Chocolate biscuit cake may be an easy, no bake cake. But don’t underestimate it. It has royal fans. The cake is said to be the Queen’s favourite. It was also a favorite in the royal nursery when Prince William and Price Harry were growing up, so much so that years later, Prince William requested the cake as the groom’s cake for his wedding reception. My tiara’s off to William for ignoring tradition and aristrocratic protocol. He got his bride and his cake. Let others eat fruit cake!
Chocolate biscuit cake has many other fans across the globe. It’s famous in Malaysia too. Back home, we call it batik cake (due to the design of the cross section) or marie cake (because there, it’s made of marie biscuit, similar to rich tea biscuit). The recipe is slightly different from the recipes I’ve found in the UK. We use condensed milk instead of golden syrup and in most cases would use a combination of cocoa and milo, if not 100% milo. For those who are unfamiliar with milo, it’s a brand of chocolate malt. In the UK, I can source it from Asda or Tesco. Here is what it looks like…
Some chocolate biscuit cake recipes use eggs, giving a softer cake texture while some are eggless. My mom normally makes the version with eggs although personally I prefer the one without.
This chocolate biscuit cake is perfect for when you’re short of time but still want to have some homemade cake for tea. Especially good for summer days when you’d rather spend time outdoor in the sun than in your kitchen. The easy summer days are gradually coming to an end in the northern hemisphere although I am also looking forward to those cool crisp days. Fall is my favorite season.
Here’s my take of the famous chocolate biscuit cake. You will need:
INGREDIENTS:
- 300g (1 pack) rich tea biscuit
- 397 (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
- 150g unsalted butter
- 1⁄8 tsp salt, omit if already using salted butter
- 120g (1 cup) cocoa powder
- 200g (2 cups milo), you can omit or replace half the amount with cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp nescafé granules
- 1½ cups toasted nuts, I used a mix of hazelnuts and pecans, roughly chopped
- 400g bittersweet chocolate
METHOD:
Break the biscuits: halved, quartered, one third and some in between. Toss in the chopped nuts. Set aside.
In a large saucepan, add the butter, condensed milk, cocoa powder, milo, nescafé and salt. Stir the ingredients over medium heat until the mixture combines and thickens to a gooey consistency. Reduce the heat to low.
Pour in the biscuits and nuts into the saucepan.
Stir to thoroughly combine. You’d want each piece of biscuit to be coated with chocolate. As the mixture has thickened, you may need to use some arm muscle. Turn off the heat completely.
Pour the chocolate coated biscuit into a baking tin. I lined my silicon baking case with strips of parchment paper for ease of removal from the mould later.
Press down the biscuit using your hand, the back of a wooden spoon or even the bottom of a glass. Using my hand is my preferred method but remember, the mixture is still hot, so be careful.
Let it chill in the fridge for a few hours to firm up.
Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or short bursts in the microwave.
Take the cake out of the fridge. Remove from tin/ baking mould and pour the chocolate on top. Pop it back in the fridge for at least ½ hr to let the chocolate set.
I usually like to keep the cake for a day or two in the fridge before eating: to soften slightly and for the flavor to mingle. If you can’t wait, go ahead and have a slice. Let’s have tea and eat cake!xo
