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.
Paradise Slice
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.