Wagon Wheel Slice

Wagon Wheels are a favourite biscuit of mine - they remind me of my childhood, although I swear they were much bigger in those days. Over here in the UK, you get a choice of wagon wheels with or without jam in them. In my opinion, what's the point of leaving the jam out? I am 'Team Jammy' all the way!

Anyway I saw this recipe posted on a fab Facebook group I am in, and knew straight away I wanted to give them ago. The original post came from a FB page called Aussie Tucker - The Great Australian Bite.

The biscuit base is quite soft like the original, not crunchy at all. Interestingly enough I didn't have quite enough jam in the house, so I thought that layer would be quite thin, but in reality it is plenty and any more would be too sickly sweet I think.

Wagon Wheel Slice

From Aussie Tucker - the Great Australian Bite

Ingredients

For the base:
60g (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup + 3 tablespoons plain flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt

For the jam:
1/3 cup raspberry jam

For the marshmallow:
2 dessertspoons gelatine powder
1 cup water
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup sifted icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence


For the chocolate layer:
185g dark chocolate, broken into pieces (I used dark choc chips)
1 T sunflower oil

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 3cm-deep, 16cm x 26cm slice pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, extending paper 2cm from edge on all sides.

Melt butter. Set aside to cool slightly. Add sugar and egg and mix well. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt and stir until dough comes together. Press mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. 

Spread warm base with jam.

Meanwhile, soak gelatine powder in 1 cup of water (give it at least 10 minutes to soak properly), after 10 mins add 1 cup caster sugar and dissolve gently in a saucepan over a low heat, then raise heat and boil for 8 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and then add 1 cup of sifted icing sugar. 

In a large, deep bowl, beat with an electric mixer until white and thick (should take about 3-4 minutes). Add vanilla essence, and beat until well combined. Spoon almost all (*SEE NOTE BELOW) of the mixture over jam layer and place in refrigerator to set.

Place the chocolate and oil in a small, clean, dry heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a small saucepan of barely simmering water over low heat (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Use a dry metal spoon to stir gently for 2 minutes or until chocolate melts and is smooth. Pour evenly over marshmallow layer and smooth the surface with a knife.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Stand at room temperature for 5 minutes (I waited about 30 just to make sure the chocolate wouldn't crack) before cutting into pieces with a hot knife and serving.

*NOTE: I find that this makes a little more than needed, but this isn't a problem! Just lightly grease a small plastic container and pour excess in. I put my excess into some silicon jelly moulds for a bit of fun!

Place in refrigerator for about 20 mins to set; a nice, but sugary treat for the kids!

Enjoy! xx

Passionfruit 'Cheesecake' - without the cheese!

Let me start by saying this is absolutely delicious! Truly. It is made up of some of my favourite flavours, lemon and passionfruit. And to top it off, there's no cooking involved!!

This dish is one I have always loved and the recipe came to me again this week via facebook. I don't think it is 'owned' by anyone, but it's a popular Australian dessert. Passionfruit itself is one of the most popular flavours in Australia, so much so that you can even buy it tinned. That is what I used for this as passionfruit are not in season right now here in the UK. I have a dwindling stash of the tins, and I use them sparingly. Well worth it for this though!

So I had to play around with this a little as the recipe I originally had was a little ambiguous about the gelatine, but with some brilliant advise from the Aussie mum of a friend (thanks Sandra!!), it turned out perfectly this time. You just won't believe how easy it was!!

By the way, the original recipe was a tray bake, with the base made of plain biscuits laid out covering the bottom of the pan. In Aus, use scotch fingers, in the UK I used malted milk biscuits. Any plain biscuit can be used. This time, however, I wanted to make it like a cheesecake to serve at a friend's house, so I crushed the biscuits and mixed with melted butter to make a more traditional base that would go into a round tin.

The second time round I made it smaller - normal sized, and had a bit of spare everythign to make these little glasses of pudding - 4 of them.

Anyway here is the recipe.....

Passionfruit Slice/'Cheesecake'

Serves 12-16

Ingredients:

1 x 250g packet of plain biscuits

1 x 395g can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 c (125ml) lemon juice

2 teaspoons gelatine dissolved in 2-3 tablespoons of  boiling water

300ml double cream

2-3 fresh passionfruit (they are best eaten when the outside is wrinkled) or 1/2 tin of passionfruit pulp

100g melted butter (if you are making the traditional crushed biscuit base)

Method:

1. Line a baking tray or springform pan with baking paper. If using a square/rectangular tray, lay the biscuits out to cover the bottom of the tray.

2. If using the round springform pan, blitz the biscuits in a food processor until finely crumbed. Add melted butter and mix to a wet sand consistency. Press firmly into the base of the pan and smooth over to make it even. Place in the fridge for 30 mins.

3. Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatine over the boiled water and mix until dissolved. If it is looking thick, add a little more water.

4. Whip the cream until very soft peaks form. Add in the rest of the ingredients (lemon, condensed milk, gelatine) and whip a few more times to combine. Mix gently, you need to make sure it is well combined but not too thick.

5. Spread the mixture over the base and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Spoon the passionfruit pulp on top and refrigerate until set, preferably over night.

Note: I doubled the ingredients to make the cake/slice in these pictures. It's tastes just as good with the quantities, but not as high.

Trust me, this is soooooo good!

Chocolate Marshmallow Slice

This is one of my all time favourite recipes and one I can make quickly. I got the original recipe from my very dear, dear Aunt, who was my most favourite person in the whole world, and more like a mother to me than an aunt. I have tweaked it slightly, but the basics are the same. I think of her every single time I make this, when I refer to the recipe I typed up about at her house about 24 years ago.

It's a such a popular slice and I urge you to have a go and make it.


Chocolate and Marshmallow Slice

Ingredients:
Base
1/c caster sugar
1 c desiccated coconut
1 c self raising flour
2 dessert spoons cocoa
125g butter, melted - by the way I used Stork block and made it dairy free for my son.

Topping
1 large bag of marshmallows (I use Sainsbury's family sized bag)
Extra coconut to sprinkle of top

(Note: you could use homemade marshmallow which would be even nicer, but not as fast)

Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C, and grease and line a 20cmx20cm tray with baking parchment.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. Add the melted butter and mix to combine all ingredients - the mix will be like wet sand.
4. Press this into the tray - I roll over the mix with small glass tuned on its side to compact it.
5. Bake for 15 mins. Remove from oven and roll the glass over it again to flatten the base as it does rise slightly.
6. Once the base is out of the oven, put all the marshmallows into a bowl and melt in the microwave in 30 second increments. Check after each 30 seconds. Once melted, move quickly to pour on top of the warm chocolate base. The marshmallow starts to set quickly, so work fast. Using an oiled spatula will help. Don't worry if you don't use every bit of marshmallow - just use as much as will come out quickly.
7. Quickly sprinkle with coconut then cover and refrigerate for an hour or more to set.
8. When cutting this up, move it on to a board and peel the sides away. I have a bag of icing sugar/cornflour mix that I use for coating marshmallows, and I dip my knife into this, which helps to cut without sticking, but before I had this, I used to dip the knife in a glass of water and then cut - it helped.

This can be stored in an airtight container in or out of the fridge for up to a week - if it lasts that long.

Variations:
You can also top this with chocolate icing and coconut, a traditional Australian slice.