Chocolate Refrigerator Cake.

In the name of research I have made this refrigerator cake fifteen times last month, each time tweaking the ingredients slightly to get it right.  With four children and a chocoholic husband taste tests are simple to organise. This recipe came top and once you have the ingredients prepared, this it takes five minutes to prepare. Just think about that. You can literally make this in the ad breaks and fling it into the fridge. 

This is not a cake for the school lunchbox, it may melt and make teachers cross. But it is ideal for when the children come home. Better still, when the kids are in bed, this is perfect at night for the grown ups with a coffee. It will stay in the fridge for a week and requires so little effort that it demands to be made. Go on, you know you want to....

Ingredients:

10 oz  (300g) chocolate (half milk, half plain)
3 1/2 oz (100g) butter
2 oz (50g) golden syrup
4 oz (115g) (ready to eat) prunes chopped into tiny pieces
6 oz (170g) sultanas
3 oz (75g) pecans roughly chopped
7 oz (200g) shortbread (broken into small chunks)

You will need a lined 2lb loaf tin, twice lined with cling film. 


Method:

Put the sultanas, chopped prunes, broken biscuits and nuts into a large bowl and mix together well. 

Put the butter and chocolate in a bowl and into the microwave until melted. I do mine in 30 second bursts. Take out when melted, mix with fork and add syrup. 

Add the syrupy chocolatey buttery mix to the large bowl of dry ingredients and stir well.

Place into the lined loaf tin and refrigerate for at least three hours. Cut into slices and tuck in. 

Refrigerator Cake top tips: 

• I use half milk and half plain chocolate but the ratio is entirely up to you. You might like to use all plain if you like a bitter taste. If you prefer to make it with milk chocolate alone, you will have a much sweeter finish.  
• Please don't freak out about the addition of prunes. You can't see them but they do add a juiciness that is missed without them. Likewise the sultanas. 
• I have used pecan nuts but walnuts or pistachios also work well. 
• I used Scottish shortbread fingers but also tested the recipe using Malted Milk, Digestives and Gingernuts. All work well and are delicious. 
• Yes, this cake is a calorie catastrophe but think of all that fruit you are getting. Personally I think that a slice of this counts as one piece of your 'Five A Day'.