Recipe: Kirsten Tibballs’s Caramel Slice Isn’t Your Average Bake-Sale Bar

You shouldn’t really trust anyone with your chocolate. But if you had to, it would be Kirsten Tibballs. The Melbourne-based pastry chef, chocolatier and cookbook author has earned her stripes as Australia’s pre-eminent “chocolate queen” through years of running Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in Brunswick, as well as guest judging on Masterchef and competing on Dessert Masters.

Her third cookbook, Chocolate All Day, is a compendium of dozens of choc-based hits – from multiple chocolate cakes to chocolate-coated popcorn and even chocolate toasties. It also includes this recipe for caramel slice, “sometimes known as millionaire’s shortbread,” Tibballs writes.

“What makes this caramel slice so good? Chocolate, of course. Here you’ll find it nestled in the biscuit base, humming in the caramel filling and crowning this slice in the form of a glossy ganache.”

Caramel slice by Kirsten Tibballs

Serves 12–16

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Biscuit base

125g unsalted butter, melted
200g soft brown sugar
120g plain (all-purpose) flour
50g desiccated coconut
Pinch of ground cinnamon
50g good quality milk chocolate, roughly chopped

Caramel filling

80g unsalted butter, cubed
80g soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
395ml sweetened condensed milk
90g good quality dark chocolate

Ganache topping

250g good quality milk chocolate
100ml thickened (whipping) cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
30g liquid glucose
Pinch of sea salt

Method

To make the biscuit base, preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced. Grease a slice (slab) tin, 27.5 x 17.5cm and 3.5cm high. Line the base and sides of the tin with baking paper and set aside until required.

Put the melted butter and brown sugar in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Add the flour, coconut and cinnamon. Continue to mix until the ingredients come together.

Add the milk chocolate and mix to combine.

Press the mixture into the base of the prepared baking tin to create an even layer.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside at room temperature.

Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C fan-forced.

For the caramel filling, combine the butter, brown sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.

Once the butter has melted and the sugar has completely dissolved, reduce the heat to low, add the condensed milk and whisk continuously until the mixture begins to simmer. Continuing to whisk, cook for a further 3 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken slightly.

Remove from the heat and add the dark chocolate. Mix until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the caramel.

Pour the caramel filling over the biscuit base and spread to create an even layer.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave the slice to cool completely at room temperature.

For the ganache topping, place the chocolate in a bowl.

Combine the cream, vanilla, glucose and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, then pour the mixture over the chocolate. Gently whisk until the chocolate is completely melted and incorporated into the other ingredients.

Pour the ganache over the cooled caramel layer and spread evenly. (For a less rich version, make the slice without the ganache topping.)

Place the slice in the fridge for 30 minutes to set. Remove the caramel slice from the tin and cut it into 18 rectangles, approximately 9 x 2.8cm.

Store the slice in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Note

To add a little dazzle, rub some edible gold lustre dust into shaved or shredded coconut and sprinkle it on top of each bar.

Images and text from Chocolate All Day by Kirsten Tibballs, photography by Armelle Habib. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.