Today I’m sharing with you what is quite possibly the easiest yet scrummiest bake around – Mars Bar Cakes. More exciting than your usual marshmallow squares, these will definitely be the hit of your kid’s birthday party (apart from Jelly cubes though, am I right?) or office charity bake sale. Everyone loves Rice Krispie treats!
The need to get in the kitchen and bake these beauties arose after one of my colleagues made a plethora of Rice Krispie treats this week to share with the office – there were even Millionaire’s Rice Krispie squares. This guy has got serious game. But it made me crave the best cereal-based treat from my childhood, the simple Mars Bar Cake.
Why these are called ‘cakes’ when they so obviously are not cakes is anyone’s guess. But what I do know is that you are only going to need four ingredients to make them. Yep – Rice Krispies, Mars Bars, some unsalted butter, and milk chocolate to drizzle. And that’s it.
Don’t try and melt the Mars Bars in a double boiler or in the microwave. You are going to need to put them straight in a saucepan to get that pesky nougat in the middle to actually melt. And make sure you keep stirring, as you definitely don’t want burnt chocolate anywhere near your tasty little squares.
By the way, for any American’s reading, I’m pretty sure what you’re thinking of as a Mars Bar is actually something entirely different. A British Mars Bar is filled with nougat and caramel, and pretty much what I lived off of for the of whole secondary school. If you want to make these Mars Bar cakes in the USA, then you are going to want to get Milky Way bars instead. And you have no idea how confusing that is for us Brits, to whom a Milky Way is a whole other candy bar entirely – sort of like a 3 Musketeers bar.
Keeping up?
Me and the wife are heading to a sleepover tonight, with one of our bridesmaids, and I’m sure these are going to be the perfect midnight snack. Bring it.
- 5 full size UK Mars bars (US Milky Way)
- 150g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter
- 100g (4 cups) Rice Krispies (or other puffed rice cereal)
- 100g (3.5oz) good quality milk chocolate (I used Lindt Excellence)
- Grease a 20cm square brownie tin, and line the bottom.
- Chop the Mars bars into quarters, and place in a large saucepan along with the butter. Melt together on a medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. The mixture may look a little curdled at some point, but keep stirring and melting and it will eventually turn smooth and thick.
- Remove the pan from the heat, and add the Rice Krispies. Stir together until all the Rice Krispies are evenly coated.
- Spoon the mixture into the pre-prepared brownie tin, making sure to smooth out all the way to the edges, and press down firmly. Smooth out the top as evenly as possible - you may want to get your hands involved if the spoon is proving a little useless. Place the tin in the fridge for an hour or so (or overnight) to harden up.
- Once set, remove from the tin. This will be easier if you have a tin with a loose bottom, but you may also need to let the cake warm up a bit before it can be removed. Once out of the tin, cut into 16 squares and place on a sheet of greaseproof paper or baking parchment.
- Melt the chocolate, either in a microwave (stirring ever 15 seconds) or in a bowl set over a pan of boiling water. Liberally drizzle the chocolate over the Mars bar cakes, alternating directions to give a criss-cross effect. Leave until the chocolate has set.
- The Mars bar cakes will stay fresh in an airtight container for 5 or 6 days, if stored somewhere cool. You can even store them in the fridge if you've got room, as this will keep them nice and hard. Just let them warm up to room temperature again before eating.
- The Mars bar cakes can be frozen for 3-6 months. It is easiest to do this before drizzling with chocolate. To defrost, leave at room temperature overnight, or for an hour or so.
These were so delicious. It’s nice when you make something that you can enjoy too 🙂