Chocolate orange sherbet slice

PREP: 20 MINUTES PLUS 4+ HOURS SETTING TIME  MAKES: 20 PIECES

My favourite sweet in the book! I’m a choc-orange fiend and I’ve been wanting to create a jaffa-type slice for ages now. I wasn’t quite sure where I was heading when I started out, but eventually things clicked into place and here we are. The silky richness of the chocolate fudgy part is balanced by the tart sherbet — a zing in every bite! You’ll have quite a few oranges left sitting naked and vulnerable after you’ve made this. I just squeeze mine and we drink the juice with a few cubes of ice at breakfast.

Base
250g malt biscuits
100g butter, very soft
¾ cup rolled oats
¹∕³ cup sweetened condensed
milk
zest of 1 orange
¼ tsp salt

Topping
500g dark chocolate, chopped
(about 50–60% cocoa)
250ml cream
zest of 3–4 oranges
100g butter, cubed
1 tsp natural orange essence
½ tsp salt

Sherbet
zest of 2 oranges, plus extra to sprinkle
½ cup icing sugar
½ tsp tartaric acid
¼ tsp citric acid
¼ tsp salt

Line a 20cm square slice tin with baking paper so it goes up the sides.

Crumble the biscuits into a food processor. Process to a fine crumb. Add the remaining base ingredients and process to combine (I find tilting the processor helps it blend better). If you don’t have a food processor, you can smash the biscuits up in a clean tea towel with a rolling pin and then mix the other ingredients in afterwards.

Press the crumb firmly in an even layer into the prepared tin. Set aside.

Put the chocolate, cream and orange zest in a glass or ceramic mixing bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute 30 seconds. Stir to melt the chocolate. You can pop it in for another minute or so if it needs it. Add the butter and stir briskly to combine.

Lastly, stir through the orange essence and salt. Spread the topping over the base.

To make the sherbet, either blitz everything in a small food processor or finely chop the zest and combine with the other ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle over the chocolate topping, add the extra zest, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until firm, then slice. You’ll have extra sherbet, so either sprinkle on some more when serving the slice, or keep in a container and just stick your finger in and eat it every now and then.

Keep this slice in the fridge as the topping will go soft in warm weather. It will keep in an airtight container for up to a week. You can also freeze it.