The origin of this cake is unknown or unclear. It bare’s similarities to Australia’s Hedgehog Slice and the English Chocolate Biscuit Cake which Prince William had as one of his wedding cakes. In Malaysia it’s called batik cake due to it having Batik-like patterns from the crushed biscuits. No to be confused with Sarawak’s batik cake which is colourful. This batik cake is made with chocolate fudge and tea biscuits such as Marie Biscuits or Petit Beurre (French butter biscuit).

When I had this cake the first time, I fell in love with it. Yes, you can call it love at first sight. The internet was still pretty new at that time so I could not just google for a recipe. Plus, the first time I made it myself, the hubby loved it! Probably the only cake he would eat without me begging him to.

It’s such an easy cake which doesn’t require baking, just make the fudge, combine wth biscuits and refrigerate. You don’t even need to use the highest quality of ingredients for it. The chocolate and malt powder I used here was a supermarket brand – CHF3.10 per kilo, the biscuits also a supermarket brand CHF 2.95 (650 grams)and butter was also a supermarket brand. The only thing I won’t use is Margarine for this…or for anything at all! Never was a fan of margarine. In Malaysia, you would typically use Milo, Vico or Ovaltine for this recipe. Of course any chocolate or cocoa drink powder would be fine, just like what I used since I can’t find Milo here and using Ovomaltine here is just waaaaay too expensive.

When making this cake, you can either crush the biscuits into quarters or just leave them whole and arrange it nicely. Be sure to make this a day before serving to the biscuits become soft. Cut it cold and leave it out for 5-10 minutes before serving. Great for tea time and dessert.

Ingredients

1 small can/397 ml/14 oz Condensed Milk*

1 ¾ cups Chocolate Milk Powder**

⅔ cup Butter

4 Eggs

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

250 - 300 grams Petit Beurre / Marie Biscuits

For Garnish Sliced Almonds (optional)

Directions:

Crush biscuits into quarters (optional). Set aside. Prepare a cake pan (round, loaf, square – up to you) by lining it with foil or parchment paper and grease well with cooking spray or butter. I used a 35cm x 9cm loaf pan for this. In a medium large pot or wok, gently melt butter on medium heat. Mix in condensed milk and chocolate malt powder. Stir till combined. Add in eggs and stir continuously on medium to medium high till it thickens to the consistency of hot fudge. Or till it reaches the soft ball stage on a candy thermometer. 118°C to 120°C (235°F to 240°F). Once it has thickened, add in vanilla extract. Stir to mix. Stir in biscuits is using it crushed. Pour into cane pan and flatten the top. If you choose not to crush the biscuits : Spread a layer of fudge into cake pan and layer it with biscuits. Repeat till you run out of fudge. Garnish with sliced almonds (optional). Leave cake to cool for an hour then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Tips:

*You can reduce the amount of condensed milk if it’s too sweet for your taste. I’ve tried reducing it to 350 ml’s and still had great results.

** Use any chocolate drink powder such as Ovomaltine, Nesquick, or Milo. You can use chocolate bar’s as well, but I can’t vouch for results. You can also reduce the amount of chocolate drink powder to 1¼ cup.

Do not stir the fudge on high as the egg’s in it will curdle. You might end up with sweet chocolate scrambled eggs.

Conversion Table

Enjoy!