Do you remember when 10c bought you a treat that lasted in your memory for the longest time? That when you bought it, you retreated from from your friends and the rest of the world and sucked the existence out of a toffee (and in the process ate bits of waxed patty paper, a job hazard if ever there was one). Do you remember school fêtes that would offer an additional chance of culinary joy for children with trays of food that was ordinarily reserved for those fantastic things called birthday parties.
If you had asked me between the ages of 6-10 for my dream menu it would have consisted of: pink and white hued coconut ice, golden honey joys, light jam and cream filled sponge cake and pikelets with a jam and cream. Yes it appeared that I was a pint sized member of the Country Women’s Association. Every time a fete was held I was given 20c and carefully, and with much consideration, I would buy one of these things based purely on size-whatever looked the biggest had to be the best.
I even once bought my mother a present at one of these fêtes, a truly awful bottle of perfume called “Images”. That day I gave up my sweets instead putting the 20c to buy the perfume for my mother (yes you can see what a good drop of perfume it would have been at that price 
). I was so excited at my purchase that I could barely hold it and I dropped it where it skittered across the concrete schoolground, down the playground hill with the bottle scratched and the lid cracked. My mother was diplomatic when she received it and even used it once or twice (never in outside company-noted!). I think she even still has the scratched bottle on her dressing table. Needless to say she doesn’t use it now and we are all thankful of that.
Comfort food-condensed milk with raspberry sauce
I loved coconut ice because it was sweet and it had my favourite colour pink in it although I haven’t eaten it in many years. When I came across a recipe for the coconut ice in the new Junior Masterchef cookbook I decided that it was the coconut ice recipe for me as it didn’t contain copha but instead that deliriously delicious item called sweetened condensed milk. I wanted to give it a slight modern twist so I decided to make it a raspberry and vanilla coconut ice. It is a lovely flavour with the slightly tart raspberries against the jaw achingly sweet body. It is best refrigerated and served cold and I was pleasantly surprised when my memory of a very sweet treat came flooding back to me. It’s a sweet with limits too, I think two pieces would do even the most hardened sugar addict. Unless you are busy reminiscing.
So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite fête or market food?
Raspberry Coconut Ice
Adapted from Junior Masterchef Australia, the Cookbook Volume 1 by Harper Collins $29.99
- 320g/2 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted
- 315g/3.5 cups desiccated coconut
- 395g can condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- a few drops pink colouring
- 4 tablespoons raspberry sauce or raspberry puree
- A few drops raspberry extract
1. Lightly grease a square cake pan (I find that this is best using a smaller pan) and line base and sides with baking paper. Divide icing sugar between two bowls and then stir half of the coconut into each. Make a well in the centre.
2. Divide the condensed milk and vanilla in two parts. Place one half into one of the bowls and combine to coat the coconut. Press the white coconut mixture into the prepared pan and smooth over with some baking parchment.
3. Add the raspberry extract, pink colouring and raspberry puree to the other half of the condensed milk and vanilla mixture to the other coconut mixture and stir until the colour is well combined. I would hold back a few tablespoons of the milk mixture as you don’t want the coconut to be too wet. If it is too hard to stir this use clean hands. Spread this over the white layer and smooth on top with baking parchment. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
4. Once set, carefully remove it from the tin using the baking parchment and cut into squares or rectangles. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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85 Comments | Add your own
Delightful! I really love the idea.
Cheers,
Rosa
Lorraine, I don’t ever recall any treats ever costing 10 cents—how old are you, really
I have to mention that the mere concept of condensed milk with raspberry purée is enough to give me palpitations. Not to mention the photos.
Childhood memories! Lovely
)
Peppermint creams always remind me of childhood too.
Now that brings back memories! I haven’t had a coconut ice for years!
how cute i remember these from childhood . really pretty too
Perfect for spring and summer!
This coconut ice looks scrumptious – but you are right, one or two pieces is enough. My favourtie fete treat is Russian caramels – could go through a bag of those no sweat.
YUM! That looks so good
Perfect with a cup of tea.
This looks like the perfect thing to make for a little girl’s party. I love the pink and white combination; it makes me feel like a little girl again. In my opinion, pink foods just look beautiful!
I love that the recipe was for condensed milk instead of copha.
My childhood delight was cream puffs. I would go with my parents to a church auction where home grown vegetables and delicious treats made by the sweet old ladies were sold off to raise money for a charitable cause. I would always beg my dad to bid top price for the cream puffs!
