Sunday, September 18, 2005

A tale of two slices

It was the lemon slice show-cased here so beautifully that drew me back to making another slice. And it was the last drink of the evening - a passionfruit flavoured cocktail at the Lychee Lounge two weeks ago called the "Pavlova" that made me want to bake the Coconut and Passionfruit Slice from Bill Granger’s "Sydney Food".

The texture of this slice is more custard-like compared with the lemon slice, as this slice has eggs and cream as the main influences over the texture and it was the ricotta which exerted a influence over the cheese-cake like quality of the lemon slice. I am comparing because I like to know what might be expected from each slice.

The ingredients for the Coconut and Passionfruit slice remind me of a cocktail too, a modified pina colada - passionfruit instead of pineapple and minus the white rum. I wouldn’t mind turning this slice into a cocktail this summer.

Lemon and Ricotta slice





Coconut and passionfruit slice




Coconut and Passionfruit Slice

Pastry
125g (4oz) butter
½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1½ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt


Filling
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
1 ½ cup (12fl oz) cream
1/3 cup plain flour
160ml (5 ½ fl oz) coconut milk
juice and zest of 1 lemon
½ cup (4fl oz) passionfruit
Preheat the oven to 180 c (350F).

Pastry
Beat butter and sugar in bowl until light and creamy, add egg and vanilla essence and beat well. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until combined and the mixture forms a sticky dough.
Flour hands and press pastry evenly into the base of a greased and baking paper-lined tin ( 23cm x 23cm/ 9x9inch) Bake pasty base in oven for 15 minutes

Filling
Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale. Add coconut, flour, cream, coconut milk, lemon juice, zest and passionfruit pulp, and stir to combine. Pour filling over pastry base in the tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.

When cool, slice into squares. Makes 20 square.

8 comments:

Kelly said...

Yum! These both look great! Would you like to bring some to my office at morning tea time?! :p

Amanda said...

Hi Kelly,

Are you in the city up my way - down near the Supreme Courts. I bet your work colleagues benefit from your baking forays already!

Joe said...

These look really good - I enjoy anything with passionfruit!

Amanda said...

Thanks Joe, as I post-script I was going to say I felt the recipe would benefit from more passionfruit and lemon and less sugar - as it is quite sweet and not as tangy as I expected.

Nic said...

Both slices - all of them, I should say - look amazing. My mouth is watering for the passion fruit one.

Amanda said...

Thanks Nic I bought some passionfruit at the markets and am tempted to give them another whirl for the family lunch tomorrow. I am spoilt for choices. But I am thinking your angel food cake, strawberries in balsalmic plus vanilla icecream - will be the ticket!

Kelly said...

Hey Lushlife, I'm down the Gardens end of George Street - just a short ride away on the little red bus! ;)

Rachel said...

oh yum!

About Me

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Mother of two with one of each. Wife of one.Dogless. Busy working five days a week, baking and cooking when time allows. Writing rarely these days. Wishing I had time to read more often.