Prince William's Favorite Chocolate Biscuit Cake (take two)

Just because the Royal Wedding happened nearly two months ago, it doesn't mean we can't continue celebrating, right?  Haha.  One of the wedding cakes served was Prince William's all-time favorite tea biscuit cake that the former Royal Chef, Darren McGrady, used to make for him when he was little (Aww!).  The chefs for the wedding tweaked the recipe a bit to make it a little more special for the wedding (so the news said).

I tried the "basic" recipe a few days after the Wedding, but I was sort of rushed because I was just excited to try this no-baking-required recipe; and I was trying to do a million other things at once.  I used the recipe featured on a Daily Candy post which was actually provided by Tea & Sympathy restaurant.  I didn't use UK's McVities tea biscuits; instead I used honey graham crackers (the recipe said it was a perfect substitute); I also used Ghiradelli's dark and milk chocolate.  

Asthetically, it didn't look like the biscuit cake in the video/article, lol.  I used a slightly bigger pan, so my cake was thin; second, I slightly "overmelted" the dark chocolate topping.  I didn't use a double boiler at all (in the video, they didn't use one!).  As for taste, it was pretty good!  It's very chocolatey, but the raisins and almonds add a nice balance.

TAKE TWO!

This time, I found the actual Royal recipe on the former Royal chef's website.  But, since I was pleased with the Tea & Sympathy recipe, I decided to do a little merging of the two.  Here's my merged recipe:

Ingredients

Cake

8oz of McVities biscuits (I finally found them at a market that specializes in goods from around the world; graham crackers still work fine if you can't find McVities)

8oz of Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chocolate (2 bars)

1 14oz of sweetened condensed milk

6 tbsp of unsalted butter (@ room temperature)

1/4 cup of raisins

1/4 cup of almonds (or any nuts of your choice)

Topping

4 oz of Ghiradelli 60%

2 oz of Ghiradelli White Chocolate (1/2 bar)

1 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk (save a tablespoon from the condensed milk used above)

2 tbsp of unsalted butter

1. Use a cake ring with a 6in diameter; use parchment paper or wax paper on the base and very lightly butter the side (see photo).  If you want a square/rectangle shape, use something around 9x9 or 11x7.

2.  In a large bowl, break McVities biscuits into small pieces (approx. 1/2-1 in)

3.  Add raisins and almonds and mix into the biscuits.

4.  In a double boiler, add room temp. butter, condensed milk, 8 oz of dark chocolate.  Stir the whole time until all is melted and blended well.

5.  Pour chocolate mixture into biscuit mix and fold over until biscuits are covered.

6.  Pour mixture into cake ring or pan.  Using a flat utensil (or use another sheet of wax paper and a canned good), gently flatten the mixture until evenly spread.  Also, move the chocolate around to fill the crevices.

7.  Refrigerate for 3 hours.

8.  Remove from refrigerator; optional - turn over cake, so the flat bottom is now the top.

9.   For the topping, mix the butter, condensed milk, and chocolate, until all is melted.
10. Pour topping and spread it over cake.  Voila - ready to serve!

As you can see from the pictures, I used a large cake ring (I thought my cake ring was adjustable), so for the second time, my cake was thin (but not as thin as before :)).  Also, I didn't turn over the cake (see step 8), because I was lazy - it was 1am - and wasn't planning on presenting this formally at a dinner or party.  But if you want an actual "cake" look, definitely turn it over before you pour the topping (and use a 6in cake cake ring so the cake looks taller).  I was glad I used a double boiler this time around, because it made a huge difference in the smoothness of the chocolate mix, and pouring was easier!

I gave my dad the first slice in honor of Father's Day.  He loved it!  Happy Father's Day to all fathers out there!


Enjoy!