Chocolate Tiffin – Chocolate Refrigerator Cake

Today’s recipe is for a Chocolate Tiffin, which could also be called a Chocolate Refrigerator Cake. It is a very simple recipe and doesn’t actually require any baking.  But it does need some ingredients to be melted.

Tiffin is actually a word that was coined in the days of the British Empire, when the British in India used to have a snack which they called Tiffin.  Indeed, in India the word Tiffin is still used to refer to lunch, though it is usually savoury.

For this recipe I have used digestive biscuits, though Graham crackers would be fine too, or even Rich Tea biscuits.  I have also included raisins, sultanas and roughly chopped hazelnuts which give additional flavours and different textures too.  The ingredients are all mixed together and pressed into a cake tin(or a baking sheet) and then topped with more melted chocolate.  It is refrigerated to let it set and is best kept in the fridge until required.

I lined my cake tin with plastic wrap, after greasing the tin, to make it easy to remove the tiffin, but I think parchment paper would have worked better, so for the recipe below I say parchment paper.

Very simple to make this is a lovely treat at any time. I could easily have eaten quite a lot, except that I am on a diet so only had a small taste for the purposes of the video.

 Chocolate Tiffin/Chocolate Refrigerator Cake – Video

Ingredients:

• 150g/5 1/4 oz milk chocolate pieces
• 250g/9 oz digestive biscuits(or graham crackers)
• 150g/5 1/4 oz dark chocolate pieces
• 125g/4 1/2 oz golden syrup(or corn syrup)
• 100g/3 1/2 oz butter
• 100g/3 1/2 oz sultana and raisins
• 100g/3 1/2 oz roughly chopped hazelnuts

For the top:

• 100g/3 1/2 oz milk chocolate
• 100/3 1/2 oz dark chocolate

Method:

1. Grease a 9 inch square cake tin(8 inch square would be fine).
2. Line the tin with parchment paper
3. Place the biscuits into a large ziplock back and close.
4. Break the biscuits, in the bag, into small pieces, so there are crumbs and lots of small chunks.
5. Place the butter, golden syrup, milk chocolate and dark chocolate into a saucepan and gently heat until melted, stirring occasionally to make sure it is all mixed together.
6. Set aside to cool a little.
7. Place the biscuits, sultanas, raisins and hazelnuts into a large bowl, and mix together.
8. Pour the melted mixture over the top and mix together until all is combined.
9. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and spread evenly across the base, pressing down to make it level.
10. In a bain marie/double boiler place the milk chocoate and the dark chocolate side by side and allow the water in the pan to simmer until the chcolate is all melted(you can mix together but I left mine alone to get a marbled effect later).
11. Spoon blobs of the melted dark chocolate onto the top of the tiffin, then spoon blobs of the melted milk chocolate in different places.
12. Gently spread the chocolate all over the top to achieve a marbled effect.
13. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour and for as long as it takes to let the tiffin set completely.
14. Remove from the tin and cut into 16 pieces to serve.