At any time you care to name, there can be at least five of these chocolate biscuit slab cakes under our roof. As odd as that sounds, it is the plain truth, and if you would like this to be your reality, read further.
Once upon a time we had a dishwasher. Alas, on one dark and stormy night, to my horror it leaked everywhere and was certified beyond repair. My greatest fear was that we would never survive the interval of time that would elapse whilst a replacement was sourced and installed. It may be, that we would have to (gulp) wash dishes. In the kitchen sink. By hand.
As today’s therapists will purport, exposure therapy is the most effective treatment for eradicating irrational fear. Accordingly, we exposed ourselves to dirty crockery, soapy liquid and hot water and within a week I realised that not only did we survive without a dishwasher, life had become less complicated. Suddenly there was nothing to unpack, load or maintain. Our dishes were always ready to use, not backed-up waiting for a ”full load” and plunging hands into warm water whilst gazing into the garden through the kitchen window, was indeed pleasant. So the decision was made, family life would continue on without a dishwasher.
A simple enough solution but now, what to do about the gaping underbench void left by the departed.
Well this is what I did – I created a stockpile storage solution or as the children affectionately term it, the ”Doomsday Preppers Cupboard”. I simply fit out the space with an Ikea storage drawer system and concealed it with a pull across curtain. These drawers are filled with wonderful supermarket buys. Multiple purchases of nuts, canned food, pasta, dried fruit, cereals, and other assorted weekly staples, when the prices are really low. Having a healthy supply of all of the essentials without the pantry clutter is an effective way to operate in the kitchen.
A stockpile to draw upon not only saves a considerable amount of money spent on the yearly grocery bill but enables you to pull together a Chocolate Biscuit Refrigerator cake at a moment’s notice. All of the ingredients for this recipe can be plucked from the stockpile, with the exception of eggs and butter, which are basics I always have on hand.
150g butter
100g golden syrup
200g dark chocolate ,chopped
1 beaten egg 350g plain sweet biscuits (Marie, Milk Coffee, Digestives etc), broken into chunks
60g walnuts
60g sultanas
100g glacé cherries
75g pecan nuts
- Line a square or rectangle baking tin with baking paper.
- Melt the butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Add the chocolate, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and stir until the chocolate has melted.
- Gradually add the beaten egg and continue to stir until the mixture has thickened a little.
- Remove from the heat.
- Combine biscuits, walnuts, sultanas and half the glacé cherries in a bowl. Pour the hot chocolate mix over this dry blend and mix together.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, pressing it down firmly.
- Put the pecan nuts in the bowl that contained the chocolate mixture and stir them around to coat them in the chocolate.
- Scatter the pecans and the remaining glace cherries over the cake,
- Refrigerate for three hours or until set, then cut into slices of the desired length,
Wash up your dishes – by hand.
Postscript: Not only will your stockpile hold the constituents of a Chocolate Biscuit Refrigerator cake, but also the foundations of most week night family meals.
Plain and Simple 
Hi Judith
I love the story as well as the receipe.
Hope you are all doing well as we are and looking forward to our dinner catch up in a week or two.
Cheers, Fiona
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Thanks Fiona – it will be great to catch up again!
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