Mars Bar Cakes are a delicious fudgy treat that have to be tasted! Skip the hassle of the oven and sifting flour and whip up these creative and original no bake mars bar muffins using a store bought caramel mud cake saving your time, energy and effort!!
Inspired by my Rocky Road Cakes, I set out to make easy breezy Mars Bar Cakes that require no oven, baking or sifting. I wanted to give you the winning combination of caramel, chocolate and nougat in effortless style and chose a mud cake hack!
Similar to recipes like my Mint Aero Fudge and Snickers Fudge we take everyone's favourite chocolate bar and make heaven with it!
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Recipe Highlights
I could go on forever about the million reasons why you will enjoy these fudgy cakes. But instead, I have summarised the ones which I think will be your favourites:
- No bake, we use the microwave and fridge only
- Simple to find, every day ingredients
- Store bought, reliable tasting caramel mud cake hacked!
- 10 mins make time
- Kid friendly, easy recipe!
- 4 simple ingredients, no shopping list that goes on forever!
- Portioned sized cakes making 12 muffins
- Set in the fridge
- No sifting or measuring baking powder or flours
- No additional sugar be it brown or white
- Experience created of that 1st bite into the caramel nougat chocolate!
- Original recipe, you won't find it anywhere else on the internet!
Top Tip 1: Some nights you need to make something for the next day be it a morning tea or bake sale. Keep this recipe in mind as you can have it made and the kitchen cleaned in half the time of a traditional baked cake!
Ingredients
The photo below is to visually show you what you need to make the recipe. Scroll to the recipe card for measurements and detailed instructions!
- Mars Bar Chocolate Bars: I recommend using a share pack of these. That will give you a quantity of 10 mini mars bars, which we cut into 4 pieces each. If you want to use a cheaper alternative name brand (Aldi sells Titans), go right ahead! They might be called fun size, but I like to think of them as yum size!
- Milk Chocolate: I use melts as they are my preferred to work with when baking with chocolate. You can use chocolate melts, bits or a block of cooking chocolate broken into pieces. I recommend using cooking chocolate, not regular chocolate. If you want to switch it up you can use dark or white chocolate.
- Caramel Mud Cake: we use 1 store bought caramel mud cake. This gives us the fudgy cake batter which we add the other ingredients to with the chocolate 'setting' our cakes. In Australia, these are commonly sold at Woolworths (Woolies) and Coles. Aldi has their version, however, I have only seen the chocolate flavour being sold (not caramel and white).
- Caramel Sauce: you might know this as caramel sauce or caramel topping. In addition to the caramel in the mars bar pieces, we add this for flavour and gooey texture!
Top Tip 2: One bag of mini mars bars will generally be cheaper than individual chocolate bars (unless they are on special). Let's stick to our budget and be cost effective at the same time!
Instructions
These are the steps we take to make our cakes. You will need a 12 hole muffin tin and patty paper (cupcake) liners.
- Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners (Photo 1)
- Roughly chop mars bars into pieces (Photo 2)
- Remove icing from mud cake (Photo 3)
- Add mud cake to bowl and crumble (Photo 4)
The reason why I remove the icing is because we want our cakes to set. The additional wet ingredient (icing) may not allow this as the portion of cake and chocolate does work, however the icing may make the cakes fall apart. If you are reading this, wanting to leave it in, consider that the cakes may end up more crumbly/not set.
Top Tip 3: Once you have chopped the mars bars, place them in the freezer, this will keep them from melting and ensure your cakes have chunks of mars bars in them (cause there is nothing more yum than that!).
Top Tip 4: I find a wooden coated chopstick ideal for stirring chocolate, there is less surface area than a spoon and it rinses straight off.
- Add chocolate to heat proof jug and microwave for 2 mins (Photo 5)
- Remove chocolate and stir till consistently melted (Photo 6)
- Add melted chocolate to cake batter (Photo 7)
- Add caramel sauce (Photo 8)
Top Tip 5: A shallow spoon (like a wooden one) is better to use than a deep one. This is because the mixture is very wet and fudge like. Less will stick to the spoon on a shallow/flat spoon.
- Stir to combine (Photo 9)
- Add mars bars pieces (Photo 10)
- Stir again to combine (Photo 11)
- Portion the mixture across the 12 muffin cups (Photo 12)
Top Tip 6: Use 2 dessert spoons to fill the muffin tin with the cake mix. This is easiest done in 2 scoops per cupcake liner, rather than one (messy) massive one.
If the photo above doesn't inspire all kindofs of drooling yum, then I don't know what would!
This photo (above) is a good example of why I was saying earlier to remove the icing ie the individual cakes set as they have the right balance between wet and dry ingredients.
How to Guide
How to Store
Store the cakes in a sealed, air tight container in the fridge.
They will last up to 5 days.
How to Freeze
It is not recommended to freeze the mars bar cakes.
How to Reheat
This is a no bake recipe that requires no cooking.
The cakes are best served straight from the fridge or at room temperature.
Serving Suggestions
It is time to have a bake sale out the front! Haha, no, not really. But it is time to think about the numerous sweet treats that can be paired along with this recipe.
If you are having guests over, this is the perfect no bake chocolate combination that is effortless to make!
For a party, serve with a combination of sweet treats like my Golden Syrup Cornflake Cakes, Coco Pop Crackles and Rocky Road Cakes.
