Cherry Ripe Slice

This Cherry Ripe Slice recipe involves absolutely no baking.

And, yes, it's as good as it looks.

It's one of my mum's old recipes and was yet another of my childhood favourites.

Cherry Ripe Slice: everybody's favourite

This slice is based on the popular Cherry Ripe Bar, which has been consistently voted as Australia's favourite chocolate bar. It's true, just take a look at these survey results.

It's also one of Australia's oldest chocolate bars, introduced in 1924.

Cherry Ripe Slice no bake: the ingredients

To make Cherry Ripe Clice you'll just need these widely available ingredients:

• milk coffee biscuits (or any other plain, sweet biscuits)
• desiccated coconut
• condensed milk
• red glace cherries
• red colouring
• milk chocolate
• a little extra dark chocolate for decorating (optional).

How to make Cherry Ripe Slice

Once you've greased and lined (with baking paper) a slice tin (approx 27 x 17cm), making this slice is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Line the bottom of the tray with milk coffee biscuits.
2. Combine the coconut, tin of condensed milk, halved glace cherries and red food colouring and then layer on top of the biscuits.
3. Add melted chocolate as the top layer.

Once the slice has set in the fridge, allow to sit for 20 minutes before cutting into squares with a sharp knife.

Why this Cherry Ripe Slice recipe is even better than the popular bar

Think the Cherry Ripe Bar is great? Well, here are three reasons why you might find this Cherry Ripe Slice so much more amazing than the bar.

1. Condensed milk memories 

This recipes uses a whole tin of condensed milk. But there's always that little bit you can't scrape from the sides and just have to scoop up with a spoon and eat direct from the tin. 

I always loved when Mum would make up a recipe with condensed milk, though she was always a little too thorough with the scraping for my liking. My kids also love this little cooking ritual.

2. You can choose milk or dark chocolate

If you're a Cherry Ripe Bar traditionalist, you may not agree. But in the milk chocolate vs dark chocolate controversy, I'm firmly in the milk chocolate camp.

The milk chocolate makes this slice a real crowd pleaser. And here, I've drizzled a little dark chocolate to make the slice look even lovelier.

If you are a traditionalist or prefer the bitter taste of dark chocolate, just swap the dark and milk chocolate quantities and use a dark chocolate layer drizzled with milk chocolate.

Simple!

3. A whole tray vs one bar

Chocolate bars these days continue to shrink and shrink.

Not this recipe.

You have a whole tray of cherry ripe slice goodness to devour.

You could even share if you're feeling generous.

Cherry Ripe Slice-making tips and storage

This is a simple recipe, but these few tips should make the whole process run even more smoothly:

1. Make sure you grease and line the tin with baking paper. Leave enough baking paper at the sides so you can use it to lift the slice out of the tray at the end.
2. Spread spoonfuls of the coconut mixture evenly over the top of the biscuit base and then gently even it out. Use your fingertips first and then the back of a metal spoon to get a clean, even finish.
3. Don't forget to leave your Cherry Ripe Slice out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before attempting to cut into slices. This will avoid having cracks appear in the chocolate layer.
4. Store Cherry Ripe Slice in the fridge for up to one week.

Looking for more slice recipes?

Check out more of Cooking with Nana Ling's fabulous old-fashioned slices here, including Mars Bar Slice, Jelly Slice and Caramel Slice.