Saturday 21 May 2011

Malteser Slice

My 10 year old son changed schools this year. It's been a fantastic change on the whole. He's moved from a large badly run school to a lovely small school out of town. We've gone from providing permission notes every week to say that he can eat a particular food (complete with medicare number) to a school where every Thursday is Cake Day. Four families each week provide 2 dozen cakes for the day. Students go to school clutching a 50 cent piece with which they can pick their own treat for the day. Such a change. Such a revelation. Such a normalising influence in a crazy world. I just love it.

So it was with mounting anxiety that I approached my first Cake Day. There was a lot of things to juggle. Cake Day is a Thursday. Which is tricky for working mothers. Especially those working an evening the day before. I saw the recipe for this slice a few months ago and thought it would work perfectly for Cake Day. I could make it the day before. And I figured that the kids would love it. And they did! A Cake Day triumph!

The recipe I found was on a fellow Australian blog Les Reve d'une Boulangere. I'd never heard of Eric Lanlard before, perhaps because I don't have pay tv. I tried the recipe as it was with digestive biscuits, but found the base too heavy, so I substituted arrowroots. To my mind this was a great improvement, but I think it could possibly do with some more tweaking. I'm sure any plain sweet biscuit would be fine.




Malteser Slice

100 gm unsalted butter
200 gm milk chocolate, chopped
3 tblsp golden syrup
225 gm arrowroot biscuits, finely crushed in a food processor
225 gm Maltesers

100 gm Maltesers, extra, for topping
50 gm white chocolate, melted, for topping


Method

Grease a shallow 20 cm square cake tin and line bases and sides with baking paper.

In a medium pan, melt together the butter, milk chocolate and syrup until smooth and combined.

Add the crushed biscuits and stir until well mixed. Leave to cool slightly.

Add the Maltesers and stir together quickly so that the chocolate on the outside of the Maltesers does not melt.

Tip into prepared tin, spread into an even layer, sprinkle the extra 100 gm of Maltesers on top. Gently press the Maltesers into the base.

Set in fridge until set, 2-3 hours, or overnight. Once set, drizzle the melted white chocolate on top of slice. Cut into small squares to serve.




Notes
I made a double recipe to pack off to the little darlings at school.

Today I've just found what is possibly the original recipe. There are a number of differences. He drizzles with both milk and white chocolate. He chills the base and then sprinkles cut maltesers on top. These wouldn't stick in my experience. Which would be annoying. The Maltesers don't fully stick as it is.

I was tempted to melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave, but never got around to doing it. I think it would work well, on a medium temperature, and save on washing up, which is always worthwhile.


This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

17 comments:

JoAnn said...

The new school sounds like a breath of fresh air! Your cakes look very tempting...

Carol @ There's Always Thyme to Cook said...

My kids would have loved that school! The cakes look amazing. Love malt balls!

Col (Col Reads) said...

What a fantastic idea. And it looks heavenly. Glad Cake Day was a triumph!

Nan said...

Homemade cake at school! It doesn't get any better!

Peaceful Reader said...

The new school sounds refreshingly old-fashioned. I've never heard of cake day but love how it sounds. Your cakes look scrumtious.

Heather said...

Cake day sounds wonderful. I could use that. Much more interesting than the pizza day my kids usually had.

Anonymous said...

Those look amazing, but I don't know if I can finds arrowroot biscuits or Maltesers here in the U.S., never heard of them.

Here's my WC

Margot said...

I like the sound of this cake with no baking. Sounds like a quick one for a busy mom. I didn't know what maltesers are until someone else said malted milk balls. Is that right? If so, I really want to make these.

Joy Weese Moll said...

Looks yummy! I also had to look up Maltesers, but now that I've seen the package I know they are for sale at our nearby global market.

Louise said...

@JoAnn, it is certainly a breath of fresh air- Cake Day is just emblematic for me.

@Carol-Thanks. I think most everyone loves Maltesers/Malt Balls. I only wish we'd found the school from the start.

@Col- thanks so much. I was glad of the triumph! Now to have to start planning the next one (September). I'll probably do another slice, it is easier to fit around work than actual baking I think.

@ Nan. I know. The school is so small it doesn't have a canteen, and Australian schools don't provide meals, this way the kids are very happy. It's a great balance I think.

@Peaceful Reader, Thanks so much. Cake day is a great concept. It takes a wonderful school community to pull it off too.

@ Heather. Yes I'm sure we adults would love cake day at work. A bit like those fund raising morning tea events

@ Faith. Any plain sweet biscuit would work for the base. Whatever you have locally. I think what you call malted milk balls is similar to Maltesers. Not sure how similar they are. Maltesers have a crunchy malty filling inside a chocolate shell.

@ Margot. I think malted milk balls would be similar. Are they crunchy inside? I just googled some, and there was a vast array of flavours. Ours just come in regular chocolate casing the crunchy malty centre. They did try dark chocolate ones recently, but they weren't as good.

@Joy. Happy to spread the Malteser word!

Hannah said...

I'm so delighted that your son has found a supportive, friendly and cake-appreciating school! School years can be hard enough without having the factor in Medicare numbers :S Love the chocolate drizzle - you would've got my 50c!

Uniflame said...

I always love to make candy into something new. I haven't tried it too many times though but made Oreo Truffles once.

Louise said...

aww Hannah, that's a big call coming from you! Thanks.

@ uniflame. Oreo truffles sound rather intriguing. The kids would probably like those too. It's one reason I picked the Malteser Slice to make- something familiar for the kids, but with a bit of fun.

bermudaonion said...

I'm glad your first Cake Day was a huge success! Your cakes are beautiful!

Jen in Texas said...

Looks fab Louise. For those in the US, yes, you can substitute Malted Milk Balls, although they are not nearly as nice IMHO. Maltesers from Britain can be found in Kroger (international aisle) and Cost Plus World Market. The Aussie ones are the best and they can be ordered online at http://www.about-australia-shop.com/

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Nice. I love your reviews of recipes here, complete with photos. I am curious about arrowroot biscuits. Must google this....

Beth F said...

I want a cale day!