Prince William's Chocolate Biscuit Cake

photo from Betty Crocker

 Even tho I wasn't invited to The Royal Wedding over in England someplace, I still have a vague interest from a cake perspective. There are several versions of Prince William's cake floating about the intertubes,  newspapers and magazines.   Publisher's Weekly, a magazine for librarians and anyone interested in quality book reviews, has also jumped on the bandwagon.   

Publisher's Weekly is one of the tools used in selecting books we of the library persuasion hope the public will borrow over and over again.   By the way, municipalities are looking for ways to slash expenditures, and libraries are an easy target.  Please support your local library.  Check out yours, and check out a book or DVD while you're at it.  Use their internet and computers to help you find a job.  It's 9:00pm somewhere, and your kid just announced he has a report due the next day; simply log into your library's website and start researching their online info.  From aardvarks to Zanzibar, it's @ your library ... online!

And remember to tell your local politicians how important that library is to you. 
... but I digress.

Anyway, PW ran an interesting article about the Groom's Cake, with a little background on the bakery that has the honor of providing it. For a cake to be served at the first wedding of the century, this is a relatively simple one.  No baking is required.   Layers of tea biscuits surrounded by chocolate and more chocolate.  In British parlance, biscuits are cookies.  Tea biscuits are small, flat, dense cookies good for dunking, especially in tea at teatime.

The recipe below is supposed to be The One for the cake to grace the royals' table.  Judging by its finished size, I hope they make more than one so everyone can have a go at it.  Rich Tea Biscuits, mentioned below, is a popular brand in England, but any locally available tea biscuit can be subbed (Kedem is the first brand that came to mind, but there are others just as good).  The original charming directions were left intact.  And remember to mind the gap.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

From Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen, recipe retrieved from Publisher's Weekly

Makes 1 cake – 10 portions

4 ozs. dark chocolate.(for the cake)
4 ozs. granulated sugar
4 ozs. unsalted butter (softened)
1 egg
8 ounces Rich tea biscuits
1/2 tsp. butter, for greasing
8 ozs. dark chocolate (for coating)
1 oz. chocolate (for decoration)

1. Lightly grease a 6 inch by 2 ½ inch cake ring and place on a tray on a sheet of parchment paper.

2. Break each of the biscuits into almond size pieces by hand and set aside.

3. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture starts to lighten.

4. Melt the 4 ounces of chocolate and add to the butter mixture whilst constantly stirring.

5. Beat in the egg to the mixture.

6. Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.

7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake ring. Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the ring because this will be the top when it is un-molded.

8. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

9. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it stand while you melt the 8 ounces of chocolate.

10. Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cake wire.

11. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and smooth the top and sides using a palette knife.

12. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature.

13. Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where the chocolate has stuck it to the cake wire and lift it onto a tea plate.

14. Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use to decorate the top of the cake.