Recipe: Chocolate refrigerator cake

It seems fitting that the first recipe on this blog should be one of the first things that I ever learned to cook. Actually, ‘cook’ isn’t quite the right word, as this doesn’t require any cooking at all, apart from melting some chocolate and butter.

I only recently learned that this cake is known by another name. I took some along to a friend’s house party and was told that it was “great tiffin”. I think my response was “Pardon?” I don’t really mind what people call it, but to me it will always be “chocolate refrigerator cake”. It was a firm favourite in our house when I was growing up, and my sisters and I often used to make it with our mum.

The simplicity, potential for mess-making and enjoyable amount of biscuit-bashing make this a perfect recipe for children (or childish adults) to make.

Tips

• You can use other ingredients in addition to or instead of raisins or sultanas. Some suggestions are: dried apricots, dried cherries, dried cranberries, fudge, hazelnuts, honeycomb, marshmallows, pecans, walnuts…the list goes on.
• If you fancy varying the recipe, use another type of biscuit in addition to or instead of the digestives. Ginger biscuits and shortbread both work well.
• If you’ve got a cheap spoon to spare, bend it so that the ‘bowl’ of the spoon is at right angles to the handle. It makes an excellent tool for pressing mixtures into the corners of containers.
• If you haven’t got time to leave the cake on the side to warm up before cutting it, a sharp knife dipped in boiling water should do the trick.

CHOCOLATE REFRIGERATOR CAKE

Takes: 25 minutes to prepare, 3+ hours chilling time

Makes: 20-25 pieces

Ingredients:

• 400g packet of digestive biscuits
• 100g raisins or sultanas
• 200g good-quality chocolate (plain, milk or a mixture of the two), broken into chunks
• 175g unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp golden syrup

Method:

1. Line a shallow tin (roughly 20x20cm, or the rectangular equivalent) with one or two layers of cling-film, letting it overhang the edges slightly.
2. Crush the biscuits by sealing them in a strong freezer bag and bashing with a rolling pin. Do not bash them into a powder – they should be in small chunks. Place the crushed biscuits in a large mixing bowl and break up any remaining large pieces with your fingers.
3. Add the raisins/sultanas to the bowl.
4. Melt the chocolate, butter and syrup in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water. Alternatively, melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave on a low heat, stirring occasionally, and then mix in the syrup.
5. Pour the chocolate mixture over the biscuit and raisin mixture, and mix well.
6. Put the mixture into the pre-lined tin. Level the top and press down very firmly with the back of a spoon, making sure that the mixture gets into the corners.
7. Cover the tin with clingfilm and put into the fridge for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
8. When the cake is fully chilled, remove the tin from the fridge and leave it on the side to warm up for 30 minutes to an hour.
9. Turn the cake out onto a chopping board and peel away the cling-film, then cut the cake into pieces using a sharp knife.
10. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.