Maltesers - two in one cake

When you really want something, the universe always conspires in your favor.

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I have somehow managed to look at this photo every day for the past 3 weeks and avoided giving in to baking it. Then, it all started! First my sister revealed her desperate attempts to find a decent refrigerator cake recipe. My friend shared a recipe of maltesers tiffin cake after revealing an obsession with maltesers, and then my child happened to pick up a share bag of maltesers from the array of chocolates at the corner shop. That's it! I had seen enough signs.

You have to thank Forrest Mars for creating this 'lighter way to enjoy chocolate' in 1936. They were initially called 'energy balls' but were soon renamed maltesers. How they are made, is a closely guarded secret, but there are plenty of odd and funny speculations around.

Maltesers-two in one chocolate cake

The base is a plain chocolate cake from the BBC Good Food 2012 calendar but the top layer is my version of the refrigerator cake (or tiffin cake) layer with maltesers, walnuts, digestives and ofcourse chocolate. 

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Ingredients:

Cake layer:

Butter (salted) 175gm

Soft brown sugar 200gm

Eggs (large) 2

Flour (self-raising) 140gm

Cocoa powder 50gm

Malteser layer

Dark chocolate 200gm

Digestive biscuits 75gm (crushed)

Golden syrup 2tbsp

Walnut pieces 50gm

Maltesers 100gm

Method:

For cake: 

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C (160 fan), gas mark 4.
• Grease the base and line a 20cm square tin with parchment paper.
• Melt the butter and allow to cool.
• Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
• Put the mixture in the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes till the skewer comes out just clean.
• Allow to cool completely in the tin. 

For malteser layer: 

• Bash the digestives in a plastic bag to your heart's content.
• Melt the chocolate with golden syrup and butter in a pan over slow heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
• Mix in the crushed digestives and nuts.
• Crush half the maltesers and fold in the chocolate mixture.
• Add the remaining maltesers and give it one final, gentle turn.
• Spread the mixture over the cooled chocolate cake and leave to set in the tin.
• Once completely set, run a palette knife around the edges and gently remove it out if the tin.
• Cut in squares and serve. 

Or pack it in your tiffin for sharing with friends at work.