From: Saved By Cake: Over 80 Ways To Bake Yourself Happy by Marian Keyes - published by Michael Joseph, priced £16.99.

Ingredients:

• 500g rich tea biscuits
• 300g dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids)
• 300g milk chocolate
• 200g butter
• 300g golden syrup
• 100g dried dates chopped small
• 100g dried apricots chopped small
• 120g hazelnuts, skins off, roasted and chopped roughly
• 100g mini marshmallows

You can use ready-roasted hazelnuts with their skins off, but if you prefer to roast your own this is what you do. Place plain hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking tray and roast in a 180°C/Gas mark 4 oven for five to eight minutes, or under the grill for two minutes, until browned, checking regularly that they aren’t burning.

Method:

To make the cake, begin by lining a 20cm square tin with cling film, leaving bits overhanging the sides so you can lift the cake out easily. Break the biscuits into small pieces, smaller than bite-sized, but not reduced entirely to crumbs.

Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the broken biscuits, then add the dried fruit, nuts and marshmallows. Stir well, then pour into the prepared tin and refrigerate for six hours. Lift out of the tin and peel off the cling film. Cut into 16 chunks.