No Bake Dairy Free Chocolate Cherry Slice (Gluten Free, Vegan)

If you are looking for a delicious no bake sweet treat, you’ll love this easy dairy free chocolate cherry slice recipe. It combines sweet cherry coconut filling with a biscuit base, topped with dark chocolate. For people with food allergies, this allergy friendly slice has all the choc-cherry flavour of a Cadbury Cherry Ripe® bar, without the allergens. This delicious pretty pink slice is quick and easy to make, is dairy, nut and gluten free and vegan too.

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Common allergens in chocolate slice recipes

Sweet slices are a favourite for everything from parties to after school snacks. Especially when they are so easy to make and you don’t need to bake them in the oven.

Many no-bake slices are made with sweetened condensed milk to bind the ingredients together and add sweetness. Often slices have a biscuit base, which can contain milk, egg, wheat/gluten, soy and even nuts. The biscuit base can also include butter (milk).

Chocolate of course can contain milk, even if it is dark chocolate without milk listed as an ingredient. This is usually due to manufacturing chocolate on shared production lines. It’s also why many chocolate brands may contain nuts if they are used in other products made in the same factory.

Our allergy-friendly chocolate cherry slice is made with ingredients that are free from, dairy, eggs, wheat/gluten and nuts. It can also be made soy free and is vegan too.

Dairy free chocolate cherry slice ingredients

To make this delicious allergy friendly no bake slice, you’ll need:

• 250g (about 8.8 oz) sweet allergy friendly biscuits
• 1/2 cup dairy free spread, melted
• 4 cups desiccated coconut
• 320g / 1 cup dairy free sweetened condensed milk
• 200g /1 cup glacé cherries, cut into quarters
• 125g / half a cup of Copha or coconut oil
• 4-5 drops red food colouring
• 1 and 1/2 cups allergy friendly dark chocolate buttons

Allergy friendly cookies or biscuits

You can use any plain allergy friendly cookie or biscuit option for this recipe, provided it is free from your allergens. We usually use a plain arrowroot style biscuit that is gluten free, diary and egg free and nut free. For this batch we mixed things up and used gluten free and vegan Leda Anzac biscuits.

Desiccated coconut

This allergy friendly slice is made with dry desiccated coconut, not to be confused with shredded coconut which is too moist. Also don’t use coconut flakes or chunks as these will be too large.

Dairy free condensed milk

Any non-dairy sweetened condensed milk is suitable for this recipe, including condensed coconut milk. oat milk, or soy milk (if you can tolerate soy). Being a coconut flavoured treat, condensed coconut milk will work well,

If you can’t source a suitable plant based sweetened condensed milk in store, it’s easy to make your own with our easy dairy free condensed milk recipe.

Copha

Coconut based Copha is a popular supermarket ingredient in Australia. It’s essentially a stick of coconut oil, with added soy lecithin to increase shelf life. If you need to avoid soy, you can substitute plain coconut oil in this recipe.

Glacé cherries

Also known as candied cherries, glacé cherries are pitted maraschino cherries that have been candied in a sugar syrup. We used pre-packaged glacé cherries for this recipe. If buying, make sure you check for any of your allergens in the ingredients, including preservatives.

Allergy friendly chocolate options

To recreate the classic cherry and coconut chocolate bar taste, it’s best to use a dark chocolate for this recipe. We used Sweet William vegan dark chocolate baking buttons. However, you can use any of your favourite allergy friendly chocolate varieties to melt, such as Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels.

To make the slice

Lightly grease a 18 x 28 cm (7 x 11 inch) slice pan or dish with dairy free spread. Line the pan with non stick baking or parchment paper, allowing the paper to extend about an inch above the sides of the pan.

Biscuit base

Place biscuits/cookies in a food processor bowl and process until they have the texture of fine breadcrumbs. I use my Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro, but if you don’t have a food processor you can manually crush the cookies by placing them in a zip lock bag and crushing with a rolling pin.

Melt dairy free spread in a small glass bowl in the microwave. Add melted dairy free spread to crumbs and process or mix until well combined.

Press the biscuit mixture into the base of the prepared slice pan using the back of a spoon and place in the fridge for around 30 minutes to set.

Cherry coconut filling

Chop glace cherries into quarters. Melt Copha (or coconut oil) in a small glass bowl in the microwave.

Place desiccated coconut, dairy free condensed milk, chopped cherries and Copha in a large mixing bowl and stir well to combine.

To create a pink filling, add 4 to 5 drops of red food colouring to the mixture and combine well.

Spoon mixture over the biscuit base and press with the back of a spoon to create an even layer.

Return pan to the fridge for another 15 minutes to cool.

Chocolate top

Melt chocolate pieces in a small glass bowl in the microwave on low heat.

Spread melted chocolate evenly over the top of the prepared slice. Return the pan to the fridge for about 1 hour or until the chocolate and slice is firmly set.

Using a sharp knife, cut the slice in squares and serve. (It can help to dip the knife in warm water before cutting to ensure the chocolate doesn’t crack).

Makes 30 pieces of slice.

Storage and freezing

Dairy free chocolate cherry slice will keep well in the fridge for 7 to 10 days. Just be sure to store it in a covered airtight container.

Slice can also be frozen for up to 3 months. If you need to freeze the whole slab, simply wrap tightly in plastic, then cover with foil and place in an airtight container in the freezer. For individual pieces of slice, place in an airtight container and separate layers with non stick baking paper to prevent sticking.