easy chocolate tiffin recipe (no bake)

My Easy Chocolate Tiffin Recipe is a traditional Scottish recipe that I have been using for years. This chocolate tiffin traybake is quick to prepare and ideal for a day’s baking with children. No actual baking required, more of a crush, melt, stir and chill.

I’ve tried many variations of chocolate tiffin (or chocolate fridge cake as it’s sometimes known) over the years, but this no-bake chocolate traybake recipe from my childhood remains my favourite. I like to add cocoa powder to the mix. The cocoa powder is bitter balances the biscuit so it’s not too sweet!

This digestive traybake is one of my favourite traditional Scottish tray bake recipes. It is made by crushing Digestive biscuits and melting together butter, syrup, milk chocolate and cocoa powder. The molten chocolate is then added to the crushed biscuits and the whole thing is set in the fridge.

Chocolate tiffin traybake is something I’ve made for years, firstly with my Mum, these days with my own children. This is an easy no-bake traybake and a great place to start if you want to have some fun with your children or grandchildren in the kitchen.

If you’re a fan of this classic chocolate fridge cake, try my Dark Chocolate Orange Tiffin or Dark Chocolate & Ginger Tiffin where I use dark chocolate, rather than milk, which cuts down on the sweetness.

My Chocolate Mincemeat Tiffin is one of my favorite ways to use up a jar of mincemeat leftover from Christmas.

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• The perfect no bake traybake as this chocolate biscuit cake is quick and easy to make and uses ingredients most of you will have in your stores at home.
• Digestive traybake is a great first solo bake for kids who want to make something on their own.
• Make ahead as this fridge cake can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge.
• For Gluten Free chocolate tiffin use a gluten free digestive biscuit and check the label on the milk chocolate to ensure it is gluten free too.

How to make Chocolate Tiffin Traybake:

• Line the baking tray with baking parchment.
• Place the digestive biscuits into a large plastic bag, seal and bash up to a crumb using a rolling pin.
• Empty the crumbs into a large mixing bowl.

• Place 200g of the milk chocolate into a glass bowl and add the butter, syrup and cocoa powder.
• Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and stir until melted together.

• Pour the chocolate mixture over the digestive crumbs and stir until well combined.

• Tip the digestive traybake mixture into the tray and using the back of a metal spoon spread the mixture, taking care to even it out and press into the corners.
• Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

• Meanwhile, break up the remaining 200g milk chocolate into a clean bowl and place over a pan of boiling water, stir until melted.
• Remove the biscuit tin from the refrigerator and pour over the melted chocolate.
• Return to the fridge until the chocolate has solidified before removing and cutting into squares.
• Once set, remove the tray from the fridge and the tiffin from the tray.
• Cut the tiffin into 18 even sized biscuits, place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

Chocolate tiffin recipe ingredients & substitutions:

• Digestive Biscuits – are my biscuit of choice as they have great flavour and a hard texture which works perfectly in this no bake digestive traybake. You could substitute Graham’s crackers or use a Gluten free digestive biscuit if making a gluten free chocolate tiffin.
• Milk Chocolate – is used here, but you can use any flavour of chocolate in this tiffin. Dark chocolate works a treat but you could also use flavoured chocolate, for example orange or mint flavoured chocolate.
• Butter – I have used unsalted but you could also use regular butter. Do not be tempted to use margarine or butter blends as your biscuit simply won’t set properly.
• Golden Syrup – adds the sweetness, you could also use agave syrup or maple syrup if you prefer.
• Cocoa Powder – adds depth of chocolate flavour as well as bitterness to help balance out the other sweet flavours in this chocolate biscuit cake.

Flavour variations:

This no bake traybake can be easily added to and adapted to suit what you enjoy eating. For example dried fruits and nuts can be added to the biscuit base. Simply add them to the dry ingredients before you mix through the wet ingredients.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Dried fruits – glace cherries, raisins, sultanas, cranberries, blueberries, apricots
• Crushed nuts – almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, macadamias
• Biscuits – digestive biscuits, Graham’s crackers, ginger nuts, biscoff biscuits, shortbread
• Flavours – chocolate orange tiffin, chocolate mint tiffin, chocolate aero tiffin
• Decorate your chocolate tiffin – make chocolate tiffin with mini eggs or decorate with Terry’s chocolate orange pieces, smarties, maltesers, crushed up honeycomb.

TOP TIP: If you decide to add extra sweetness I would recommend increasing the cocoa powder a little to stop the whole biscuit becoming too sweet. You might also find you’ve to add a little more butter to get the mixture to stick together.

How to store Easy Chocolate Tiffin Traybake?

Chocolate tiffin fridge cake is a great no bake traybake that can be stored in the fridge or freezer.

• Fridge: once you have made the tiffin, place it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
• Freezer: cut the tiffin into portions, then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Useful hints and tips:

1. The easiest way to crush the digestive biscuits is to place them into a plastic freezer bag, seal the top, then use a rolling pin to break them up. You can make the crumb as fine or as coarse as you want. I always opt for a fine crumb.#
2. If you want to reduce the sweetness use a 50:50 split of milk and dark chocolate in both the biscuit base and in the chocolate topping. The dark chocolate balances out the sweetness of the biscuit.
3. Line the baking tray with baking parchment as this makes removing the set chocolate tiffin a whole lot easier.
4. Use a sharp knife to cut the tiffin into squares as a sharp knife will stop the top layer of chocolate from cracking.
5. When layering tiffin into the storage container, I like to place a sheet of baking parchment between each layer of biscuit to stop the tiffin from sticking to each other.
6. Make extra to freeze, double up the recipe and enjoy some now and freeze the rest for later.
7. To make gluten free tiffin ensure that the biscuits and chocolate that you are using is gluten free, just check the labeling before you buy.
8. Allergy advice: egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions:

For other ideas for simple bakes try some of these ideas:

• No-bake Mars Bar Slices
• Dark Chocolate Orange Tiffin
• Chocolate Mincemeat Tiffin
• Dark Chocolate & Ginger Tiffin
• Custard Creams
• Chocolate & Hazelnut Cookies
• Lemon Butter Biscuits
• Orange Butter Biscuits
• Chocolate & Pecan Brownies
• Tweed Squares
• Easy Bake Melting Moments

If, like us, you enjoyed baking then take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Baking with Kids, full of great recipe suggestions, hints and tips for baking with children.