Louise cake

Louise cake

Alternative names	Louise slice
Type	Cake or confection
Place of origin	New Zealand
Main ingredients	Butter, eggs, raspberry jam, coconut
Media: Louise cake

A Louise cake or Louise slice is a baked New Zealand sweet dish that consists of raspberry jam and coconut-flavoured meringue on a shortbread base.^[1][2] The confection's name may refer to the 1871 wedding of Princess Louise.

History

It has been suggested that the cake was created to celebrate the wedding of Princess Louise (one of Queen Victoria’s daughters) in 1871.^[3][4] A recipe for Louise cake was shared in the Otago Witness newspaper in October 1927.^[5]

In a 2022 bilingual cookbook Whānaukai: Feel-good baking to share aroha and feed hungry tummies, Auckland baker and former Whakaata Māori presenter, Naomi Toilalo, translated Louise cake into te reo Māori as Keke Rahipere Me Te Kokonati (raspberry and coconut cake).^[6][7]

Recipe

The base of Louise cake is shortbread, made from eggs, sugar, butter and flour. The shortbread layer is topped with raspberry jam, followed by a layer of meringue with coconut mixed into it.^[1] Although not traditional, some bakers nowadays decorate the cake with raspberries, either fresh or crushed freeze-dried.^[1][4] Other modern variations on the recipe replace the layer of raspberry jam with plum or kiwifruit jam, stewed rhubarb or lemon curd.^{[8][9][10][11]}

References

1. "Louise Cake | Chelsea Sugar". www.chelsea.co.nz. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
2. "Louise Cake Slice". Just a Mum's Kitchen. 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
3. Chant, Sarah (19 March 2023). "Louise Slice – A taste of New Zealand". New Zealand Travel Tips. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
4. "Learn to Make Old-Fashioned New Zealand Louise Cake". The Spruce Eats. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
5. "Notes and queries". Otago Witness. Retrieved 29 July 2023 – via Papers Past.
6. "Recipe: Louise Slice (Keke Rahipere Me Te Kokonati)". thisNZlife. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
7. "Naomi Toilalo: 'Beautiful food instantly relaxes people'". RNZ. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
8. "Kiwifruit and Toasted Almond Louise Slice". Westgold. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
9. "Louise Cake with Plum and Coconut". The Happy Foodie. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
10. "How to make this delicious rhubarb Louise slice". Australian Women's Weekly Food. 9 June 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
11. Ford, Holly (7 August 2020). "Lemon Louise Cake". Beyond Kimchee. Retrieved 29 July 2023.