I’m reading a book by an Australian writer, and so far she has twice used “slice” in a way that makes it sound like a category of food. The lines were something similar to “We had a caramel slice last night” and “I prefer passionfruit slices.”
Uh, slice of what? The only time I’ve heard an American use slice by itself (rather than a ‘slice of pie’ or ‘slice of bread’) was a New Yorker referring to pizza. But going by the flavors and some other bits of context, I’m guessing it’s a dessert item.
I’m an Aussie. A slice is um, a slice. It is a dessert or treat. It is usually made in a large rectangular dish and cut into rectangles for serving. Often there is a pastry or biscuit base (cookies not scones) with a filling - chocolate, lemon, or whatever and a topping though it could be a cake like mixture on its own. Here is a recipe for a chocolate slice. I would be interested to see what you call such a thing: https://www.cadburykitchen.com.au/recipes/view/mums-chocolate-slice/1/
I once asked my Kiwi/Aussie husband this very question, and basically in the US, you could substitute the word, “bar” for “slice.”
Lemon bars are a good example, as Dorabella mentions.
That’s an interesting question, because I didn’t think it was a distinctively Australian term. It’s a kind of sweet pastry prepared in a shallow rectangular dish, and sliced into rectangles for serving. Wikipedia has a reference from “Vanilla slice” to Mille-feuille, but the pastry dos not have to be puff pastry and the flavour does not have to be vanilla for it to be called a “slice”. It’s something that people are likely in Australia to ring to what the Amercan’s call a “pot luck”.
Yeah, as Aspenglow says, it sounds like what I’d mostly call a “bar,” though the recipe you linked to sounds pretty much like a frosted brownie.
My sister likes to make this thing where you line a 9" X 12" inch baking pan with saltine crackers, then pour a hot sauce made mostly from butter and sugar all over them, and bake for a while. Then as soon as you take it out of the oven you pour a layer of chocolate chips on top, wait a couple of minutes for them to melt, then spread the chocolate into an even layer, and finally sprinkle chopped nuts all over it. Would you call that a ‘slice,’ too?
Hmm. In the past, in books written by English writers, I’ve come across the term 'tray bakes." Is that another alternate name for the same type of things?
Yes, a bar or bar cookie is the closest US term. I think a slice falls into the UK-centric category of traybake, but that’s not a term used in Aus. Caramel slice, as mentioned in the OP, is a cafe and bakery staple. It’s close to synonymous with millionaire’s shortbread.
Asking for a “vanilla slice” or maybe a “custard slice” would be fine in a British bakery. That’s probably about the extent of it though: there isn’t a known dessert item called a “slice” which could be made in numerous unfamiliar varieties but still be confidently ordered because you obviously know what a slice entails.
“Square” is another term that is sometimes used (e.g. lemon squares). Maybe it’s regional and/or Canadian, though.
Here’s a picture of caramel slice. It was one of my favorite treats when i lived in Australia.
That’s what it brought to mind for me.
Caramel pizza is not an appetizing thought for me by the way.
Pink Floyd: For want of the price of tea and a slice the old man died.
I find Hedgehog Slice to be ubiquitous:
Anything made in a tray and cut into servings is, generally, a slice.
I think in some parts of Britain they call a piece of buttered bread a slice. Or maybe I’m thinking of a “fried slice”.
Behold the Canadian Nanaimo Bar. The greatest dessert ever.
As others have said, made in a rectangular tray, but usually cold-set. May have hot stuff poured in, like melted Mars Bars with roasted coconut and walnut and set.
Slices are the sorts of things that kids and husbands learn to make when they need to provide something for office morning tea.
While the Bible is silent on the topic, many believe that passion fruit slices are the sort of thing they eat in Heaven.
Okay, so all the pictures in this thread are of brownies and desert bars.
Does a non-specified or unfamiliar desert “slice” suggest something triangular/wedge-shaped to other Americans, or is that just me? I’m not sure why that is because a slice of cheese and a slice of bread aren’t triangular, but I fully expect a generic or mystery desert portion called a slice to be triangular…unless it’s specifically a pound cake or quick bread.
I’m with you elfkin. I kept expecting something shaped more like a pie or cake slice, not a bar. They look good though! I am saving all these recipes.
Yeah, but I’m a native New Yorker. As the OP said, to me, the word “slice” without any other modifiers is a piece of pizza purchased singly. The thing I think of as “a slice” is wedge-shaped by definition*
I am, however, ready and willing to welcome these newfangled Australian rectangular slice thingies into my heart and my belly!
To me a tray bake is a relatively recent term, but, though it could be pre-cut into slices, the distinctive thing about it is that it’s served in its cooking tray. I’ve seen it used not just for variants of cakes or desserts, but also for semi-solid savouries, often pasta-based.
Just to confuse the issue, an older generation, particularly military, would have referred to “char and a wad” to mean the same sort of thing.
In the UK we call that Millionaire’s shortbread - at least we do in my family.