Red Nose Day crispy rice cakes
These fun marshmallowy crispy rice cakes are great for last minute school treats – you don't need to use the oven or wait around for anything to cool. They can be made and decorated in an hour and then left to firm up overnight.
Ingredients
For the bars
- 100g/3½oz unsalted butter or dairy-free margarine, cut into cubes if using butter, plus extra for dabbing
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 350g/12oz mini marshmallows (or normal marshmallows, cut into small pieces), white or mixed colours
- 175g/6oz crispy rice cereal
For the decoration
- 100g/3½oz ready-to-roll red fondant icing
- icing sugar, for dusting (optional)
- 24–36 edible eyes (see recipe tip)
- tube black writing icing
Method
To make the cake bars, line a 20x30cm/8x12in baking tin with baking paper (not greaseproof paper), using a dab of butter to keep the paper in place.
If using a microwave, put the butter, salt and marshmallows in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 2 minutes on full power, then stir until the marshmallows melt into the butter. If necessary, heat further in 15-second increments, stirring after each blast until the marshmallows are completely melted.
If using the hob, put the butter and salt in a large saucepan. Place over a low heat until the butter is melted. Stir in the marshmallows until melted.
Tip the cereal into a large bowl, then pour over the melted mixture. Stir until the cereal is evenly coated, then spoon into the prepared tin in an even layer.
Place another sheet of baking paper on top and use your hands to gently press down and level the top of the mixture. Don’t press too hard or the bars will become too dense.
To decorate, create red noses by dividing the red icing into 18 small chunks. Roll out each piece of icing on baking paper or on a work surface dusted with icing sugar to stop it sticking, aiming for a thickness of 3–4mm. Use small round cookie cutters, piping nozzle ends or bottle tops to stamp out lots of different sized circles.
Mark out 12–18 even sized bars in the cereal mixture with a knife and add the red icing noses and edible eyes to each bar. They should stick straight to the sticky mixture. Finish by adding mouths with the black writing icing.
Leave to cool and firm up for at least 45 minutes, or overnight, then cut into bars.
Recipe Tips
Use vegetarian or vegan marshmallows if you want them to be suitable for more dietary requirements.
These crispy treats are ideal for school bake sales as they can be labelled egg, dairy and even gluten-free if you use suitable ingredients. Some puffed rice brands contain barley, so look for gluten-free brands if you need to.
If you can't find edible eyes, you can make some easily using balls of white fondant icing topped with some of the black icing you use for the mouths.