This is a real favourite. I ‘ve been making this Cherry ripe Slice for years. I know there are a lot of different recipes around for this classic slice, but I like mine a lot. It is THE best.
The bottom is baked which means it has a nice crunchiness to it. The filling of course is sweet, well what do you expect? It’s made from condensed milk thats why it is so good. Something has changed about it though in the last year or so. I have been struggling to find the nice red cherries that made it so much like the cherry ripe slice you find at the shops. The only cherries I can find now are ones that are a really dark red almost a dark crimson and I don’t know why. They are a fraction sweet too so I think they may be a different kind of cherry.
Still this is quite a favourite each time I bake it. And bright red cherries or not it’s a big winner. This is extra special with a lovely dark chocolate topping. I always use 70% at least because a milk chocolate is just far too sweet.
I’ve taken recent pictures of the new cherry ripe slice colour once it is baked. It is definitely not as gorgeously pink and I have actually included a couple of drops of red colouring kind of like I am making a red velvet cake to brighten it up. If you are in Australia and buy from the supermarket make sure to buy the Queen tubes, they have the best colour.
I can tell you that it is still irresistible and you certainly don’t want to have a whole slice sitting around like I do right now. It will keep for up to two weeks quite nicely in the fridge in an airtight container but I really don’t think that keeping it is a possibility once it is sliced and everyone knows where it is!.
A short while ago I had a nasty email from someone making this slice. You will see it below. Although I was mortified I wanted to bring it to your attention because I have made this recipe so many times in the last 10 years that I can tell that she used the wrong sized baking tin. A very large tray will make a very thin slice and it wont be nice. Try to stick to the size I have specified in the recipe .
Cherry Ripe is easy to make………….
Cherry Ripe Slice
Ingredients
Base
- 150 gm SR flour
- 40 gm cocoa dark Dutch cocoa, 4 Tablespoons
- 80 gm caster sugar 1/3 cup
- 150 gm melted butter
- 100 gm biscuits Marie, granita, or any sweet plain biscuit or Gram crackers in US
Topping
- 150 coconut desiccated unsweetened
- 400 gm glacé cherries
- 400 ml condensed milk 1 x tin
- 2 drops red food colour
Icing
- 150 gm dark chocolate chopped
- 100 ml cream
Instructions
- Oven 170. 1 x Paper lined brownie tin 10 x 7 in or 18 x 25 cm
- First add the flour, biscuits, sugar and cocoa. Blitz this till you have a fine floury mass.
- Pour in the melted butter and blitz till combined . ( the mixture is relatively dry).
- Press into the brownie tin, and bake for approx 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and put aside for a few minutes.
- Next put 3/4 the cherries into the food processor and add the coconut and condensed milk and pulse till pink and well combined. Rough chop the remaining cherries and add to the mix.
- Pour this mixture over the base and spread out.
- Bake this for approximately 20- 30 min. Don't let it brown too much, I take it out when the outside edges have just started to brown but the centre is softer.
- Cool the slice completely before icing.
- Chop the chocolate into very small bits. Warm the cream in a bowl over a double boiler, or in the microwave to warm without boiling. Take off the heat and add the chopped chocolate and stir till melted and the chocolate mixture is glossy and smooth. Pour over the slice and spread with a pallet knife.
- Let this set in the fridge for up to an hour or overnight before slicing for the best results
Notes
Don't add chocolate to boiling cream. The chocolate could split.
If you find that you may have done this and the mixture is not smooth and it looks a little separated then shock it with a tablespoon of very cold cream or milk and stir through quickly. This often brings it back together.
This is my favourite and Original Cherry Ripe Slice. Before cooking above. Cooked below.
Thank you for your lovely recipe.
I love it and so does everyone else. Think I will make a double batch next time so I get to have a second piece later. ?
Wow thanks Colette
just didn’t work, followed the recipe completely but the slice was very thin, no pink or red colour at all, just a massive fail. Will look for a different cherry ripe slice recipe as this was a waste of time and money – threw the whole thing out
Thanks jennifer. I had to hide them in the back of the fridge
Hi Kay. I am sorry that it didnt work out for you. I think you used the wrong sized tin.
Are the cherries you used in the “cherry ripe” that you call glazed cherries, the same as maraschino cherries or candied cherries? I’m not sure what to use.
Thank you so much,
Diane Clifton
Hi Diane. I think you might be in the US. The cherries are candied, they have no liquid at all in them. if you use a jarred maraschino or sour cherry in syrup your slice wont work
I might be going crazy but I could swear that a week ago the recipe for the icing said 50g of butter and now it says 100ml of cream?? Why did you change it or am I just going crazy?
Hi Fabiana. You are correct it did have butter in it. When I made it last week I decided to revise the recipe to a better and easier bversion. 100 ml of cream warmed and then butter melted into it is a softer shinier icing.Sorry about that.
