Theme: Celebration
Recipe: Caramel Walnut Slice
Book: The Australian Women’s Weekly Cakes and Slices Cookbook
This isn’t the post I intended to write tonight. To be more precise, this isn’t the post I intended to write last night. My aim had been to tell you about my whirlwind work trip to Sydney last week, during which time I squeezed in a dinner and dessert extravaganza with two members of Sydney’s food blogger royalty. (I was also lucky enough to bump into three other Sydney food bloggers.)
I also planned to use the weekend to write and preschedule some chocolate reviews, the dessert I cooked for my friend Robert, and a fictional piece about my pet wombat Princess Clara Pompidou. Instead, I managed to “schedule” a virus into my laptop. Because I’m clever like that.
Rather than getting anxious about my inability to blog, I used my computer-incapacitation to catch up on last fortnight’s Celebration theme for the Cookbook Challenge. (Funnily enough the morning before I got the virus, Fiona had advised me over coffee to not fuss about the Cookbook Challenge but simply keep an eye out for anything I cooked that might vaguely fit its themes. Hey Fiona, are you a prophet?)
Therefore while my Superhero Computer Magic Hands Dad valiantly worked towards curing my computer, I baked. I baked this Caramel Walnut Slice, which I have renamed my Sweet Celebration Slice.
My Sweet Celebration Slice celebrates fathers who graciously don’t yell at you or say “I told you so” [more than once] despite having repeatedly told you to back up your computer. This Sweet Celebration Slice also celebrates anyone who decides to go with the flow rather than chuck a tantrum about mean people in the world who create computer viruses for fun.
This Sweet Celebration Slice celebrates brothers who call you up on Sunday night to support but also inspire you, and it celebrates thermal socks that are a boon as the weather gets colder.
Lastly, this Sweet Celebration Slice celebrates the fact that at the end of a week and weekend which has been challenging, exciting, full of laughter, and marked by an abundance of friends and an absence of sleep, there is sometimes nothing better than a three-tier slice that starts with a crispy coconut and nut topping, moves into a rich and gooey caramel-esque layer, and finished with a coconut biscuit base.
After all, as I sang at my recent gospel choir performance:
It’s time to celebrate
It’s time for rejoicing!
Caramel Walnut Slice, aka Sweet Celebration Slice (gluten and dairy-free)
Adapted slightly from The Australian Women’s Weekly Cakes and Slices Cookbook
- 1 cup self-raising flour (I used Orgran’s gluten-free self-raising flour)
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 125g Nuttelex/butter, melted
Topping
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- ¾ cup desiccated coconut
- ¾ brown sugar, firmly packed
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
- Grease a 19cm x 29cm lamington pan, and preheat the oven to 190°C (380°F).
- Combine sifted flour, first lot of coconut, sugar, and then the melted Nuttelex/butter. Press evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.
- For the topping, mix together the eggs and vanilla, then stir in the second lot of coconut, sugar, and walnuts. Pour over the baked base and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool before cutting.
- Or cool for 10 minutes and then cut two large squares for yourself and your Superhero Computer Magic Hands Dad to enjoy, then package up the rest later when it has truly cooled.
{ 59 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m more like the prophets in Dogma than anything, really.
Seriously. More coffee with me = better posting.
yup.
I like your logic, and think we should run multiple tests on the theory in future
P.S. Gosh, I’d forgotten about Dogma! I used to watch that all the time!
Yay, welcome back Hannah!
Thank you for yet another creative masterpiece (your writing), and the recipe looks interesting too.
Thank you Margaret! You always manage to make me feel better
Yes, what is the fun in creating viruses – my computer at work has one and is bugging me (no pun intended) but luckily I have a brand new computer and mostly ignore the sick one! (My computer situation at work is sort of in flux)
All I can say is that people who create viruses do not deserve a piece of your delicious slice and they will lose out big time because it looks amazing. But your dad deserves many pieces. Yum. Carmael, walnuts and coconut are some of my favourite things
Thank you Johanna! And I agree whole-heartedly that computer virus creaters should be banned from all delicious things in this world, and forced to live on unripe bananas coated in sand. Hmph.
So sorry to hear about your work computer. Shouldn’t that be the IT people’s job to fix?!
Oh if only it was as simple as getting IT to fix a computer problem then the viruses creators would be living on unripe bananas covered in sand! My computer situation is quite complicated but I have also found that if I don’t get on their case, IT doesn’t give a damn – I even had our support guy undo some of my computer’s printing functions while trying to add more! And I am struggling to find time to follow it up with him – oh dear that is too much information – best to just eat yummy slice!
Yes, I vote slice over computer headaches any day of the week! I completely know what you mean about half the bother being chasing things up – it took me two weeks to contact the IT guy at my work to ask him to change my email account, as he’d spelled my name incorrectly when setting it up!
So excited to hear about Sydney!
So excited to tell you!
This looks fabulous, I lurrrrve caramel.
As far as the viruses go, what a bummer. I was sad when I had to enter the PC world this past year, as I’ve always been virus-free with my 6+ year-old Apple – it might be slowing down, but it’s still going strong.
I must make this wonderful-looking slice, pronto!
I miss Macs too! I grew up with only Apple computers, but started in with PCs when I went to UVA in 2007. PCs are, how shall we say? Poopy. Yes, that’s the word.
P.S. You should certainly make this soon! Sweet sweet slicey goodness.
Tell me about Sydney… Im super excited to hear….
All in due course, my dear. All in due course
Oh wow, I love that each layer is a different texture. That crunchy top has got me staring!
