This no-bake sweet treat is fun for all the family to help make – and eat! Try our easy fridge cake recipe, then mix things up with some easy flavour adaptations
Fancy a sweet treat to make with the family? Fridge cake – a moreish combination of crushed biscuits, marshmallows, chocolatey treats and whatever else you fancy – is just the thing. Try our recipe below, inspired by the classic M&S walnut whips. Pick up everything you need to make it in store.
Ingredients
150g plain or chocolate digestives
150g unsalted butter or margarine
200g milk or dark chocolate
100g marshmallows, chopped, plus 15g to decorate, chopped
120g mini whips or walnut whips, chopped into small pieces
50g dried fruit/raisins (optional)
Method
1. Grease and line a large baking tin with baking paper.
2. Place the digestives in a freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin until they’re broken into a mixture of smaller pieces, with none bigger than a 10p piece. Set aside.
3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter or margarine and the chocolate over a low heat – keep stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
4. Stir the crushed biscuits, most of the marshmallows, ⅔ of the chopped mini whips or walnut whips, and the dried fruit, if using, into the chocolate mixture until all your stir-ins are coated.
5. Tip the mixture into the lined baking tin and spread it out into the corners. Decorate with your remaining marshmallow pieces and chopped up walnut whips, pressing lightly into the mixture. Chill for at least 2 hours, then cut into fingers.
Once you’ve mastered the basic technique, you can try adding all sorts of different flavour combinations to your fridge cake, using up whatever you have in the cupboard. Give these ideas a go:
Give your fridge cake a toffee popcorn twist with this easy recipe from food editor Heather.
Ingredients
100g milk chocolate with honeycomb pieces
100g dark chocolate
150g unsalted butter
150g chocolate digestives, crushed into pieces with a rolling pin
60g M&S toffee popcorn, chopped
60g M&S chocolate covered honeycomb, roughly chopped
50g marshmallows, chopped
50g white chocolate
Method
1. Grease and line a baking dish. In a large saucepan, melt together the milk chocolate with honeycomb pieces, the dark chocolate, and the butter, until smooth and glossy. Stir in the biscuits, toffee popcorn, chocolate-covered honeycomb and the marshmallows, reserving a few marshmallows to decorate.
2. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin. Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Decorate the top of the fridge cake with the remaining marshmallows and a drizzle of white chocolate.
3. Leave in the fridge to set for at least two hours before slicing and digging in.
Top tip: dip your knife into boiling water then wipe dry before slicing your fridge cake, for a clean finish.
Is peanut butter and jam your favourite toast topper? Then try deputy food editor Olivia’s delicious fridge cake, which is inspired by this killer combo and features our raspberry jaffa cakes and irresistible peanut butter and caramel chunkies.
Ingredients
150g unsalted butter
100g milk chocolate
100g dark chocolate
50g plain digestives, crushed into pieces with a rolling pin
50g marshmallows, chopped
100g raspberry jaffa cakes, broken into pieces
130g chocolate-covered peanut butter and caramel chunkies, chopped into pieces
100g chocolate peanuts, chopped
Sapphire raspberries to decorate, halved lengthways
Method
1. Grease and line a large baking tin with baking paper.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter and both chocolates over a low heat – keep stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Stir all of the crushed biscuits and marshmallows into the chocolate mix. Next add most of the raspberry jaffa cakes, peanut butter and caramel chunkies, and chocolate peanuts, setting some of each aside to decorate
4. Tip the mixture into the lined baking tin and spread it out into the corners. Decorate with your remaining jaffa cake pieces, peanut butter and caramel chunkies, chocolate peanuts and the Sapphire raspberries, pressing lightly into the mixture. Chill for at least 2 hours, then cut into fingers.