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Dime/Daim Bar Cake

This is not so much a cake as a shortbread base with a sweet dairy topping. It serves many people and ideal as a party food. This recipe produces 20 servings.

Ingredients

  • 250g of softened butter or margarine
  • 150g granulated sugar
  • 450g plain flour
  • 500ml double (whipping) cream
  • 250g Dime/Daim bars

Equipment

  • Baking tray (25cm x 35cm approx)
  • Grease proof paper (optional) cut to fit the baking tray
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Sieve
  • Rolling pin
  • Fork
  • Fan assisted oven (if not fan assisted, adjust cooking times accordingly)
  • Disposable food bag (e.g. a freezer bag)
  • Food mallet
  • Refrigerator
  • Whisk
  • Spatula

Instructions

1. Lightly grease or lay grease proof paper in the baking tray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter/margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Sieve the flour into the mixing bowl. Mix everything together until a soft dough is formed.

4. Put the dough on centre of the the grease proof paper (or on a floured surface). Roll out the dough to roughly fit the baking tray. Place in the baking tray and push out to the sides to fill the tray.

5. Prick the surface of the dough evenly several times with a fork. Place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 160°C for approx 30 minutes until the shortbread is crisp and golden in colour.

Daim Bar Cake

6. Allow the shortbread time to cool naturally for about an hour or so. Do not refrigerate.

7. Unwrap the Dime/Daim bars and place in a food bag. Use the mallet to smash the Dime/Daim bars into small pieces of varying sizes (no more than about 1cm?;)

8. Pour the double (whipping) cream into a (new/cleaned) mixing bowl and whisk until the mix starts to firm up.

9. Add the smashed up Dime/Daim bars to the cream and mix together.

10. Using a spatula spread the cream mix over the shortbread base.

Daim Bar Cake

11. Place the baking tray in a refrigerator and allow to cool.

When ready to serve cut into rectangles of the desired size. You should expect to get about 20 pieces from the tray (4 x 5 grid)

Granny's Shortbread

By request from Betsy Weber, I’m revealing my granny’s shortbread recipe (with permission).

Ingredients

  • 200g plain flour
  • 100g Butter
  • 50g Castor Sugar (called superfine sugar in the US)

Method

  • Mix the flour and sugar together
  • Cut the butter in to pieces.
  • Using fingertips rub it into the mixture until evenly distributed (almost like bread crumbs)
  • Knead the mixture together into a soft but not sticky dough.
  • Divide the mixture and shape into rounds (about 1cm thick).
  • Place rounds on greased baking tray(s)
  • Bake at gas mark 3 / 325°F / 160°C for about 45 minutes until the shortbread is a pale golden colour.
  • Cool before storing in an air-tight container

Variations

Instead of rounds, the mix can be spread out over a rectangular tray and cut in to fingers after baking, but before cooling.

I should also note that following the recipe above will not give the same results as the 8 decades worth of expertise in lovingly baking shortbread that my granny has. As a child the first thing I asked for when visiting was always: Did you make any shortbread?

Chocolate Crunch Cake

One of my favourite sweet foods: Chocolate Crunch Cake

I used to make this as a child and I only just rediscovered the recipe

Basic Ingredients:

  • 400ml sweetend condensed milk
  • 100g butter or margarine
  • 200g plain cooking chocolate
  • 200g milk or white chocolate
  • 300g Rich Tea Biscuits

Instructions:

  • Slowly Melt the milk, butter and chocolate in a non-stick pan on a low heat.
  • Crush the biscuits roughly (so there are various sizes of chunks) into the pan
  • Mix until the chocolate mix covers the crushed biscuits
  • Pour into the flat baking tray (lining the tray with grease proof paper will help get the set mix out later)
  • Allow to cool then refrigerate for an hour or two. This is the base
  • Slowly melt the milk or white chocolate then pour over the base and return to the fridge.
  • Once the chocolate has hardened it can be cut into squares and served.

Variations:

You can add a handful of rasins (or other small dried fruit), crushed nuts (unsalted) or seeds to the mix at the same time as adding the biscuits.

Reducing the quanity of butter will make the mix more solid, so it sets quicker, but it become harder to spread evenly in the flat mixing tray. Increasing the amount of butter will make the mix easier to spread out in to the tray, but it will make it more difficult to set.

It is possible to use benecol butter (the one suitable for baking – not all are), light rich tea biscuits and lite condensed milk for a slightly healthier version.

If you have an exceptionally sweet tooth milk chocolate can be used for the base, but it will be very sweet.

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