Dark Chocolate Orange Tiffin (No Bake)

Dark chocolate orange tiffin is a seriously delicious chocolate fridge cake. The flavours of bitter dark chocolate are combined with sweet orange to make the ideal no-bake traybake to enjoy with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee.

I love dark chocolate orange tiffin as I find it far less sweet than one made with milk chocolate. This dark chocolate biscuit cake has been flavoured this time with orange. I have used orange flavoured dark chocolate as well as orange zest in the biscuit base.

Tiffin is one of my favourite Scottish tray bake recipes. It is less baking and more of a crush, melt, mix. Also this chocolate biscuit cake is set in the fridge rather than baked in the oven.

No bake biscuit cakes are quick to prepare, so this chocolate orange traybake recipe is ideal for young children. They can bash up the biscuits, while you melt the chocolate, then it’s back over to the youngsters to mix and press into the tray.

What is chocolate tiffin?

Chocolate tiffin originated in Scotland, where is was created by a bakery in Troon. It is a no bake chocolate traybake that usually contains digestive biscuits, butter, syrup, cocoa powder and dried fruits.

There is no actual baking involved as this is a fridge cake. Once the ingredients are melted together and mixed with crushed biscuits, the chocolate biscuit cake is set in the fridge.

What’s the difference between tiffin and rocky road?

These biscuit cakes are very similar, in that they are no-bake fridge cakes. Biscuits are crushed together to form a biscuit crumb. Butter, syrup, chocolate and cocoa powder are melted together and added to the biscuit crumb to form a biscuit base. Tiffin tends to have less added to it and chocolate melted over the top, giving it a smoother looking texture.

With a rocky road the biscuits aren’t crushed up quite so much and remain in larger chunks of crumb. Also a lot more ingredients are added to the crumb base, including dried cherries, raisins, nuts and mini marshmallows. These additions give a rocky road a far rougher exterior – hence the name rocky road.

Why you’ll love this chocolate orange traybake recipe:

• The perfect no bake traybake as this chocolate biscuit cake is quick and easy to make with the kids.
• Make ahead as this fridge cake can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge.
• The flavour combination of dark chocolate with orange means this chocolate tiffin is not too sweet.
• For Gluten free chocolate tiffin use a gluten free chocolate sandwich biscuit and dark chocolate, just check the labels first.

How to make dark chocolate orange tiffin:

• Line the baking tray with baking parchment, this will stop the tiffin from sticking to the tray and make it easier to remove later.
• Place the bourbon 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.
• Finely grate the orange zest.

• Place 125g of the dark chocolate orange into a glass bowl and add the butter, syrup and orange zest.
• Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and stir until melted together.

• Pour the molten chocolate mixture over the biscuit crumbs and stir until well combined.
• Tip the biscuit mixture into the tray and using the back of a metal spoon spread the mixture across the tray, taking care to even it out and press into the corners.
• Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

• Meanwhile, break up 175g of dark 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 for another 50 minutes to allow the biscuit base and chocolate topping to set hard.
• Once hard remove the tray from the fridge and remove the tiffin from the tray.
• Cut into squares and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Why use a bain marie to melt chocolate?

I like to melt the chocolate over a bain marie (a bowl set over a pan of boiling water) as this stops the chocolate from burning and splitting. Just add enough water to heat, but not touch, the bottom of the bowl. Also ensure you don’t allow any of the water into the bowl as the chocolate will seize and become grainy.

Recipe ingredients & substitutions:

• Bourbon Biscuits – are my biscuit of choice as they have great chocolately flavour and a hard texture which works perfectly in this no bake biscuit cake. You could also use Oreo cookies, or any other chocolate flavoured sandwich biscuit.
• Dark Chocolate – I have used used a combination of chocolate bars to make this tiffin. Firstly dark chocolate & orange bars for the actual biscuit part of the bars. Then 70% dark chocolate for the chocolate topping as I like the bitter chocolate. I find using chocolate and orange for the top makes the bars a little too sweet for my liking. However, it is entirely down to taste and if you want to use only dark chocolate and orange bars that’s absolutely fine too. You could also swap the dark chocolate for milk chocolate, but that’s a little too sweet for me.
• Butter – helps the tiffin to set. I have used unsalted butter 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.
• Orange Zest – the freshly grated zest of an orange adds real depth of orange flavour to the biscuit base. I’ve added 1 orange but you could easily add 2 if you prefer a really intense flavor.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake flavour variations:

This no bake traybake can be easily added to and adapted to suit what you enjoy eating. Here are some ideas of ingredients that can be added to the biscuit base:

• 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 smarties, maltesers, crushed up honeycomb

Can I make ahead Dark Chocolate Orange Tiffin?

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 bourbon 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. Line the baking tray with baking parchment as this makes removing the set chocolate tiffin a whole lot easier.
3. Use a sharp knife to cut the tiffin into squares as a sharp knife will stop the top layer of chocolate from cracking.
4. 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.
5. Make extra to freeze, double up the recipe and enjoy some now and freeze the rest for later.
6. 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. Worth noting the Terry’s Chocolate Orange is no gluten free (thanks to Rebecca at Glutarama for this tip).
7. 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:

If you like this no bake traybake recipe then try some of our other great recipes:

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

If you enjoy baking yourself, or want to try baking with your own children or grandchildren, then have a read of our Ultimate Guide to Baking with Kids. This useful guide is full of helpful hints and tips as well as many recipes to get you started.