Lovely, you always seem to have the cutest photos. How do you have so much interesting serving utencils?
This looks great! I always love your little twists on the recipe.
My favourite market food is Gozlemes! The Frenchs Forest organic market in Sydney has the scrummiest ones – and not oily. I remember sitting down to a coffee on cold Sunday mornings with my mum at the markets and munching on a cheese, spinach, mushroom and spiced lamb one. Mmmmmm.
Lovely combination and deliciously gluten-free. I used to love fairy cakes a school fetes. So light yet sweet and cheap enough for my pocket money budget!
That looks so tasty! I remember seeing various recipes for coconut ice but I’ve never tried it. I may have to give this a go for Easter!
My favorite fete/market food is definitely hot fresh donuts, but my goodness these little coconut ices are absolutely sweet! Awesome job daaaaahling.
*kisses* HH
i take that as a challenge – i can handle a lot of sugar!
i love coconut ice! i still buy it each year with my mum at our suburb’s spring fair and it’s delicious. i want to try this though… because let’s be honest, i love condensed milk more than life itself.
That looks so pretty! I’m not much of a sweet coconut person myself, although I am partial to an ANZAC biscuit. My fave fete food would probably have to be toffees, even though you can never really separate thm from the paper.
The pink and white confection does look nice, but . . .someone else can have my share!
Favourite market food: anything found in Asian hawker stalls, but especially any kind of satay with a good peanut sauce for dunking! There is a wonderful monthly market near the famous hippie village Nimbin in the N Rivers – one could eat oneself silly going from stall to stall. Beautiful beeswax candles too . . . Not to be missed if you are in the area.
Oh Lorraine, what lovely memories! And I have an almost identical story of sacrificing my school fete candy money to buy a little second hand ornament for my mum’s birthday. I too, was so proud, though in retrospect it was quite a horrid item!
I’ve never had Raspberry Coconut Ice, but I will remedy that this weekend…
xxoo,
RMW
I just laughed so much over your mini CWA comment! I was much the same. Clearly we’ll be very happy elderly ladies when the afternoon tea trolley comes around
I could go a wee (or not so wee) bit of this with a tea right about now.
I think my favourite from fetes at school was toffees in the patty papers, chocolate crackles and definitely honey joys.
*happy place*
mmmmmmmmm I used to love when my mum made coconut ice… probably a good thing she stopped or I’d be the size of a house. Should make it again one day
I used to love this too! I’ll have to make some for my kids…I don’t think they’ve ever had coconut ice! (horror!)
Gorgeous pink colour and so delicious, I can only imagine!
For me it has to be fairy floss…
Mmm.. might have to give this one ago! I love fetes but it seems that whenever the school down the road has one we have to be somewhere else & can’t go!
My favourite fete treat would have to be chocolate crackles… so yummy & so easy to make!
I have issues with copha (though I still love chocolate crackles) – so this recipe is a nice alternative
Mmmm raspberry – great thinking. My mother used to make the most amazing perfectly golden toffee with hundred and thousand spinkles. I can remember standing in the kitchen watching as she dropped the mixture into a glass of water to test if it was at the right stage (no fancy thermometers for her). I did also love the chocolate fudge which we were very rarely allowed to buy, you know the true old fashioned fudge they had back then although I have grown to love the ease of the condensed milk and marshmallow versions I often crave a piece of truly well made traditional fudge.
I always loved to buy fruit cakes at fetes when I was younger. I would save up my money & spend it on fruit cakes for my mum & aunties. haha. strange child. These look so beautiful, too pretty to eat! almost…
Heidi xo
It looks like the perfect treat for a girl’s tea party, whether she be knee-high or fully grown.
You have me craving this, and I don’t even adore coconut that much. So,that’s saying something.
Oh doesn’t this bring back memories! I remember looking forward to spring fetes every year because that was the only time we could get our sticky little fingers on toffees, toffee apples, chocolate crackles and bags of mixed lollies, just as well they hadn’t invented ADD back then, hehe!
Actually, the idea of pink coconut ice was great but like you, I’d always go for the biggest piece of food 10c could get it lol
My fav fete food would definitely be mini cupcakes. When I was little, they were the cutest and hardest thing to get a hold of
I never had coconut ice but I had ice kacang before!
Haha cute story. I remember buying my Mum an electric can opener and I thought it was the coolest thing.
