This has got to be one of the best bakes….EVER! I can’t get enough of these. I remember my mum baking some when I was about 6 or 7 when I had a birthday tea party. The recipe came from an old Ladybird cookbook. I still have it somewhere. There’s nothing quite like the combination of melted plain chocolate, dessicated coconut and glace cherries! So retro. I since found out that there is another version of Paradise Slice where the coconut and cherries or other dried fruit are baked on a shortcrust pastry base, not a chocolate one. To me chocolate is paradise but I will try out the pastry version another time.

Yesterday was a quiet chilled out Sunday at home. Mr S had gone shopping with his sister who was visiting at the weekend and I was at home with the dogs. We had troughed our way through the cheesecake I had made at my class and I had cherries, chocolate and dessicated coconut. What’s not to like?

First, I lined my traybake tin with some foil and poured melted dark chocolate into the base. This went into the fridge to set for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, I washed and halved a tub of glace cherries. I do hate all the sticky syrup they come in but needs must. Ive found that even after you chop them, there’s more syrup inside and you end up having to rewash them! The cherries were put on to the top of the set chocolate and then ready for the mixture to top it.

The topping for the paradise slice is made by whisking eggs and caster sugar together until light and fluffy. When this is ready, you then fold in the dessicated coconut and put it on top of the cherries and chocolate. The whole concoction is baked in the oven until turning lightly golden for about 20-25 minutes.

I left the Paradise Slice to cool down on the work top for half an hour or so but the tin was still very hot. I gave it another 10 minutes by which time it was ready for me to cut it up. You can’t leave it until the chocolate goes hard or it’s impossible to cut up. Once it was cut up, I then turned each piece out upside down (so the chocolate was on top) and put them onto plates in the fridge so that the chocolate would harden. Half an hour later and hey presto, they were ready!

Did I forget that I was doing Weightwatchers and eat one? Yes, I blinking well did! I enjoyed every mouthful of it until I decided to work out the SmartPoints for it! It was a whopping 23 Smartpoints and I was so shocked! My sister in law took one home with her this morning. I was so tempted to have one only an hour ago with a cuppa but had an apple instead.

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx