{"id":8426,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8426"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:26","slug":"louise-slice","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/louise-slice\/","title":{"rendered":"Louise Slice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Zealand’s Louise slice is made by spreading jam over a buttery base, topping it with a coconut meringue and baking it. It is baked as a large sheet, then cut into squares or long, narrow rectangles. At home it is also called Louise cake. The yolks are used in the base and the whites in the meringue on top. In a single bite you can taste the crumbly base, the tartness of the fruit and the sweet, light meringue.<\/p>\n

A base made with yolks and a meringue made with whites<\/h2>\n

The yolks are combined with butter, sugar and flour to make the base. The whites are whipped, and sugar and desiccated coconut are added to make the meringue layered on top. Some recipes use up the yolks and whites of two eggs, while others use two yolks for the base and three whites for the meringue, producing differences in the thickness of the base and the amount of meringue.<\/p>\n

The jam spread between the base and the meringue joins the two layers while adding sweetness and tartness. The color of the jam appears as a band in the cut edge. Raspberry is often used, but Edmonds also lists plum and blackcurrant. Fine desiccated coconut gives an even surface, while long shreds make the surface more uneven.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A piece of Louise slice. The base, the fruit and the coconut top layer are visible. Photo: Tom Ackroyd, 2023-03-11, location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the source; no further modifications.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
Louise cake photographed at a gathering in Wellington (March 11, 2023). The pieces on one plate show the layers of base, red jam and coconut meringue. Photo: Stephen A’Court. Courtesy of Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand. Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made on our side.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Baking order and combinations of ingredients<\/h2>\n

In the Edmonds recipe, jam and meringue are layered on the unbaked base and everything is baked at once. It is cut while still warm and left to cool in the tin. By contrast, in the Chelsea recipe, the base is baked first and cooled slightly, then the jam and meringue are layered on, it is baked again, and it is cut once cooled. The recipes differ in whether the base is baked first, and in whether it is cut while the meringue is still warm or after it has cooled.<\/p>\n

There are also examples that change how the fruit is prepared or how the meringue is made. In the recipe from Naomi Toilalo’s Wh\u0101naukai, raspberries are cooked with chia seeds to thicken them, and the egg whites and sugar are warmed over a water bath before whipping. This is one example that replaces bottled jam and ordinary meringue with juicy fruit and a meringue warmed before whipping. In the book, which presents English and M\u0101ori side by side, it is called Keke Rahipere Me Te Kokonati<\/em>. Besides being cut into pieces and eaten at morning tea, it is also served as a dessert with berries or yogurt.<\/p>\n

\n\"Three\n
Three pieces of homemade Louise cake stacked on a board (March 9, 2023). The band of jam and the coconut top layer are visible in the cut edges. Photo: DrThneed \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Home recipes recorded in a 1927 newspaper<\/h2>\n

In the readers’ column of the Otago Witness on September 20, 1927, there is a post asking how to make \u201cLouisa cake.\u201d On September 27 the following week, a recipe called \u201cLouise Cake\u201d was sent in; noting that it might be the same as the cake being sought, it described three layers: a butter dough, jam, and egg white with coconut. Another contributor also shared a three-layer version made with raspberry jam of one’s choice.<\/p>\n

On October 4, yet another recipe for \u201cLouisa cake\u201d appeared. The variation in spelling and the multiple methods show that by 1927 it was a sweet whose name was understood among home cooks, who confirmed details with one another. By the time several households had brought their own separate recipes, neither the name nor the method was already fixed to a single version.<\/p>\n

The theory that it was named after Princess Louise<\/h2>\n

The name is said to come from Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, or to commemorate the princess’s wedding. The wedding of the princess and John Campbell took place on March 21, 1871, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. However, the story that the sweet was created at the wedding has been handed down as a legend about its origin.<\/p>\n

