Full of nuts, fruit, biscuits and candy or whatever you feel might work; an easy no-bake chocolate cake recipe also known as fridge cake or biscuit cake throughout the United Kingdom.

It is a variant of ‘Salame al Cioccolato’, and Italian dessert traditionally made with biscuits and shaped into a log, like salami, and sliced just before serving.

Chop, melt, mix and press !  It is as easy as that folks.

NO-BAKE JEWELED CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE

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8-to-10 oz ‘petit beurre’ butter tea biscuits, broken into pieces
8 oz Lokum [Turkish delight, loukoumi], quartered
2 oz candied orange peel, medium diced
2 oz dried cranberries
3 oz roasted unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped
3 oz pistachio kernels

* You can use any candied or dried fruit, fruit roll-ups, hazelnuts, mini marshmallows, roasted unsalted pumpkin seeds, Maltesers, rice cereal or cornflakes. Dried fruit can be soaked in port, wine or liqueur if you prefer a non-chewy texture; just make sure to thoroughly dry them.

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon Lyle’s Golden syrup
14 oz dark chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons dark rum, Cointreau or Amaretto liqueur

* You can use any liqueur, or depending on what mix-ins you add, use one teaspoon of extract or even chili pepper flakes or espresso powder to spice things up.

Icing sugar, cocoa powder or thinned chocolate ganache

Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper, non-stick foil or plastic wrap. You can use either a round springform pan or a loaf pan for a cake, a 9”x13” pan for one-inch cut square confections or roll the mixture into a log and slice or shape into any form you like.

Combine the first six ingredients into a large bowl; set aside.

Using the lowest setting on your stove, heat heavy cream and syrup in a heavy bottomed pan until steamy then add in chocolate pieces. Stir to melt until mixture is smooth. Add butter; stir to combine. Turn off heat and mix in liqueur (or extract/spices). Set aside a couple of minutes until slightly cool; you still want the chocolate to be manageable.

Combine chocolate mixture with dry ingredients in bowl, then firmly press into prepared pan or shape as desired. Chill until completely cold and firm.

Just before serving, sift on icing sugar or cocoa powder, or drizzle/cover with chocolate ganache.

* For a tri-color layer cake or bars, use dark, milk and white chocolate for each layer.

photos © Christine Bedrossian for atelierchristine.com