October 2015 – BakedByH

These are a family favourite; I think they have a place in every family actually! If your family doesn’t have a variation, then you need to introduce them to these! My mum and auntie have been making these for as long as I can remember. There’s one memory that stands out in particular, my auntie had made a batch for us to take to Legoland some 14 or 15 years ago?! I think that might have been where my love affair with mars bar rice krispie bars started. I just remember sticky hands, a sticky face and wet wipes. Multiple wet wipes. Sigh. Good times.

Anyway, these require three very accessible ingredients. They’re also really customisable. You don’t have to make it in a square tin, you could make it in a round tin and serve it as a simple 20-minute birthday cake. Or you could do what I’ve done and be super extra with the toppings. I felt these had a Halloween vibe to them, with the neon rainbow drops (another blast from the past) and bright sprinkles. You could, of course, leave them completely plain and still watch them get devoured. It’s completely up to you.

They require a couple of hours in the fridge to firm up a bit but it’s no big deal. No need for overnight and mine had actually set within an hour! Considering you literally melt mars bars, butter and add some rice krispies, I’m not entirely sure it qualifies as ‘baking’ but you know, semantics.

“The blog is looking a bit sparse these days?” This has been the statement of many of my concerned readers recently, in response to my blogging hiatus. I can only apologise; I don’t really have a legitimate reason for the break, I’ve just been adjusting to life and finding my feet again after the summer! Thank you all for your emails and messages anyway – I’ll try to keep on top of things! It might be tough though, third year has started and we’ve all moved back on campus to be “closer to the library…” Blogging in halls kitchens is about 10x more difficult than blogging at home! But honestly, I’ll try! I still bake pretty often, which is good because it means that when I do finally get round to blogging the recipes, they will be finessed to perfection (erm, hopefully).

It seems I was clutching on to the last straws of summer with this light and flavourful cake, but it was decadent enough for autumn and the greek yoghurt lends a fudgy texture to the sponge. I love baking with greek yoghurt so much – cakes are never too sweet and they are always really moist! Greek yoghurt and honey is a classic combo and shouldn’t really be messed with, so I didn’t even try! The frosting is extremely light and buttery, flavoured with vanilla seeds and honey. It complemented the cake well. Topping this cake with fresh figs or berries would be delightful, but unfortunately I didn’t have any to hand.