Basic No-Bake Kitchen Sink Cake

When I’ve no time to bake, this is my fall back quick recipe. No need to heat an oven, it takes 20 minutes start to finish plus chilling time and the basic mixture can be changed to suit your store cupboard ingredients.

Not everybody likes baking, and I often get asked for recipes for a special occasion that don’t involve too much effort. The Kitchen Sink Cake is a great example of a cake that can be lashed together in very quick time, keeps well in the fridge for up to 10 days, and keeps well in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Once you master the basic recipe, you can add any ingredients you like. Today I added Crisped Rice, Sultanas and Rich Tea Biscuits. That was what I had in the cupboard. You could throw the kitchen sink at it and add any sweet or slightly savoury ingredients that you have hanging around. Favourites of ours is to include (but aren’t limited to):

• marshmallows
• nuts
• seeds
• crushed digestive biscuits
• M&M’s
• Maltesers
• pieces of chocolate
• sweets
• meringue pieces
• desiccated coconut

You can add essences or extracts to change the overall flavour such as mint, vanilla or orange.

You could press the cake mixture into any shaped tin lined with cling film and chill. Or do as I do and press it into a tray lined with cling film before slicing into bars.

WARNING: This is sweet, very sweet and should be eaten in small portions. Probably best not to give it to the kids before bedtime. Ahem.

I call it the “Kitchen Sink Cake” because basically everything goes into it, apart from the kitchen sink!

This recipe makes a full baking/cookie tray of bars which when cut up will give you approximately 24 portions.

Ingredients

• 150g Butter
• 100g Caster Sugar (although if you’re stuck, normal sugar will do just fine)
• 50g Golden Syrup
• 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
• 300g of any filling combination of your choice (see above)

Method

Take a large, wide bottomed stainless steel saucepan with a sturdy handle, fill it with all the ingredients apart from the fillings. That means the first 4 items on the ingredients list above. Place on a medium heat on your hob.

Heat the ingredients until the sugar dissolves completely and you have a runny (hot syrup). Once dissolved, turn off the heat and pour in your fillings. Stir into the syrup until they are completely coated.

Press the mixture into your chosen container, make sure it is coated with cling film first though.

Chill for at least 1 hour before cutting.