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.
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.
A recipe for Louise cake was shared in the
Otago Witness newspaper in October 1927.
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).
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.
Although not traditional, some bakers nowadays decorate the cake with raspberries, either fresh or crushed freeze-dried.
Other modern variations on the recipe replace the layer of raspberry jam with plum or
kiwifruit jam, stewed
rhubarb or
lemon curd.
