It was a first for me to be inspired to bake something, purely because my sons have become obsessed with George Ezra! Of course Paradise Slice has been around a lot longer than the song Paradise.
This wasn’t a bake I was really familiar with other than by name but when I seen the recipe in Granny’s blue book, I knew it could be one that would be a hit with both me and you lovely readers of Baking with Granny.
Paradise Slice is a tray bake which seems to have Scottish origins and follows a similar kind of idea to Almond Slice but with the addition of currants and glace cherries. Think pastry base, layer of jam and cake-y, currant-y, cherry goodness, all topped with a sprinkling of sugar.
Perfect accompaniment for a cup of tea or a welcome addition to any bake sale.
Ingredients
For the Pastry Base
- 225g Plain Flour
- 115g Butter
- 30g Caster Sugar
- 1 Egg (lightly beaten)
For the Filling
- 3-4 tbsp Raspberry Jam
- 115g Butter (softened)
- 115g Caster Sugar
- 1 Egg (lightly beaten)
- 80g Glace Cherries (quartered)
- 120g Currants
- 150g Ground Almonds
Instructions
For the Pastry Base:
- Pre-heat your oven to 190°c (or 170° for a fan assisted oven) and grease a tray bake tin generously with some butter. A 20cmx20cm tin (or equivalent) is ideal.
- In a large bowl, using your fingers, rub the flour and butter together until it resembles bread crumbs. Stir through the sugar before adding the egg. Mix until combined into a soft pastry.
- Roll the pastry to roughly the size of your pre-greased tin. Transfer to your tin, pushing the pastry into the edges. Trim the excess, prick the pastry all over with a fork and line with some greaseproof paper, before filling with baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for 5 minutes to give the base a head start and avoid a soggy pastry.
- Following the blind bake, remove the baking beans and top the pastry with the Raspberry Jam, evenly spreading over the pastry. Set aside while you prepare the filling.
For the Filling:
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined.
- To the mixture, add the cherries, currants and ground almonds and mix until combined. Spoon the mixture onto the jam-covered pastry bake and spread around to an even finish, from edge-to-edge.
- Bake for 30 minutes in your pre-heated oven. Once baked, sprinkle the Paradise Slice with some sugar and allow to cool in the tin. Once cool, remove and cut into your desired size.
Amazing recipe – tried it today and they are delish. 10/10 x
It looks like there’s a pastry layer on top it it doesn’t say to put anything over the fruit. How does that happen?
Hi Julieanne. There is no pastry layer on top, simply the filling as the recipe states. This filling includes butter, sugar and ground almonds, which as it bakes creates the cake like texture around and on top of the fruit.
I made the recipe using 140g rice flour and 10g vegetable oil instead of the ground almonds (due to a nut allergy) plus a teaspoon of vanilla extract. The result worked really well. Thanks for the recipe.
Just love this recipe alway works for me
What a brilliant recipe. Thank you so much. My daughter said they tasted like ‘something from Tebay (services on the M6) and you don’t get much higher praise than that
How can I convert the measurements to those we use USA?
Just search for an imperial/metric conversion page on the internet.
I was just talking about these.and so pleased to have the recipe
This recipe has now been made in 4 households within my family and we all loved it!! Thank you – absolutely delicious and fairly simple to make.
I made this and instead of sprinkling with sugar I iced the top, delicious.
Excellent. The pastry needed another 5 minutes for the blind bake. You can also vary the filling with an apricot, date, coconut mixture. Maybe a savory biscuit with caraway in the pastry, or a dill goat cheese filling. Thank you for posting.
Hello from the Boston MA
I couldn’t wait to make these but had a few “hmm” moments as I did. Your photos seem to show a thinish bar. As I prepared mine this morning, the pastry seemed like too much for the pan size and was quite thick. Also my filling batter was super thick and not at all spoonable. There’s really no equivalent to this recipe in the US so I’ve got nothing to compare it to.
Its out of the oven, looks delicious so we shall see.
just a quick follow up. they are absolutely delicious but double the thickness of yours. the recipe is a keeper and next time I will simply use a larger pan.
I am late for the party but oh my world this is fabulous. It took me just 30 seconds to get to the kitchen once I saw the recipe. As a fan of frangipane and dried fruits, this is indeed Paradise.
Thank you!
My husbands new fave! I sprinkle slivered almonds over the top before baking instead of the sugar after baking. I also do 1.5 times topping and make in a larger pan – more deliciousness to enjoy
Could I use sweet mince in this recipe?
Great recipe, enjoyed by all my family.