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Viennese square

April 5, 2020

(aka English Fridge Cake)

This dessert is known in my house as Viennese Square, which is what my mom has always called it.

My mom’s handwritten recipe book from when she was a teenager. (See Viennese Biscuit Cake at bottom right.)

I have no idea where this “Viennese” notion came from, because I couldn’t find any search results for “Viennese square” dessert. Turns out this isn’t a Viennese creation at all, but a British one.

Looking at the ingredients—digestive biscuits and golden syrup—this should have been obvious. It’s also the Queen’s favorite afternoon tea cake; what could be more English?[1]

It tastes like a crumbly fudgy cookie-brownie combination, or an extra-thick bar of crust from an Oreo cheesecake, and it’s super easy and no-bake! Unfortunately it’s not at all healthy, but you can’t have everything.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz butter
  • 4½ oz semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup (or high-fructose corn syrup)
  • 8 oz digestive biscuits[2]

Steps

  1. Crush digestive biscuits into crumbs. (Put them in a zip-lock plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin, or use a food processor.)
  2. Melt butter, chocolate, and syrup in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently to mix and prevent burning.
  3. Biscuit crumbs and chocolate mixture.
  4. Pour melted chocolate mixture over cookie crumbs and stir to combine.
  5. Press mixture into an 8″-square baking tin.
  6. You could line the tin with parchment paper to make the bars easier to remove. No need to grease it.
  7. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours to set before serving.
For even squares, cut down the middle first, then divide each of those halves in half, and repeat. (Easier then trying to eyeball it while cutting from one side to the other.)

Optional

  • Add mix-ins like chopped-up chunks of walnut, pistachio, maraschino cherry, marshmallow, meringue, dried apricots, rum-soaked raisins, or dark chocolate. My brother and sister and I like ours plain, though!
  • Press the mixture into a loaf pan instead of a square pan, to make the finished product taller and narrower. Slice into long, thin bars, which look more sophisticated than regular squares.[3]
  • Dust icing sugar or cocoa powder over the top (through a sieve) to make the bars look prettier.
I hope you appreciate how much effort I went to to make these bars look good for the photos.

Notes

[1] See this Today article for the recipe from the Queen’s head chef.

[2] If you can’t find digestive biscuits at the store, I recommend making your own (recipe). Graham crackers are usually a decent substitute, but here I think they would be too dry and lacking in oaty flavor.

[3] See, for example, the elegant appearance of Vivalinka’s English Fridge Cake Bars.

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