← Nouns Cooking · Bakery

Ingredients

• 115 g unsalted butter
• 50 g caster sugar
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 200 g digestive biscuits or graham crackers, crushed to fine crumbs
• 80 g Desiccated coconut
• 50 g walnuts or almonds, finely chopped
• 100 g unsalted butter, soft
• 3 tbsp Custard powder
• 3 tbsp double cream or milk
• 250 g Icing sugar
• 150 g dark chocolate
• 25 g Butter

Method

1. Line a 20 cm square tin with baking paper. Put the butter, sugar and cocoa in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted.
2. Whisk in the beaten egg and keep stirring for 2–3 min until the mixture thickens slightly and the egg is cooked. Take off the heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs, coconut and nuts.
3. Press firmly into the tin in an even layer and chill for 15 min.
4. Beat the soft butter with the custard powder and cream, then gradually beat in the icing sugar until thick, smooth and pale yellow. Spread it over the base and chill for 30 min until firm.
5. Melt the chocolate and butter together, let it cool for 5 min so it doesn’t melt the custard, then spread it over the top. Chill for 1 hour until set.
6. Let the slab sit at room temperature for 10 min, then cut into 16 squares with a hot, dry knife.

Tips

• Contains tree nuts (walnuts or almonds) and egg.
• Custard powder gives the classic yellow middle; in Canada, instant vanilla pudding mix is often used instead.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

King Arthur Baking BBC Good Food Joy of Baking