelaw!

Rosie x

natalia said...

You are right it really looks lovely !

Ivy said...

This sounds very easy and I love raspberry jam and coconut. OMG I have been bookmarking recipes all day today (including this one) and I want to make all of them.

Cakelaw said...

Hi Happy Cook - I used dessicated coconut.

Thanks Lorraine - the old fashioned ones have a special place in my heart.


Thanks Blonde Duck - I am always on the lookout for cute dishes to pose things on!

Hi Rosie, you'd love this book - it's full of the things that I remeber from growing up, plus a few that are new to me.

Hi Natalaia, it is, and is so easy to make.

Hi Ivy, I know what you mean - I have a drawer full of things that I have printed off to make.

Finla said...

Ok thankyou for the info.
I am sure going to try these

The Caked Crusader said...

I'm a sucker for anything like this - I love old fasioned traybake style cakes.
Yours has come out beautifully

Cakelaw said...

Hi Happy Cook - you'll love them.

Thanks Crusader - the old fashioned ones are often the best.