Aside from Lantana Cafe brownies, another cocoa-based obsession of mine are the chocolate fridge cakes in Pret a Manger. The bars are a mixture of chocolate, biscuit, dried fruit and crack (probably). But an addiction to anything from a sandwich chain can get pricey, so I got creative in the kitchen.Aside from containing everything that's good in the world, the appeal of chocolate fridge cake is that there's no baking involved. Which means that I can't possibly screw it up. And I didn't - they're pretty tasty.
You will need (makes 12 dense squares):
- 200g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
- 100g softened butter
- 250g digestive biscuits
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- 3 heaped tbsp mixed dried fruit
Make it!
- Melt the broken chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a saucepan on a low heat.
- Put the digestives into a freezer bag and bash it with a rolling pin. You want to keep it fairly chunky - not total crumbs.
- Put the dried fruit and broken digestives in a mixing bowl and fold in around three-quarters of the melted chocolate mixture. Try not to gobble it right there and then (but you can have a small spoonful).
- Once that's all combined, place the mixture into a greased baking tin. Use a spatula to smoosh the mixture into all the corners - you want it packed in quite tightly so it doesn't fall apart once it's cut into squares.
- Pour the remaining chocolate over the biscuit mixture in the baking tray and pop it in the fridge for at least three hours (but preferably overnight).
- Cut into squares and munch with a glass of cold milk.
I'll give this one a shot - I still need to work on perfecting a fridge cake after my last disaster: http://katarney.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/it-doesnt-always-work-out/
ReplyDeleteI make a version of this with condensed milk instead of golden syrup and it comes out with a very nice squidgy texture. Puts on several pounds just to look at it, mind.
ReplyDeleteAlso, fridge cake with gingersnaps and maltesers added is really REALLY yummy
ReplyDeleteSounds delicious and making me hungry, even though I'm eating some warm soda bread with lashings of butter in honour of St Patrick's Day.
ReplyDeleteI make something similar. Always a success. Try chucking in a handful of mini marshmallows too. Yum.
ReplyDeleteCherries are also lovely added to this, as are a handful of chopped cashew nuts......mmmmmm! Oh and making it with shortbread instead of digestive biscuits is also rather yum :)
ReplyDeleteA classic...and almost impossible to stop eating, in my experience. Those borked digestives work so well *nom*
ReplyDeleteOh - and to make this even better - melt a chocolate orange and spread over the top. Simply divine!
ReplyDeleteSo according to you lot we should pimp out the humble chocolate fridge cake with the following: Marshmallows, chocolate orange, cherries, nuts, gingersnaps, maltesers and/or condensed milk?
ReplyDeleteWe have the awesomest readers EVER.
Y'know, I don't think it needs anything added to it. It's pretty perfect as it is.
ReplyDeletejust finished my first attempt at this delicious-sounding non-bake cake-thing. it looks like my 3 year old niece made it, but i'm sure it will be scrumptious and charmingly wonky in the morning :)
ReplyDeleteMaking this tonight - can't wait to nom it.
ReplyDeleteMy housemate asked where to get the best fridge cake recently, and I said Pret... now she can make it!
ReplyDeleteAnd give it to me :-)
Thanks for this recipe the mixture is yummy -and compulsively addictive. In my first attempt my mixture didn't bind together completely so I had lots of crumbled mixture when I turned it out (which of course I promptly scoffed!). I think when I try again I will use more chocolate and a bit more syprup to make it bind better. Happily as the first go didn't quite work I was forced to scoff it all rather than share with friends & family oink oink!
ReplyDeleteoff to bake NOW NOW
ReplyDeleteI prefer dark chocolate and in these times of economising, I recommend Tesco "Essential" dark chocolate (i.e. cheap range in blue and white packaging). It is an unbelievable 27p for 100grams with a decent 45% cocoa . Just bouth 6 bars to try this recipe...just in case it goes wrong..
ReplyDeleteMade this with a combo of dark and milk chocolate this time around - worked pretty well but I think I'll try all milk next time.
ReplyDeleteIt's the 250g of biscuits that always gets me...that's a WHOLE PACKET! But you do need that much, you really do ;)
The first time I tried it was with dark chocolate. Wasn't bad, but I much preferred it with milk chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to thank you for this great blog!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
ReplyDeletewe make something similar - per 100 g cheap milk chocolate melted, add 150 g dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, cranberries, dried apricots (diced same size as other fruit), glace cherries halved and 1 weetabix, crumbled. Roll thinly into a baking tray and chill in the fridge before cutting into squares.
ReplyDeleteWe call this "Stuff" because every time i made a batch a friend asked "when are you going to make some more of That Stuff?"
I once made a crazy version that made everyone drunk and hyper just due to the sugar content. I replaced the fruit with those Cadbury Crunchie rocks, and the biscuit part with maltesers and added white chocolate chunks. It was amazing at 20 but I would not recommend mixing it with vast quantities of wine (as we did0 unless you want a weird night.
ReplyDeleteMy mum makes something similar. She uses double cream and some sort of spirit in hers. Yum! Boozy chocolate!
ReplyDeleteJust did a post about this as its one of my favourite recipes so thanks! www.ohmystarryeyed.co.uk
ReplyDelete