{"id":8427,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8427"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:26","slug":"lolly-cake","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/lolly-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"Lolly Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pink, yellow and green sweets show as scattered spots on the brown cut surface. New Zealand\u2019s lolly cake is made by binding crushed biscuits with sweetened condensed milk and other ingredients, then chilling and slicing it. Because the outside is coated with white desiccated coconut and the mixture is set in a log and cut into rounds, it is also called lolly log. Lolly<\/em> means candy and similar sweets, and log<\/em> means a length of tree trunk.<\/p>\n

Crushed biscuits bound with condensed milk and chilled<\/h2>\n

The base is made from malt biscuits, which are dry and already baked. The crushed biscuits keep their malty flavour and brown colour in the finished lolly cake, after they have been mixed with condensed milk and set.<\/p>\n

A cake is usually set by baking eggs and flour in an oven. Lolly cake is different: here the added ingredient is condensed milk, which brings moisture and sweetness, and some recipes (the proportions of ingredients and the method) also use melted butter. The basic method is to mix the ingredients, shape them and chill them until firm.<\/p>\n

Recipes from Bin Inn and Griffin\u2019s add butter, while Chelsea has a method that binds the mixture with condensed milk alone and adds no butter. In Chelsea\u2019s method, part of the coconut is also mixed into the mixture.<\/p>\n

The sweets are not mashed fine but left in pieces. This gives a chew that differs from the biscuit base, and colourful pieces appear in the cross-section.<\/p>\n

The mixture is pressed into a log, coated on the outside with more coconut, and chilled until firm enough to slice. Griffin\u2019s recipe calls for 4 hours in the refrigerator. Because it is set by chilling in the refrigerator, there is no baking step in the oven. Chelsea also offers a version rolled into bite-size balls, so the same ingredients can be finished either as a log for slicing or as bite-size balls.<\/p>\n

\"Lolly<\/p>\n

Lolly cake seen in Dunedin. Colourful sweets are visible in the cut surface, with coconut on the outside. Photo: Daderot, 2024-10-24, Dunedin, New Zealand. Original image<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from the source site; no additional processing.<\/p>\n

\n\"Colourful\n
Homemade lolly cake cut into slices (October 21, 2026; location unknown). The round slices arranged on a blue board contain pink, yellow, green and white sweets and are coated with coconut around the edge. Photo: Grouffles \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. We did not alter or crop the content.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Homemade lolly cake and shop-bought products<\/h2>\n

Lolly cake is made at home and is also popular as a shop-bought product. A recipe from the dairy company Anchor includes the writer\u2019s memory of seeing it at a local bakery.<\/p>\n

No one has established who invented it or when. Ingredient manufacturers have taught home cooks how to make it, and it has also continued as a sliced sweet sold in shops.<\/p>\n

Original Foods currently sells a large, pre-cut slab and the individually wrapped 65-gram \u201cSweet As Lolly Cake.\u201d Both combine malt biscuits, soft fruit puffs and coconut, as the homemade version does. However, they are sold in forms that make them easy for shops to handle piece by piece and easy to carry. Sweets sold under the name lolly cake include slab products like these as well as ones with a round cross-section.<\/p>\n

\"Lolly<\/p>\n

Lolly cake on a plate with other sweets at a caf\u00e9 in Waimate, New Zealand. Photo: DrThneed, 2020-11-15, Waimate, New Zealand. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from the source site; no additional processing.<\/p>\n

The sweets renamed \u201cExplorers\u201d<\/h2>\n

Pascall\u2019s \u201cEskimos,\u201d which appear in older recipes, were renamed \u201cExplorers\u201d in 2021 because of concerns about the term as a name for Indigenous peoples. The manufacturer said the flavour would stay the same. Shoppers now find the same ingredient for the same recipe under a new name.<\/p>\n

These soft, fruit-flavoured sweets and fruit puffs are the most typical lollies used. They are similar to marshmallows, but they are mixed in as pieces rather than melted into the mixture.<\/p>\n

As a result, colourful bits appear in the cross-section when the cake is sliced.<\/p>\n

Adaptations into cheesecake and cookies<\/h2>\n

For Griffin\u2019s Lolly Cake Cheesecake, the mixture is pressed into a round tin and topped with a layer of cream cheese. In this recipe, the mixture of crushed biscuits and sweets becomes the base of a cheesecake.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Cookie Time sold a limited-edition cookie with the same name. It is a different, oven-baked product that combines malt, coconut and coloured lollies with white chocolate. It was sold at some New World, Four Square and PAK\u2019nSAVE stores, as well as at petrol stations and local retailers.<\/p>\n

It is made differently from the chilled sweet based on malt biscuits. However, the product takes over its ingredients of malt, coconut and coloured lollies, as well as its well-loved name.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Malt biscuit<\/strong>: A biscuit with added malt flavour. It is crushed into pieces for the mixture.<\/p>

Sweetened condensed milk<\/strong>: Milk that has been concentrated and sweetened with sugar. It binds the biscuits.<\/p>

Explorers<\/strong>: Soft sweets made by Pascall. Renamed from their former product name in 2021.<\/p>

Fruit puffs<\/strong>: Soft, coloured sweets. One of the ingredients used in lolly cake.<\/p>

Desiccated coconut<\/strong>: Coconut flesh that has been shredded and dried. It coats the outside of the log.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    Bin Inn \u201cLolly Cake\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The company\u2019s published recipe using butter, malt biscuits, fruit puffs, condensed milk and coconut. Shaping into logs, balls or slabs, and chilling. Not used as evidence of Woolworths\u2019 ingredient proportions.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Anchor Dairy NZ \u201cLolly Cake\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A similar recipe and the author\u2019s personal memory of a bakery.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Griffin\u2019s \u201cLolly Cake\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Biscuits with condensed milk and butter, log shape and chilling. The 4 hours stated are for refrigeration, not baking.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Chelsea Sugar \u201cLolly Cake\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Method without butter; shaping into balls.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    1News \u201cPascall Eskimos sweets renamed Explorers\u201d<\/a> \u2014 News report from the time on the manufacturer\u2019s 2021 renaming statement. The original statement page was not obtained.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Griffin\u2019s \u201cLolly Cake Cheesecake\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The company\u2019s own recipe using the chilled sweet as a cheesecake base.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Cookie Time \u201cExport Products\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The cookie product with the same name. Not a source for the year the original chilled sweet first appeared.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Original Foods \u201cWrapped and Ready\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The individually wrapped 65 g Sweet As Lolly Cake and its combination of ingredients. An example of a current product.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Original Foods \u201cSlice\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Slab-shaped, pre-cut products made with malt biscuits, fruit puffs and coconut.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    Food + Beverage Technology \u201cSelling Like Lolly Cakes!\u201d August 3, 2021<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients, baking and retailers when the limited-edition Cookie Time cookie was launched. Does not show when the original chilled sweet first appeared.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lolly cake is a popular New Zealand sweet that is chilled instead of baked. Crushed biscuits are bound with condensed milk or butter, and soft, coloured candies are mixed in. The mixture is shaped into a log, coated with coconut and cut into rounds. Each slice shows pink and yellow pieces scattered through the pale brown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7436,"menu_order":198,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Lolly cake","subtitle":"Cross-sections of colourful sweets inside the biscuit","topics":"Sweets used again as an ingredient \/ Formed into a log, chilled and sliced \/ Shaped as a log or as small balls","country":"New Zealand","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cream","butter","egg","coconut"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked","chilled"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[154],"class_list":["post-8427","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