Beginner
Australian / New Zealand
Anzac Biscuits
Source: Traditional
30 min24120 kcal
Vegetarian
Caramel Slice
The tuckshop and morning-tea favourite: a biscuit-crumb shortbread base, a thick layer of condensed-milk caramel, and a snapping chocolate top, cut into neat squares.
Source
Recipe by Australian home baking · 🏺 Traditional · A slice-tin staple of Australian home baking and cafés
Australian home baking — Known in Australia as caramel slice (and elsewhere as millionaire's shortbread), this three-layer bar is a fixture of Australian 'slices' — the tray-baked squares of morning teas, school tuckshops and café counters. It builds on a shortbread base with a condensed-milk caramel and a chocolate top.
Watch it being made · 3 videos
⏱ 60 min🍽 4 servings🔥 300 kcal🇦🇺 Australia
Vegetarian
Steps
Heat the oven to 180°C and line a slice tin (about 20cm square) with baking paper, letting it overhang for easy lifting.
Mix the flour, coconut and brown sugar, then stir in the melted butter until it clumps. Press firmly and evenly into the tin.
Bake the base 12–15 minutes until light golden. Leave the oven on.
For the caramel, gently melt the condensed milk, caramel butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly for 5–7 minutes until it thickens slightly and turns a shade darker.
💡 Keep the heat low and never stop stirring — condensed-milk caramel catches and scorches on the base in moments, and burnt spots turn the whole layer bitter and grainy.
Pour the caramel over the warm base and spread level. Bake 12–15 minutes more, until the caramel is set with a few small bubbles and golden at the edges.
Cool the tin completely, then chill 30 minutes so the caramel firms up.
Melt the chocolate gently (short bursts in the microwave or over a water bath) and stir in the oil until glossy and smooth.
Pour over the set caramel and tilt to cover evenly. Chill just until the chocolate is barely set but not rock-hard.
Lift out using the paper and cut into squares with a hot, dry knife, wiping the blade between cuts.
💡 Cut while the chocolate is just-set, not fully hard — a fully hardened top shatters and cracks. Warming the knife melts a clean path through the chocolate layer.
💡 Tips
- Beginner's mistake: pouring chocolate over cold, hard caramel and cutting once it's fully set — the top cracks into shards. Cut at the just-set stage with a warm knife, and stir oil into the chocolate.
- The caramel layer is where it's won or lost — cook it slow and stir constantly. Rushed over high heat, it splits into greasy, grainy caramel.
- No golden syrup? Honey or light corn syrup works, though golden syrup gives the truest caramel flavour Australians expect.
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