The boyfriend wanted something called fridge cake for his birthday. He reckoned he hadn’t tasted it in almost five decades, and he didn’t know the recipe, but he could clearly remember standing on a stool in his Nan’s Cheltenham kitchen, bashing McVitie’s digestive biscuits. 

The digestive-biscuit-bashing suggested a no-bake icebox cake. As I showed him a picture of Dorie Greenspan’s Moka Dupont cake, I was already calculating where to find Petit Beurre biscuits.  

But the boyfriend wrinkled his nose. Fridge cake’s not that fancy, he said.   

Jonny's not that fancy either. I always explain this when describing him, that he’s working class, and then wonder if my need to assert his class within the first two sentences betrays me as the worst kind of anti-snob snob. 

Here are the facts: Father mechanic, mother housecleaner. The toilet was in the yard behind the house—you had to go outside. When he left school 1983 at age 16 to become a postman, he didn’t know anyone who planned to go to college. In fact he didn’t know what higher education was.   

So forget a posh accent and Downton Abbey, unless you’re thinking of Tom the Irish chauffeur who got in the later seasons, don't you think, awfully comfortable with his wealth and title and elegant afternoon teas on silver trays. Where had his Lefty fire gone? But he was still hot.

I digest. When the boyfriend eventually located a version of fridge cake on the BBC Good Food site, we realized we had ingredient problems.

For starters, I thought corn syrup would sub just fine for the golden syrup. But no. The missing caramel flavor, he opined. The all-important crystallized texture, he warned. Despite his legendary frugality, he didn’t hesitate to acquire two tins on Amazon, for $10.48—more than I would have spent, and enough golden syrup to get us through several more years together, but whatever. At that point his birthday was just a few days away. 

Next we turned our attention to the McVitie’s. $19.48 for a single pack on Amazon was a non-starter, even for Mr. Splurgey McSplurge. I grew up in Washington, D.C., where anything fewer than 5 different kinds of McVitie’s at that mecca of gourmet groceries/ drugstores Rodman’s would have surely resulted in a customer riot among the Euro ex-pats, but we lived in Colorado. 

One day I found myself at Walmart (inexplicably, no sightings of Justice Thomas in the parking lot!), so on a hunch I visited the overflowing Latino aisles--Longmont is 24% Latino--for tea biscuits. Las galletas. Not as wheat-y as McVitie’s, true, but not as overly sweet as any of the options in the North American aisles.

At last we were strapped in and ready for bake-off. I soaked some chopped candied ginger and orange-flavored cranberries from Trader Joe’s in Italian herb and nut liqueur. The boyfriend took over the biscuit bashing, just as he’d done as a lad. No stool needed. He might have even had to stoop a little.   

Although he had deep respect for the BBC, he was dubious about the additions—“I don’t think my Nan used those”—so I put the plumped-up fruit and nuts in only half of the butter-golden syrup-melted chocolate mixture. 

We waited only 90 minutes for the mixture to cool in its 8"x8" parchment-lined pan and then couldn't stop eating it. No matter your country of origin nor your station at birth—working-class Brit or middle-class Jew—this unfussy icebox cake transcends nationality and class.  

After a bite, even I felt nostalgic for his Nan’s kitchen.  

Chocolate Fridge Cake
Adapted from the BBC's Good Food

This British no-bake treat comes together in minutes and needs only a few hours in the fridge to set. The hardest part is finding a tea biscuit that's not too sweet. Jonny's grandmother left out the fruit and nuts.

112 g crystallized ginger (scant 1/2 cup)

112 g orange-flavored dried cranberries (scant 1/2 cup)

1/3 cup brandy, liqueur, or juice

300 g good quality dark chocolate, such as Trader Joe's Pound Plus 

125 g butter (9 tablespoons, or one stick plus 1 tablespoon)

3 tablespoons Golden Syrup (honey is a substitute, although I haven't tried it yet)
200 g digestive or tea biscuits--Maria's, McVitie's, or Burton's, or some similarly plain tea biscuit

100 g chopped almonds (or other nuts)

Directions

1 Put the dried fruit in a small bowl and pour in enough liqueur or juice to cover. Let soak for at least 10 minutes.

2  Chop the chocolate. Empty it into a microwaveable bowl; add the butter and golden syrup; cover and microwave for 2 mins until melted. Alternatively, put in a heavy pan and cook over very low heat, stirring frequently. Set aside.

3  Meanwhile, line an 8” x 8” square tin with baking parchment, using a little butter to stick it in place. (The BBC says you can also use foil but it’s “more fiddly to peel off later." Or use plastic wrap "if you don’t mind wrinkles on the underside of your cake.”)

4  Put the biscuits in a resealable bag and hit them with a rolling pin until they’re in small pieces. 

5 In a large bowl combine all the ingredients. Mix well.

6 Put the chocolate mixture into the pan, pushing the mixture into the corners and flattening the top. Put in the fridge (no need to cover) for 4 hrs or overnight until set. To serve, remove from pan, peel away the parchment and cut into 16 squares. Will keep for up to 1 week in an airtight container in the fridge. Can be frozen for up to 1 month.