Chocolate Salami — the no-bake chocolate and biscuit log

i. Origin & history

Chocolate salami is a home dessert rather than a pastry-shop creation, and its origins are not documented. Both Italy and Portugal claim it, and both have made it for generations: in Italy it is salame di cioccolato (or salame dolce, 'sweet salami'), and in Portugal salame de chocolate, a staple of birthday parties and Christmas tables. It almost certainly became widespread in the twentieth century, when cheap packaged biscuits and chocolate made such no-bake treats easy for any family.

The joke at the heart of the dessert is the resemblance to cured meat. Broken pieces of pale biscuit and nuts embedded in dark chocolate look like the fat and meat in a slice of salami; a dusting of icing sugar imitates the white bloom on a salami's casing, and some cooks tie the log with butcher's string in the style of a real salame. In Italy, where cured meats are a point of national pride, the playful imitation is part of the appeal.

The dessert has many relatives. Greece has kormos ('log') or mosaiko (mosaic), almost identical; Lithuania has tinginys, 'lazy one', a no-bake cake of biscuits, cocoa and condensed milk; Russia and Ukraine have a similar chocolate-and-biscuit log; and the British have tiffin and fridge cakes. Wherever there are plain tea biscuits and chocolate, someone has pressed them together.

Chocolate salami is sometimes confused with salame di fichi, a Southern Italian log of dried figs and nuts, or with the Portuguese salame made with fig paste. The chocolate version is the most widely known, and it contains no meat at all.

ii. How butter and chocolate set the log

Chocolate salami relies on fats setting as they cool, not on baking. Cocoa butter in the chocolate and the butterfat added with it are liquid when melted and solidify in the refrigerator, binding the broken biscuits and nuts into a firm, sliceable log. The ratio of chocolate to butter controls the texture: more chocolate gives a firmer, snappier salami; more butter a softer, fudgier one.

Many traditional recipes add eggs, beaten with sugar, to make the mixture smoother and lighter. Because they are not cooked, many modern cooks leave them out or use sweetened condensed milk, mascarpone or a little cream instead. This recipe uses icing sugar and cocoa with no eggs, which keeps it simple and safe for children.

The biscuits are just as important. Plain, dry biscuits — Italian Oro Saiwa, Portuguese Maria, Marie or rich tea — keep their crunch and give the pale 'fat' look. Rich, buttery biscuits soften and disappear into the chocolate. Breaking them into irregular pieces, from crumbs to chunks the size of a fingernail, gives the best salami-like appearance; crush them too finely, and the slices look uniform.

Shaping happens while the mixture is still soft but has cooled enough to hold its form. It is rolled in cling film or baking paper and twisted at the ends like a sweet wrapper, which compacts it into a tight cylinder. Chilling for several hours makes it firm enough to slice cleanly.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 200 g dark chocolate (50–70%), chopped
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 50 g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp rum, brandy or amaretto (or milk)
• 1 pinch salt
• 200 g plain dry biscuits (Marie, rich tea or Oro Saiwa)
• 60 g toasted hazelnuts, almonds or pistachios, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp icing sugar, for coating

Use plain, dry biscuits that keep their shape; Italian recipes often add a few crumbled amaretti for almond flavour. Dark chocolate around 50–60 per cent suits children; 70 per cent gives a more grown-up salami. The alcohol is traditional — rum or brandy in Italy, sometimes port in Portugal — but milk or orange juice works for a family version. Nuts add crunch and the white 'fat' look; pistachios give green flecks. For a richer, softer texture, some cooks stir in 2 tablespoons of mascarpone or condensed milk.

iv. Method

1. Put the biscuits in a freezer bag and break them with a rolling pin into irregular pieces, from crumbs to chunks about 1 cm across. Toast the nuts if not already toasted and chop roughly.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat.
3. Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa, add the salt and rum, and stir until glossy.
4. Add the biscuits and nuts and stir until everything is coated. Leave for 10–15 minutes, until the mixture has firmed slightly and holds its shape.
5. Tip the mixture onto a large sheet of cling film or baking paper. Shape it into a log about 5 cm across and 25 cm long, then roll it up tightly in the film, twisting the ends to compress it.
6. Chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until firm. Roll the log back and forth occasionally during the first hour to keep it round.
7. Unwrap, roll in icing sugar, and brush off the excess to leave a thin white coating. Tie with kitchen string if you like, and cut into slices about 1 cm thick with a sharp knife.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Do not crush the biscuits too finely. Visible chunks create the salami look; fine crumbs make a uniform chocolate log.
• Melt the chocolate gently. Overheated chocolate seizes or turns grainy. Keep the water at a bare simmer.
• Let the mixture firm before shaping. Warm, runny mixture spreads in the film and sets flat on one side.
• Roll it tightly. Air pockets make the slices crumble. Twisting the ends of the film squeezes the log compact.
• Slice it cold. Straight from the fridge, with a sharp knife, gives clean slices; at room temperature it softens and crumbles.
• Coat just before serving. Icing sugar dissolves on a moist surface over time, so dust it when you are ready to serve or give.

vi. Variations

In Italy, recipes vary by family: some add eggs beaten with sugar, others mascarpone, espresso or crumbled amaretti. Portuguese salame de chocolate usually uses Maria biscuits and often eggs, and is sometimes flavoured with port. White chocolate salami with dried cranberries and pistachios is a festive variant, and Nutella salami is a modern children's favourite.

Related no-bake treats include Australian rum balls, the Brazilian biscuit cake pavê, the Argentine layered chocotorta and the layered American seven-layer bars. Among Italian chocolate desserts, the ice-cream tartufo and Piedmont's baci di dama are good companions on a dessert table.

vii. Serving & storage

Chocolate salami is served cold, cut into thin slices, on a board like a real salami — a playful presentation for parties and holiday tables. It is good with coffee, a glass of dessert wine or vin santo, or as a child's afternoon treat. Wrapped in baking paper and tied with string, it makes an easy edible gift.

It keeps very well. Wrapped tightly, it lasts up to two weeks in the refrigerator. It also freezes well for up to three months; slice it straight from the freezer or thaw in the refrigerator. Keep it cool, as it softens quickly in a warm room. Versions made with raw eggs should be eaten within three days.

ix. More from Italian

• Tartufo — ice-cream truffle
• Baci di Dama — hazelnut 'lady's kisses'
• Sbrisolona — Mantuan crumbly cake
• Rum Balls — boozy chocolate truffles
• Chocotorta — Argentine chocolate biscuit cake
• Pavê — Brazilian layered biscuit dessert