No Cook Chocolate Cake

This recipe originally comes from a book called 'The St Michael All Colour Freezer Cookery Book'.  It was published in 1983 and the introduction gives quite an interesting and amusing insight into who cookery books were written for at that time and the view of women in general.  It includes advice such as:

'For the woman who goes out to work, saving time is probably more important than tight budgeting'

It would obviously not have occurred to anyone writing a cookbook at that time that men might be reading it or that men might be the one making the meals at home.  I also think it is quite a bizarre idea that just because you go out to work means that budgeting is not an issue anymore.  I work full time but always have budget in mind when planning meals and I know my Mum was exactly the same.

Anyway despite the old fashioned way this book is written, it actually has a lot of brilliant recipes in it and this is based on one of them called Italian Uncooked Chocolate Cake.  It is suitable for freezing (as are all the recipes in the book) but so far it has not lasted long enough in my house for there to be any need to freeze it!

Speaking of freezing, the book has a section in the back where you can fill in what you have in the freezer on a monthly basis to ensure you do not keep things for too long.  When I was looking through the book I found this section completed in my sister, Mel's handwriting - so I can now tell you that in my Mum's freezer in 1989 there was (amongst many other things) 15 profiteroles, 1 toffee shortcake and 50 viennese biscuits - sounds to me like 1989 was a pretty good year for catering in my house!!!

150 grams of butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of golden syrup
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
250 grams of digestive biscuits
25 grams of ground almonds
10 ml of coffee (made with boiling water and half a teaspoon of instant coffee powder)
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
200 grams of dark chocolate


Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy - this is easiest with an electronic whisk.

Place the syrup in the saucepan and warm gently over a low heat.

Put the digestives in a bag and bash them with a rolling pin until finely crushed.

 Add the syrup, digestives, almonds, coca powder, coffee and vanilla essence to the butter and sugar.

Mix well until combined then put in a lined tin.

Melt the chocolate and pour over the top and spread evenly.

Put in the fridge for a few hours.

Slice and serve but keep some hidden if you want this to last longer than a few hours!