An Old Fashioned Slice

I am not sure who I am going to bake for once our house is actually finished! This is another slice that I made for the builders this week. It is called Scott’s Last Voyage slice and the recipe is from ladies, A Plate. At first I thought that this was one of those weetbix slices like Mum used to make all the time when we were kids – a base made by melting butter and adding sugar, flour, cocoa, coconut and crushed weetbix, then icing it with a simple chocolate icing. But, on closer inspection, this slice is not really a chocolate flavoured slice and it has the addition of chopped walnuts and dried fruit.

For those who don’t know what weetbix are, they are a cereal available in New Zealand and Australia which are like a wheat biscuit. I think they are called weet-a-bix in the UK, but I am not sure what the US equivalent would be. Crushed up cornflakes or special K would probably work ok. The dried fruit suggested in the book was raisins and chopped dates. I didn’t have any dates, so used chopped dried apricots which worked well. I actually doubled the amount of cocoa from 1 tbsp to 2, thinking that the slice was a chocolatey one, but on reflection, I think one tbsp would be just fine as chocolate is not the pre-dominant flavour.

This is the kind of slice that is quick and easy to make and is the perfect thing to have in the tin for lunches. You could easily vary it by changing the fruit and nuts or leaving them out altogether.

Scott’s Last Voyage Slice (adapted from Ladies A Plate)

115g butter
170g brown sugar
1 dsp golden syrup
1 egg
170g flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g coconut
4 crushed weetbix (about 1 ½ c cereal)
55g walnuts, chopped
115g dried apricots, chopped
55g raisins

· Cream butter and sugar, then add golden syrup and egg
· Stir in remaining ingredients and press into a lined 23cm square cake tin
· Bake at 180c for 15-20 minutes
· Once cold ice with simple chocolate icing and sprinkle with coconut