"Cold Dog" - a 50s' Classic

Only last week, I wrote about my birthday and mentioned this delicious "cake": Kalter Hund, which literally means Cold Dog. It is not actually a cake, as you do not bake it, but a dessert - and a very sweet (and fattening) one at that! In Germany, Kalter Hund has been a classic since the 1950s when it was regularly served at children's birthday parties.
My mum usually makes one for my birthday, and this year was no exception. Those of you who understand German are welcome to look at the original recipe, posted by my mother on the cooking forum where she is one of the moderators.
And for everyone else, here is the recipe in English:

You need
- 2 packs of the flat, square type of butter biscuits shown here
- 300 g of coating chocolate (couverture), dairy milk
- 300 g of coating chocolate, semi sweet (do not just use the dairy milk type - it will be too sweet for anyone to eat, trust me!)
- 150 g coconut fat (in Germany, this is sold under the name Palmin. It is white and solid, not coconut oil - that won't work.)
- 200 g cream (not whipped)
- small bag of vanilla sugar

Use a bowl big enough to melt the couverture, coconut fat and vanilla sugar in the microwave, at a low setting; it should take about 10 minutes. Be careful and do not set the microwave's temperature too high - the chocolate burns easily and you really don't want to smell that!!

While the melting goes on, prepare an oblong baking form (my mum uses one that is about 26 cm long). If you have one of those modern silicon forms, you do not need any preparation; if it's a metal one, put baking paper in to avoid sticking.

When the mixture is ready, stir in the cream. And now you have to work fast, before the mixture cools down and sets:

Fill the form with layers, starting with the chocolate mixture, then biscuits, then chocolate again, then biscuits again and so on until you have used it all up, ending with a thin layer of chocolate. The biscuit layers should be complete with no gaps in between them; if necessary, break the biscuits to fitting size. Now cover with aluminium foil and leave it to set and harden in the fridge, preferably over night.

To serve the Cold Dog, make sure to take it out of the fridge about 1 hour before; you need a VERY sharp knife and it is still likely that you won't be able to cut clean slices - never mind, a Cold Dog can be a bit crumbly and it will still be delicious :-)
Decoration is, of course, up to you - my mum used ready-made sugar flowers this time, but it can go entirely without decoration, too.

(All pictures by my mum)