Name: Lemon Slice
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: Slice:; 200 g/ 7 oz plain sweet biscuits (See note); 125 g/ 4.4 oz/ ½ cup unsalted butter; 200 ml/ 6.8 fl.oz/ scant ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk; 3 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 teaspoon lemon zest; 75 g/ 2.6 oz/ ¾ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut; Frosting:; 200 g/ 7 oz/ 2 cups icing sugar; 45 g/ 1.6 oz/ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (very soft); 2 ½ tablespoons lemon juice; 1 tablespoon hot water; 2-3 tablespoons desiccated coconut to sprinkle the slice

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Lemon slice with coconut: a sweet and tart, typical Australian dessert, easy to make and sure to please anyone.

Lemon Slice with Coconut

A simple recipe for lemon slice, an unbaked, quick to make and always delightful treat!

Feel like eating something nice and sweet, but don’t feel like turning on the oven or spending a long time in the kitchen? This Australian dessert called lemon slice might be exactly what you are looking for. Or try the Lamington Cake!

Sweet and tart lemon coconut squares with sweetened condensed milk, covered with a creamy icing sugar and lemon frosting.

And it really takes about 20 minutes to put everything together, the only thing you have to consider is that the biscuit base will need about 30 extra minutes to set in the refrigerator and the icing might need a moment or two to set as well.

What do you need?

Slice:

Plain sweet biscuits, really nothing special, whatever you like and are used to taking for this kind of biscuit base.
If you live in Germany or Europe, Butterkekse or butter biscuits are perfect.
If you live in the UK, you could use digestives, they would be great!
And in the US, graham crackers seem to be the most popular choice for this kind of dessert.

For the base you will also need:

Unsalted butter
Sweetened condensed milk
Lemon juice and lemon zest
Unsweetened desiccated coconut

Frosting:

Icing sugar
Unsalted butter
Lemon juice
Hot water

How to make lemon slice?

Slice:

Crush almost all the biscuits in the food processor. Leave about 50 g/ 1.7 aside and crush these only very roughly, so that you can have some nice biscuit pieces in the lemon coconut slice.
If you don’t have a food processor, place the biscuits into a freezer bag, close well, and crush the biscuits with a rolling pin. Transfer to a bowl.
Place the butter and condensed milk in a small saucepan. Heat gently while stirring until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.

melting butter and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan

Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and desiccated coconut. Stir very well to combine.
Pour the condensed milk mixture over the finely crushed biscuits. Stir to combine and add the roughly crushed biscuits as well.
Press the mixture into a baking dish lined with baking paper. The dimensions of my baking dish are 25x20cm/10×8 inches, but a bit more or less is fine.
Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Longer is fine.

Frosting:

Make sure that the butter is very very soft, like a paste, otherwise, you will not be able to combine it properly with the sugar.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.
Add the soft butter, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon hot water. Whisk very well until the mixture is smooth.

If you think that the mixture is too stiff, you can carefully add a few more drops of lemon juice.
If you think that the frosting is too soft, add a small amount of icing sugar and whisk again.
Spread the frosting over the lemon slice.
Sprinkle with a little more desiccated coconut.
Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Cut into 24 small cubes.

Make ahead and store

You can definitely make the uncooked lemon slice with coconut ahead of time.
You can make the base ahead and frost it later.
Or you can make the whole slice ahead and keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for several days.
The lemon slice will keep for about one week.
You can even freeze the squares for up to two months.