Following the custom of classic English weddings, which dates back to Victorian times, it is customary to prepare two wedding cakes – the groom’s cake and the bride’s cake. As a rule, the groom’s cake has a richer taste than the bride’s cake, and is distributed to guests at the end of the evening in small boxes. It used to be believed that by putting such a piece of cake under the pillow, an unmarried girl would see her betrothed in a dream. At the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and among the common people of William and Kate, the favourite chocolate cake of the royal family was chosen for the groom’s cake. It’s funny that this classic English Afternoon Tea cake looks like a chocolate sausage from childhood 🙂 It’s amazing how such a simple recipe can be a wedding cake, and even a royal one? And like this 🙂 Some “purely English” solutions break our stereotypes 🙂
Following the custom of classic English weddings, which dates back to Victorian times, it is customary to prepare two wedding cakes – the groom’s cake and the bride’s cake. As a rule, the groom’s cake has a richer taste than the bride’s cake, and is distributed to guests at the end of the evening in small boxes. It used to be believed that by putting such a piece of cake under the pillow, an unmarried girl would see her betrothed in a dream. At the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and among the common people of William and Kate, the favourite chocolate cake of the royal family was chosen for the groom’s cake. It’s funny that this classic English Afternoon Tea cake looks like a chocolate sausage from childhood 🙂 It’s amazing how such a simple recipe can be a wedding cake, and even a royal one? And like this 🙂 Some “purely English” solutions break our stereotypes 🙂- Prep time: 15 minutes + 30 minutes’ chilling
- Cook time: 10 minutes
- Serves: 6-8
- Difficulty: easy
- Course: cake
- Cookware: round 22cm cake tin with removable bottom, silicone spatula, cooling rack
- Cuisine: English
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 450 g tea biscuits
- 230 g butter, room temperature
- 230 g brown sugar
- 230 g dark chocolate, at least 53% cocoa
- 4 tsp water, or rum, or cognac
For chocolate icing:
- 125 g dark chocolate
- 125 g double cream
Cooking method
Step 1⠀
Line the bottom and sides of the cake tin with baking paper. Set aside.
Step 2
Crush the biscuits into small pieces (about 1 cm). It is better not to use a food processor for this, the pieces will be too small.
Step 3
Beat the butter with sugar using a mixer. Continue until the mixture becomes light and more even.
Step 4
Break the chocolate into small pieces, and melt in a bain-marie. Add the melted chocolate to the butter and mix thoroughly. Mix well so that all biscuits are covered with chocolate. Add water or rum and fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.
Step 5
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and press lightly on top to shape the cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. The chocolate should harden.
Step 6
Make the icing. Put finely broken chocolate into a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
Step 7
Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cooling rack. Remove baking paper. Put a tray underneath to collect the leftovers from icing. Gently pour the chocolate icing all over the cake. Let the chocolate harden. Decorate the cake to your liking.
My tips and tricks:
Decorate your cake with crystallized flowers, as it was popular during the Victorian era, when European wedding fashion traditions were formed. And to quickly crush tea biscuits, follow my advice. Take a large zipper bag, put the biscuits in there, place them on the table, evenly distribute the biscuits throughout the bag. Take a rolling pin, lightly pressing down, slide it over the bag several times to make large crumbs. As the English would say: “Easy-peasy”!
- For the batter:
- 450 g tea biscuits
- 230 g butter, room temperature
- 230 g brown sugar
- 230 g dark chocolate, at least 53% cocoa
- 4 tsp water, or rum, or cognac
- For chocolate icing:
- 125 g dark chocolate
- 125 g double cream
- Line the bottom and sides of the cake tin with baking paper. Set aside.
- Crush the biscuits into small pieces (about 1 cm). It is better not to use a food processor for this, the pieces will be too small.
- Beat the butter with sugar using a mixer. Continue until the mixture becomes light and more even.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces, and melt in a bain-marie. Add the melted chocolate to the butter and mix thoroughly. Mix well so that all biscuits are covered with chocolate. Add water or rum and fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and press lightly on top to shape the cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. The chocolate should harden.
- Make the icing. Put finely broken chocolate into a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cooling rack. Remove baking paper. Put a tray underneath to collect the leftovers from icing. Gently pour the chocolate icing all over the cake. Let the chocolate harden. Decorate the cake to your liking.