Kek Batik (Revised)

In Australia, this desserts (or a variation of it) is called a hedgehog. In Malaysia, we fondly refer to it as Kek Batik. Essentially, both are frozen no-bake desserts that combine melted chocolate with biscuit pieces/crumbs. They are insanely easy to make (honest to goodness, folks) and they are even easier to gobble.

Home cooks often put their own spin on recipes, as I discovered when I asked a few friends about how they made this delicious dessert. (Though I grew up eating Kek Batik in friend's houses, I'd never made it until very recently and so I had to do some research).

The common ingredients are chocolate and biscuits, the type of chocolate and biscuits used different considerable. Some cooks use cooking chocolate, others use cocoa and some others use Milo. As for the biscuits, most used the modest Marie biscuit (available at almost every grocery or sundry shop) while some used oat biscuits or ginger snaps. Oooooh.

Some cooks use condensed milk to help bind the ingredients together. Some use a single egg. Some use both.

I was a little lost at first but then I decided to stick to the staples: dark chocolate and Marie biscuits and experiment with the rest.

I decided not to add condensed milk. It's toooooo sweet and I am on a diet goddammit! I included the egg. If your alarm bells are ringing — adding an egg in a no-bake dessert??? — rest assured, the egg is added to the chocolate as soon as it is melted over a double boiler with some butter. The chocolate-butter mixture is hot and the raw egg should be mixed quickly into it to avoid scrambling.

I also decided to add some nuts (roasted cashews, unsalted) and also fruit (strawberries) instead of added sugar into my dessert.

Guess what? It was amazing. The tiny bits of strawberry and the nuts added texture and depth to an already tasty treat. And the pink bits of strawberries peeking through was just so pretty.

Kek Batik (Revised)

400g dark cooking chocolate, cut roughly into pieces

200g butter

200g Marie biscuits

1 cup chopped roasted cashews

1/2 cup strawberries, cut up into tiny pieces

1 egg

1 square/rectangular baking dish

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. Once both are melted and combined, take it off the heat (it should be nice and shiny) and quickly stir in the egg. 

Break up the biscuits and mix in the nuts and berries in a bowl. Pour the chocolate mixture over the biscuits and mix to combine well.

Transfer the mixture into a square/rectangular baking dish and press down hard. Refrigerate or freeze to set.