I’ve made this (twice) in the USA and I can’t get it to work. Help! I forgot to get a box of Cherry Ripes for my neighbour the last time I was in Oz so now I am perfecting a Cherry Ripe slice for her. (I’m doing it badly, unfortunately.)
Glace cherries are only available here at Christmas it seems and they are ridiculously expensive so I used marchino cherries (cheap as chips). It sort of worked but do you think it will work with a well-drained can of real cherries?
Do you mean sweetened condensed milk or normal condensed milk, because I tried the normal and that layer wasn’t thick enough to slice without falling apart. Could be the marchino cherries.
I added butter to the chocolate because I can’t get copha and the chocolate broke. Any thoughts?
Any advice you might have would be great.
Hi Andrea
I have replied to you via email. You need glace cherries any other cherries are too wet . You cant get rid of the syrup it makes the slice too liquid.
Add cream to your chocolate in the same amount as the butter and cut with a hot dry clean knife
Glacé cherries are available all year round in Australia and are not expensive at all. I make 4 batches of Cherry Ripe Slice every Christmas for family, who love it. I am having trouble finding a replacement for Cochineal or red food colouring. I also make 4 lots of Lemon Cheese Slice and also Rocky Road. I am 78 next year so may have to pass this down to the grandchildren.
Love the Cherry Ripe. Glacé Cherries are readily available at any Supermarket in Australia in the cooking aisle with dried fruits and nuts about $3.70 a packet. Good hunting. ??
Hi Gerelle
Thanks for your reply. It sounds like you are very busy and everyone loves what you make. I hope you have some attentive students to teach your recipes to.
At the time of re-writing the recipe cherries were in short supply. You can get them again now, but I think they are a little expensive considering you need a few hundred grams to make the recipe and they are anything from $3-5 a packet. I usually like to try and find them in quantity at a commercial supplier if I can.
have a great Christmas!
Tania
Hopefully this slice tastes fantastic, BUT there is no way the amount of butter you suggest for the base can be enough. I looked at it before it went in oven and it was still powder dry. Disintegrated when I cut into squares. Next time I will definitely be using more butter to ensure the base holds together better.
Thats no good/. I have never had it desintegrate. You can add up to 50 more butter if you like.
I will do that next time. It still takes fantastic 🙂
Have just come across your recipe pages. My husband loves cherry ripe bars and I think I’ve found THE slice to make on his birthday (5th July). It sounds like my kind of recipe – good quality cherries and even better quality chocolate!! Thanks.
Good I hope it goes well.
I love this slice!! We are having a cooking challenge at work and I made this. Everyone loved it.
I did add an extra 30 grams of butter to the base to help it combine well.
I also added extra cocoa to the base because I love chocolate.
I decorated the top with chopped up cherry ripe.
This is one of the best slices I have ever made, easy and delicious, just the way I like it!!
THANK YOU!
I am thrilled that you liked it
this slice looks soooo good! i think ill go out and buy my cherry ripe now 🙂
Thanks Betty
Cherry Ripes! It’s been years since I’ve had one, but looking at your creation, I can almost taste them again! It looks fantastic – a nice use for the leftover glace cherries from Christmas…thank you!
Hey thanks, and yes remember cherry ripes are delicious and every body you know is gonna love them in January
Mmmm this looks fantastic!! I love cherry ripes.
My favourite slice is lemon. I love the tang of it.
I am going to make a lemon slice……………
I’m not so sure about glace cherries, but with this recipe I think I’ll be a convert! These bars look great.
Yes these cherries have a bad rap don’t they?
Delicious looking bars! Really tempting.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Rosa. They are really delicious
I love cherries and to be honest I’m not a huge lover of glace cherries but throw it together with coconut and good chocolate and I’m a massive fan! 😀
Its the chocolate that makes everything good!
Hi ,
I like cherries too! I wish someone would bake for me at work. You see I work the graveyard shift and don’t see any of my fabulous co-workers. Sometimes I wish I would walk in and have a little treat (like your cherry slice) sitting on my desk. Kind like the little notes I leave on my colleagues desks some morning to remind them how much I like them. Its a lonely existance being an after hours orders clerk, luckily I have mykitchenstories to get me through the late nights and early mornings.
On another note could you please tell me where the Angus Park cherries are from, I only ask because I recently noticed that their Australian Apricots are a product of Turkey….gobble gobble!
Dear Chairman, how sad to hear that you seem to have such a lonely existence when you are quite obviously a very thoughtful person. I hope that your fellow workers soon realise that you are special and invite you to some of there social events, or at least leave you something to nibble on during the lonely hours. Also I am unsure about those Turkish apricots……. but at least they aren’t from China.
i heart fresh and glace cherries and this slice looks incredible!
Yeah, I like em too, thanks suze