For savory party foods try my Air Fryer Sausage Rolls, Air Fryer Party Pies, or Air Fryer Frozen Spring Rolls.
Of course, there is also a lot to be said about you, me, a cup of tea and a cake or 2!
Substitutions and Variations
If you want to switch my recipe up a little, here are a few recommendations that will also work well:
- Use white or dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.
- Purchase the cheaper similar chocolate bars for same, same results.
- Add some nuts if you please!
- Drizzle the cakes with more caramel topping.
- Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Top Tips and Tricks
Here are my expert tips to help you master the recipe from the get go:
- When chopping the mars bars, always cut through the chocolate layer 1st, this will preserve the caramel, nougat layers.
- Once the mars bars are roughly chopped freeze the pieces till ready
- Use the microwave to melt the chocolate mixture.
- Ensure you use a tea towel around the (hot) handle when removing.
- Check the papers when lining the muffin tin to ensure only 1 in each
- Work reasonably quickly when filling the cup cake liners as the melted chocolate will begin to firm up again.
- Make the recipe a day or 2 in advance and store in the fridge as needed.
- Boil the kettle and use this water to rinse the jug and aid clean up
- Refrigerate the cakes until ready to serve. They will start to melt in warmer climates (Australia).
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I bake without oven?
You can bake without the oven by using a no bake recipe!
No bake cakes, slices and muffins all work well as does fudge.
What can I use instead of an oven?
For these no bake cakes, we use the microwave to melt the chocolate and then the fridge to set.
Freeing up time, energy and effort.
Are Mars bars healthy?
Mars Bars are high in sugar and fat content. They are not diet food and are not considered the most healthy of treats.
Like all sweets, portion size, moderation and indulging occasionally (not every day) is recommended.
What is the difference between mud cake and normal cake?
The texture of a mud cake is thick and fudge like. Alternatively a normal cake can be moist but often lighter and fluffier than a mud cake.
More No Bake Chocolate Recipes
You can't go past the following ideas for sweet treats that you will come to know and love:
- Microwave Chocolate Fudge
- Coffee Slice (like a coffee and biscuit in one!)
- Rocky Road Cakes
- Oreo Balls recipe without chocolate
- Malteser Rocky Road
- Golden Syrup Cornflake Cakes (baked)
- Chocolate Orange Fudge
- Cherry Ripe Balls
- Lemon Cheesecake Bliss Balls
- Baileys Cheesecake Balls
I thought you might like to look at one of the images from my recipe testing along the way (see this image).
It didn't have the fudgy yum factor where the Mars Bars simply melts in your mouth, so I persisted to give you that my friends.
Hope you love, love, love it!
Adrianne xx
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📖 Recipe
Mars Bar Cakes (Mud Cake Hack)
Equipment
- 1 12 hole muffin tin
- 12 cup cake liners
- 1 Medium sized mixing bowl
- 2 Dessert spoons
Ingredients
- 10 mini Mars Bars Note 1
- 600 gram caramel mud cake Note 2
- 300 grams milk chocolate Note 3
- ⅓ cup/80ml caramel sauce/topping Note 4
Instructions
- Use patty pan liners to fill muffin tin holes
- Use a knife and chopping board to cut each of the mini mars bars into 4 pieces. Place these pieces in a small bowl and into the freezer. Note 5
- Use s knife to scrape the icing off the top of the cake (discard). Then add the cake to a mixing bowl and use a spoon to break into crumbs.
- Add milk chocolate to a medium sized heat proof jug and microwave for 2 mins. Stir when removing to ensure it is consistently melted.
- Pour melted chocolate over caramel mud cake crumbs. Add the caramel sauce and stir to combine.
- Remove Mars Bar pieces from the freezer, add to the chocolate caramel cake mixture and stir to combine.
- Using 2 desert spoons, portion the cake batter into the patty pan liners evenly across the 12 muffin holes.
- Place the muffin tray into the fridge.
- Allow the cakes to set for a minimum of 30 mins prior to consumption. Store in a sealed air tight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Note 1 You don't need to purchase the premium brand for these to work. You will find some supermarkets selling a very similar product under a different name. For example Aldi sells 'Titans'.
- Note 2 This is a store bought caramel mud cake. It will come with caramel/chocolate icing which we scrape off.
- Note 3 I recommend using chocolate melts. They are easy to use and melt consistently as they are the same size. You can also use chocolate bits or a block broken into pieces. I encourage your creativity if you want to try milk or dark chocolate for variety!
- Note 4 This is simply caramel topping or sauce that you would use on ice cream. It brings that unique caramel gooey layer of the mars bars into our cakes.
- Note 5 The flavour goal of the recipe is to bring to mind the experience of biting into a Mars Bar with these cakes. As such we don't add the pieces of mars bars to the chocolate the way we would for a mars bar slice. Instead, we want to preserve the chocolate, caramel and nougat layers and combine them prior to placing in the fridge. This way your cakes, will have chunks of mars bars in them which have not melted and mix in with the rest of the ingredients.
Jenny says
I'm all about no bake recipes, going to make this for my friends birthday, thank-you.
Adrianne says
No worries Jenny, hope your friend has a great birthday!
Kate says
Made these for work tomorrow, cakes are tasty and recipe was straightforward.
Adrianne says
Thanks Kate, that is great to hear!!