Let me start by explaining this retro baking effort was inspired by Retro Mummy. When I read her post, ‘old school chocolate slice‘, I got the baking equivalent of a musical earworm. I had every ingredient in the cupboard. I just had to relive the school cake stall baking of my primary school years. I decided not to fight it.

Growing up as a gluten-free kid in the 1980s and 1990s was hard sometimes. There was next to no awareness of gluten-free cooking and very few gluten-free products on the market in Australia. School cake stalls were no-go zones. The end result? As a kid, I ate a lot of things I shouldn’t have. It was just too tempting.

These days, I revel in the fact I can bake truly gluten-free versions of these treats. It means I can finally sample these goodies without getting sick, and I find comfort in knowing that Elena won’t have to miss out in the same way.

This version of the slice is guilt free. Well, gluten-guilt-free, at least. And Elena’s going to have to wait a good few years before she gets to try it out!

I like this recipe because it’s not particularly fussy – sift the dry ingredients for the biscuit base, add everything else and mix.

Bake the base and ice. Cool and eat.

My type of slice!

Gluten-free chocolate slice

Biscuit base:

1 cup White Wings Gluten Free Plain Flour
1 teaspoon psyllium husks
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup coconut
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
150g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:

1 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
40g butter, melted
1 tablespoon hot water
3 tablespoons of coconut, extra

Preheat oven to 180°C  (355°F) and line a 18cm x 28cm lamington tin with baking paper.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add egg, butter and vanilla and mix well. Press mixture into lamington tin (you may find the dough sticky – if so, lightly dust with a little extra gluten-free flour before pressing gently). Bake for 25 minutes.

When the biscuit base comes out of the oven, mix icing ingredients together until smooth and pour over base while still warm. Sprinkle with extra coconut. Leave to cool and icing to set before slicing.

If you don’t have any dietary restrictions, you can find Retro Mummy’s wheaten version here.

Unfortunately I don’t have Retro Mummy’s big family to eat all of my baking before I do. My solution? I send it to the office with Alex!