While origins connected with the princess are told, the source that can be cited as concretely conveying how it was made is the household column of the 1927 newspaper discussed above. Just as home cooks in that column exchanged different recipes, a variety of approaches can still be seen today in the order in which the three layers are baked and the choice of fruit.<\/p>\n

Food historian Helen Leach examined 135 recipes for Louise cake and noted that some recent examples use more butter, sugar and eggs in the base than before for a tin of the same size, making the base thicker, while the meringue layer stays the same. Even with the same three layers, the ratio of their thicknesses changes with the era and the recipe.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Helen Leach<\/strong>: A New Zealand food historian. She studied changes in Louise cake recipes.<\/p>

Princess Louise<\/strong>: Daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She married John Campbell in 1871. Louise slice is also said to have been named after this princess.<\/p>

John Campbell<\/strong>: Husband of Princess Louise. At the time of the marriage he was Marquess of Lorne, later Duke of Argyll.<\/p>

Otago Witness<\/strong>: A weekly newspaper published on New Zealand’s South Island. Its 1927 readers’ column contains a post asking how to make this sweet and several replies.<\/p>

Meringue<\/strong>: Whipped egg whites with sugar added. Mixing in coconut gives a baked result containing dry fibers.<\/p>

Desiccated coconut<\/strong>: Grated and dried coconut flesh. The size of the pieces affects the texture of the surface.<\/p>

Blackcurrant<\/strong>: A small black fruit, also called cassis.<\/p>

Chia seeds<\/strong>: Seeds that absorb water and form a gel-like layer around themselves. In Toilalo’s recipe they are used to thicken the jam.<\/p>

Naomi Toilalo<\/strong>: Author of Wh\u0101naukai, a cookbook written in English and M\u0101ori side by side.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. Otago Witness, September 20, 1927, \u201cNotes and Queries\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A reader’s request for a \u201cLouisa cake\u201d recipe.<\/li>
  2. Otago Witness, September 27, 1927, \u201cNotes and Queries\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A contribution calling it \u201cLouise Cake,\u201d and another three-layer recipe. Based on the legible parts of the public OCR.<\/li>
  3. Otago Witness, October 4, 1927, \u201cNotes and Queries\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An additional contribution on \u201cLouisa cake.\u201d<\/li>
  4. Royal Collection Trust: Princess Louise<\/a> \u2014 Spouse, date and place of the marriage. Does not indicate any connection with the name of the sweet.<\/li>
  5. Edmonds: Louise Cake<\/a> \u2014 Three layers, choice of jam, baking all at once and cutting while warm.<\/li>
  6. Chelsea Sugar: Easy Louise Cake<\/a> \u2014 Baking the base first, coconut, and cutting after cooling.<\/li>
  7. Our Way of Life: published recipe from Wh\u0101naukai<\/a> \u2014 Jam with chia, meringue over a water bath, English and M\u0101ori side by side. A published excerpt, not the whole book.<\/li>

  8. Editorial note<\/h2><\/li>

  9. The date and place of Princess Louise’s wedding are based on royal records, but those records do not prove that the New Zealand three-layer sweet was created on that occasion or that it was named to commemorate the wedding. The main text treats the wedding-origin story as legend.<\/p><\/li>

  10. Otago Daily Times \u201cRecipes show we\u2019re getting larger slice of cake\u201d 2018<\/a> \u2014 Reports Leach’s survey of 135 recipes and the changes in base ingredients and layer thickness for the same tin. Not a uniform change across all recipes.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Louise slice is a three-layer slice made in New Zealand. A buttery, biscuit-like base, red jam and coconut meringue are layered and baked. Fine flecks of coconut appear on top, and a thin red line shows in the cross-section. It is also known as Louise cake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7434,"menu_order":197,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Louise slice","subtitle":"Coconut meringue over a layer of red jam","topics":"Dividing the eggs between two layers\uff0fSpreading the jam thinly\uff0fCutting into squares or long, narrow pieces","country":"New Zealand","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["fruit","butter","egg","coconut"],"texture":["crumbly"],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8426","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t