I used to love soft toffee and honey joys!
Your raspberry coconut ice looks so pretty
Oh, nothing like a good coconut ice or chocolate fudge! Got to love the school fetes!
oh my….i know these, im from Trinidad and here we call them Sugar cake, it looks the same way and made the same way…..
I would happily use organic coconut oil in coconut ice, a fave from childhood (with the Copha! ugh!)But this is a great option.
Ohhhh, so sugary, fluffy & beautifully pink. I will make this with my mother.
Love love love this blog. xx
I’m SO bookmarking this! Would make an excellent birthday treat for my dad.
My favourite market food comes from Albury trash and treasure, they have these little fried donuts filled with raisins and dusted with icing sugar, yum!
I like ice cream that needs no churning
Plus there is coconut? Awesome!
I used to love the complete cake stall, no favourites, just the lot! LOL
I think I would love these Lorraine.
It was home made rocky road and chocolate crackled, toffees and mars bar slice for me at school fetes!
Toffee apples were my favourite. The apples were actually freshly picked from the tree two days before the fete because a family at school had an apple orchard. They were brilliant with slightly tart and crunchy apples under a double dipped toffee coating.
I’m quite excited, I just got a notice saying my daughter’s school has a fete in May so I might experiment with your coconut ice recipe (a chocolate version would be yummy as well) and if it turns out well then I’ll make some for the fete.
Wow I’ve not had this for agesss! This is just too cute and sweet! What a wonderful way to walk down memory lane
Love the tea set too!
I love raspberries, so this would be delicious. I remember Iced VoVos, they were similarly white pink and coconutty. They were on my Not To Be Eaten InTolerance List but I would hide in my Nans pantry and just SNIFF them… sigh.
My favourite fete food was toffee, Yumm.
Yum!!! Looks so pretty
Ahhhh…. Coconut ice! And my favourite of all twists… raspberry! It would be wonderful if you had an ‘email this recipe’! I’d send some of your wonderful creations to my friends and of course to myself to try later!
It’s lovely how some of the best parts of our childhoods revolve around the sweets we enjoyed.
Those coconut ice look so fetching, by the way.
I remember “helping” my Nan make coconut ice from a young age (and by helping I mean liking the bowls and adding too much red food colouring at the appointed time!)
I always loved fete toffee’s but she would never make it after a disastrous toffee incident when my Uncle was an apprentice chef…imagine blue toffee being added to an (indoor) bath of ice water – it coated the walls, ceiling and my Uncle!
Yes I remember the days when canteen food back at school was delightfully cheap AND all about sinful goodness. Nowadays, not only have prices rocketed up but everything seems to be about health and calories. Not that I’m complaining about the action towards a healthier future but good god, I’m glad I was born in an earlier time, when everyone was just blissfully unaware of the food they were gorging on. Made for an interesting childhood.
Btw, I love that you use condensed milk. What an underrated, misunderstood ingredient!
I am not a lover of overly sweet things, but these are so pretty I would make them just to show them off. I also am very partial to raspberries.
I love this adaption Lorraine! I hope they still serve these nostalgic treats when Poppy goes to school. If not, I might have to bring them back!
Oh my, this is taking me back to my childhood years – it’s been AGES since I’ve seen coconut ice. I am supposed to be limiting my sugar intake but stuff it, I’m so making this!
Gorgeous food composition! How did you manage to make it look so perfect
I don’t think I’ve ever had coconut ice but I do like the sound of your version! And when 20c used to get you a bag of sweets… oh good old days
L, this reminds me of Indian Sweets… this dish is called “Kopra-Paak” or “Kopra-Barfi” they make it the same way but with ricotta cheese and sugar instead of condensed milk. If you happn to have any Indian sweets store near by your place, make it a point to visit it and taste things like Rossogulla(cottage cheese dumplings cooked in sugar syrup), jalebi(a bit complex to explain this one), Besan laddu (sweet chick-pea flour balls) etc etc… the list is almost a mile long.
.
I bet you shall love them all. I hope to snap a few photos of Typical Indian sweets shop on my next visit to India, ofcourse I shall send a copy of it to you
Gurl, keep up the good work. BTW loved your tea set.
M.
I’ve never eaten coconut ice! Maybe because I didn’t like sweets or coconuts when I was younger? Yours remind me of Iced Vovos..yum!
Great story and fancy a piece of coconut ice to go with my cup right now. Is that a stunt teapot though?