That crunchy top is telling you to eat it, Alayna! Eaaaaat iiiiiit….
I hate the bug too! I’m excited to hear about your trip! It must be an exciting experience to meet up with other food bloggers.
I love meeting up with fellow food blogger friends
I’ve never had a get-together that hasn’t been utterly, utterly wonderful! One day you and I…
A recipe of yours that I am actually capable of making! Woo hoo! (my Husband will *love* this)
Woo hoo! Please tell me what you/he thinks if you do manage to make it! I’d love to hear
lol ain’t no royalty here! Your caramel walnut slice looks amazing – especially that top! Hmmm…. that reminds me…. /wanders off to freezer…..
Um, Helen, then how do you explain the tiara you refused to take off all night?
Oooh oooh oooh! Do you really actually like what’s in your freezer? ‘Cause I understand if you were just being polite before
But at the end of the night I gave it back to you. lol. And rrghhrfl ghwall awhg, I mean yes, I just ate another one. Chunky dark chocolate. Oh yes.
Oh right, so that’s what the spiky thing on my pillow was…
Woot! Now I’m totally going to hold you to your “challenge accepted” text when I hinted at a raw food meal next Sydney trip
Papaya salad counts as raw doesn’t it?
I’m pretty sure the peanuts were roasted…
Semantics!
Supposing I was allergic to walnuts, I would make these with almonds instead. And maybe I will, once I have a new kitchen to celebrate. (Next week!)
Camille, I’m so happy you found an apartment with a kitchen adequate to your needs after all that stress! Can’t wait to see pictures – of both the kitchen and what you create in it
yay for your dad’s heroic act!! he just sounds too cool.
and ommgshhhhh! that’s all I can say about this bar. Ok, I can also say “I need to make this soooon!!!”
My dad is, indeed, super cool. You should’ve seen him in his flares in the 70s
(I mean, not that I did either. But I’ve seen the photos…)
oooh I love the mixture of carmel and walnuts!
It’s definitely a keeper!
I must be having the ‘almost winter’ blues because all the sweet treats in the blog world are really appealing to me at the moment!
Sweet treats in the blog world always appeal to me, regardless of season
Virus? Gah! The last one I had destroyed the hard disk of my old laptop.
Have you gotten rid of it?
Fingers crossed we have! Dad’s still worried remnants could be hiding, so I’m going to run full virus scans consistently for the next few weeks to make sure
This looks PHENOMENAL Hannah! I have such an enormous girl-crush on you right now…….. like…more than usual
I simply don’t understand why you keep posting all that wedding paraphernalia on Boyus Angfriend’s wall. You clearly love me more.
Yay, welcome back. damn the viruses!
This looks like a very very tasty treat! I may or may not be drooling a little!
Drool away, my dear! Oh heavens, imagine how good this would be drizzled with the chocolate coconut butter…
Oh my goodness these look so good! There is nothing better than caramel and walnuts!
Except maybe salted caramel and walnut
Next time…
Okay, yep. That’s better. I will be waiting to see a batch of those!!
I have that Cookbook (mine was bought when I first shared a house in 1988) and I’ve made the slice (and loved it) many, many times.
Who doesn’t want a coffee and a slice? So many of the world’s problems could be solved if people could sit down together for a coffee and some freshly baked slice…. Less viruses for a start.
Oh, brilliant Kath! How wonderful! My mum and I used to make the poppy seed cake from it all the time when I was growing up – I’ve been meaning to do that one here since I started the blog
And I agree. I bet world peace would become a reality if everyone made coffee and slice with friends an integral part of every day
I’ve never made this slice, but certainly have eaten it from time to time. It looks fabulous. I love caramel.
You’ve eaten this exact slice? That’s awesome!! I’ll have to cook from old-school Aus Women’s Weekly cookbooks more often
Oh yum, it looks amazing! I love caramel flavour in sweets
The womans weekly has such great cookbooks dont they.
Rose
They do indeed! Everything always works out
Computer problems are not fun
I’m glad your Dad got yours working again (he sounds like a very useful person to have around!). Fingers crossed it is all fixed now.
Your slice looks delicious! The middle caramel layer is particularly impressive. I am a big fan of Women’s Weekly cookbooks, especially the sweet ones…some things never go out of fashion
He’s not only a useful person to have around, he’s a lovely person to have around too
And I agree wholeheartedly about the timelessness of TWW sweets! They definitely know how to use sugar 
I send curses and bad omens to the horrible virus nesting in your computer. BEGONE FOUL FIEND!!! *hugs*
Thanks dear! We need to bring our fantasy magic anti-virus powers to town, I think
This is an amazing recipe, do you think I could sub self raising flour with whole wheat flour?
I don’t see why not! It might make the base a bit more dense, but actually I think it would be lovely. I assume you mean wholemeal self-raising flour though?
Ooooh caramel walnut goodness right here! You know, I always tend to steer clear of caramel things as I find them too sickly sweet (I’m weird, I know, I’ve been told). BUT having walnuts with it (something I honestly don’t think I’ve seen before) makes this SOOOO appealing!
Heidi xo
Ah, Heidi, that’s when you need to start keeping a lookout for salted caramel
But yes, the walnuts provide a nice almost-bitter contrast to the buttery shortbread and sweet caramel here!
That looks like a great slice! I love any slices which contain desicated coconut. Women’s weekly put some good recipes out there!
They really did/do
I’m only just coming back around to a coconut appreciation, but it definitely works here!
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