Chocolate Concrete and Pink Custard – Old School Recipe

Chocolate Concrete creates a huge wave of nostalgia for people here in the UK. Due to its ease and delicious taste, it was popular with dinner ladies and pupils in schools across Britain during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s!

But, when we first started looking into this recipe, I, as the token Brit in our family, could not remember Chocolate Concrete.

Now, I can talk at length about Cornflake or Butterscotch tarts, Jam and Coconut Sponge Cake or any of the wonderful steamed puddings I enjoyed at school during the ’80s and ’90s. Chocolate Concrete, however, must have slipped my mind.

That is, until I tasted it. Suddenly, I was back in an oversized blazer and trousers I’d been told I would grow into. I knew exactly why this classic dessert is so well-known even today. How could I have forgotten it?

But something was missing, and it’s something that we’ve been asked about in all our old-school recipes – Pink Custard, the ultimate nostalgia hit.

So, roll up, roll up! Here is our recipe for Chocolate Concrete, which will take you back to your school days with just one bite. Plus, our recipe for pink custard, the perfect side to nearly every classic school dessert.

What is Chocolate Concrete?

Whether you know it as Chocolate Concrete, Chocolate Concrete Cake, or Chocolate Crunch, this tasty dessert is as simple as it is delicious. Popular as a school pudding it brings back many happy memories for Brits of a certain age.

Chocolate Concrete has a crisp dryness and hard consistency that gives it its unappetising name. Strangely for a chocolate-based dessert, it avoids the smoothness or creaminess that chocolate often brings.

Often cut into squares and, as mentioned, served with custard, Chocolate Concrete was popular in schools, it can be assumed, due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. The fact pupils loved it may just have been a bonus.

Don’t be fooled by its name, though. Once you push a fork into this school dinner classic, especially when mixed with pink custard, it has a depth of flavour and richness that, due to its basic ingredients, can come as a surprise.

What is Chocolate Concrete made from?

Chocolate Concrete is made from just four ingredients. Flour, Sugar,
Butter and Cocoa. Part of Chocolate Concrete’s staying power is the depth of taste created by such a simple combination of ingredients.

Where does Chocolate Concrete come from?

This is a big question. Chocolate Concrete is certainly British, but due to its widespread popularity, there is no definitive place of origin that we could find. Every dinner lady would have their own recipe, and every pupil would happily say that the one they enjoyed at school was the best.

Ours is the simplest version we could create while still giving that classic Chocolate Concrete taste.

Things you’ll need to make Chocolate Concrete

• 20cm Square tin
• Microwaveable bowl or small pan – to melt the butter
• Large spoon

Ingredients for Chocolate Concrete

• 250g Plain Flour (2 Cups)
• 250g Granulated Sugar (1.5 Cups), plus a little extra for greasing your tin
• 125g Unsalted Butter (0.5 Cup)
• 75g Cocoa (3/4 Cup)

How to make Chocolate Concrete – Step-by-step method

Preheat the oven to 160C/320F 

Grease a 20cm square tin with butter

Mix the dry ingredients together

Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl or on the stovetop

Pour the butter onto the dry ingredients

Mix together. It will be very dry, but slowly, the wet butter will mix through.

Pour the wet crumbs into the greased tin and smooth down with the back of a large spoon until it is totally compacted. 

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. It will still be soft when removed from the oven.

Allow to cool in the tin, and then turn out and slice.

Eat as is, or serve with pink custard. 

Pink Custard? We hear you cry! Yep, no British school pudding was complete without lashings and lashings of Pink Custard!

Ok, so that does sound a little like an Enid Blyton book, but we’re telling the truth about Pink Custard’s popularity in Schools across Britain and how well it goes with Chocolate Concrete!

Things you’ll need to make Pink Custard

• Large bowl
• Whisk
• Small / Medium sized pan

Ingredients for Pink Custard

• 600ml/1 Pint whole milk
• 2-3 tablespoons Caster Sugar (depending on taste preference)
• 1 Packet of Strawberry or Raspberry Blancmange (we use Pierce Duff’s 35g packet)

How to make Pink Custard – Step-by-step method

Open your packet of Blancmange and mix the contents and sugar together

Pour in a little of the milk and whisk so the powder is dissolved.

Gently heat the rest of the milk on the stovetop until hot but not boiling.

Add the mixture to it and continue to stir while it thickens. 

Serve, pouring over your Chocolate Concrete.

Here are a few more Old School Recipes to try:

• Cornflake Tart
• Butterscotch Tart
• Rock Cakes
• Old School Cake Recipe – A Nostalgic Classic!
• Classic Macaroni Pudding Recipe
• Find all of our Best School Puddings recipes here

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