Mars Bar Cake

Simple, chocolatey, sticky goodness, with a bit of crunch. The sweet treat that took the humble crispy cake to the next level.

When I was little it was a bowl of rice crispies, or even corn flakes, mixed together with a bit of melted cooking chocolate. Whoever thought of melting mars bars instead of cooking chocolate deserves an award!

This is an easy treat to make and relatively inexpensive, particularly compared to buying in a coffee shop. The recipe below comes in at around £3.50 for the whole batch. Definitely a bake worth making for a bake sale.

The recipe and method is very simple, my top tips are; don't rush the melting of the mars bars, if you have a microwave for melting the chocolate topping use that rather than the bowl over simmering water and, if you want to line your tin with baking paper 'stick' it down with little blobs of margarine in the corners to stop is sliding around as you spread the ingredients.

My final note on the recipe is, if cheaper unbranded versions of Mars Bars and Rice Crispies are available then do buy those. You'll not lose anything of flavour but will save yourself a few pennies.

I make this in an 8 inch square cake tin but you can use any suitable container. The thickness of the slice will vary depending on how large your tray is.

Recipe

12 - 16 servings (depending how large you slice them)

• 200 - 220g Mars Bar (4 full size, or 7 smaller)

• 1 extra Mars Bar for decoration (and eating, you know you'll want to eat some when making it!)

• 80g butter / margarine

• 40g golden syrup (2 tbsp)

• 110g Rice Crispies

• 250g milk chocolate for topping

Directions

1. Slice all but one of the Mars Bars into smallish pieces and place into a pot.

2. Put the pot onto your kitchen scales and weigh in the butter and syrup, then put onto a medium heat on the hob to melt, stirring occasionally.

3. While these melt line your tin with baking paper and slice the final Mars Bar for decorating

   1. Add little dots of margarine underneath the baking paper corners, this will hold it in place when you spread the mixture.

4. Once the ingredients have all melted stir in the rice crispies. Mix well for a few minutes to make sure they are all well coated.

5. Pour out into the tin and spread evenly with the back of a metal spoon. Press firmly but not too hard, you need the mix sticking together but don't want it so compressed its hard to bite through.

6. While this cools, melt the chocolate for the topping. Break the chocolate into pieces and put in a bowl on a low power in the microwave for several minutes, stopping it every 30 seconds or so and stirring.

7. Once its fully melted spread evenly over Mars Bar cake in the tin, then add your slices of Mars Bar for final decoration.

8. Place in the fridge to set for an hour or two. Then remove and slices into pieces.