Sure is a pretty color! I’ve never had this treat before. Sounds easy and delicious. Milky Way has been my favorite candy for as long as I can remember. Love the chocolate and caramel combination. xoxo Mum
Happy Thursday!
Looks yummy! I remember buying those exact same treats at fetes. Mmm coconut ice and toffees…
P.s You have my dream teapot. I stare at it everytime I go into T2
I do love coconut ice. I can’t ever seem to get enough of it. Though my favourite market food is baklava!
Lovin’ the tea set, Lorraine. Your coconut ice looks delicious -really melty-in-your-mouthy!
Such a lovely feminine treat, Lorraine. Perfect for tea. Of course, condensed milk makes everything perfect!
Love your china!
Oh I remember walking back to the toffee table at our school fete & then back to the crafts table where this gorgeous (so I thought) red & green knitted octopus (yep… all class I am) was exactly the same price. I ended up sacrificing the toffee even though it had loads of hundreds & thousands on it (sigh) & bought the octopus to give to Mom – but hey… that’s not all… the dam thing keeps coming up every Xmas, Mom brings it out & plants it firmly somewhere around the house as one of those mother daughter moments, I swear that creepy garish octopus is going to haunt me forever…, but apparently Mom thought it was a great use of 25c.
Your coconut ice does look pretty neat though… much nicer than that old toffee
Yum, I love coconut ice. It was always my favourite fete food.
Oh, you were such a cute little girl.
I too used to LOVE all the tiny little desserts that seemed like something out of a story book. In Canada I always chose butter tarts or matrimonial cake. 
What a cute post + it has my fav colors , pink and white.
Makes me want to go and look out for my pink and white cupcake bed sheet now.LOL.
I loveee how cutely u bought the perfume bottle for ur mom.
I picked gifts for my mom at our fete’s too but mostly they were little handmade gifts:-)
i loved to go gaga at those lucky dips too , excited to find what i got inside my packet.
The rasberry coconut ice is fantastic.
In Goa, we have coconut ice in pink green , and white at Christmas time, i lovee the colors.
Ur recipe is perfect.
Great story Lorraine. Never heard of raspberry ice, but it looks real good!
I would have agreed with you on the perfect spread but I would add chocolate crackles – I love coconut ice and love the raspberry version – makes me think that beetroot powder would go well in creating a pink topping as well
what a tasty combination, and i love that delicate pink hue. magical layers, lorraine.
I have very fond memories of school fetes, chocolate crackles and honey joys! I used to make coconut ice back then too – my mother certainly wouldn’t! And with condensed milk – what an added treat!
Oh wow I haven’t had coconut ice for years. It was definitely my favourite at the school fetes, along with chocolate crackles. So true about eating the paper with the toffee that you could break your teeth with. Now thinking about it, I find it rather dangerous to give a kid something like that!
What a delightful lovely treat, I would love to try this!
This is so pretty, and it sounds so good! It reminds me of one of my favorite coconut candies- I bet it’s just as delicious. Loved your story about the sweets and the perfume.
Oh, I would love to try this. They look so pretty too, especially the way you have them arranged!
My school fete favourite was most definitely Russian caramel, the sugary, almost hard crumbly variety, not the sticky, chewy version. Despite trying several different recipes I’ve never managed to master it. Any chance of rustling up a recipe for me Lorraine??
This looks fabulous. I’ve always loved coconut ice, but I used to spend my 10 cents on those toffees with hundreds and thousands in paper cases. Haven’t thought about those in many years!I’ve made coconut ice with condensed milk before, but really like the raspberry puree idea.
What wonderful spring colors in a delicious looking dessert!
Aw Lorraine, I just discovered that my old primary school is having their annual fete tomorrow, which got me thinking about coconut ice, and now here I find this post! Are you sneaking around my head again? Um, in the past?
Have just made it for the school’s election day fete! I mixed it all together then spread some of the plain in tin first then blitzed a few tbsps of frozen raspberries & mixed them into the 2nd half, then spread that on top. Looks & tastes good so will see if it cuts up well. Thanks NQN!
This is such a great site!!
My favourite fete food has to be Devonshire tea.
Love your styling on these! – I’m going to attempt this over the October long weekend with my 3yo sidekick. Will post the results on my blog http://littlevanderbiltbakery.blogspot.com.au/
Thanks for all your awesome recipes!
Lee
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