Prince William's Chocolate Biscuit Cake

This post has been lying in my drafts box since about a week. I couldn't post it since I wasn't able to upload the pics. I know the wedding celebrations have died down, but better now than never, right?

I am not British. I have never stepped into the kingdom either. So the royal wedding was just like any other wedding to me. I was not among the billions of people around the world who were waiting for the D-day, following each and every news report about the wedding. Until I heard about the groom's cake. Now I just need an excuse to cook. So when I heard that Prince William's favorite cake's recipe has been made public, I knew I had to try my hand on it.
And when I cook, I do my homework beforehand. I spent a whole night reading about the royal family, the wedding preparations, the groom's cake and the fondness the Queen and her grandson share for this cake.
Preparing the cake was a breeze. I think it was the easiest cake I've ever prepared. I tweaked the recipe slightly to a large extent as I did not have enough dark chocolate in hand and I had no patience to let my butter "soften".

The end result was delicious. I am not sure if you can call it a cake. Nor can you call it a candy bar. It was somewhere in between. I don't think the English vocabulary has any word that can describe this dessert. Or if there is, then I for one haven't come across it. Anyway, coming back to the cake, it uses McVitie's, one of my favorite cookie brands(which is one of the main reasons I decided to prepare the cake at the first place). I was a little hesitant to prepare the cake since it contains raw egg, but then I reminded myself that I am a person who eats cake batter on a regular basis. So if that couldn't harm my health, this cake couldn't either. Of course I had to hide this fact from my family, or else they would never eat the cake ;) Strangely, the cake had a caramel flavor, though no caramel has been used in the preparation. Not that I am complaining. Talking about complaints, the only change I would like to bring about would be to use a smaller pan, since my cake was very thin.

Next time, I don't think I will need an excuse to prepare the cake. The cake was wonderful. No wonder it is one of Her Majesty's favorites.


Chocolate Biscuit Cake: (I have written down my version. Check the source for the original recipe.)
Source: http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/04/prince-williams-grooms-cake.html


Ingredients:
1/2 tsp. softened butter for greasing pan

8 oz. McVities rich tea biscuits, broken into almond-sized pieces

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter

1/4 cup extra fine granulated sugar

4 oz. (about 1/2 cup) chopped milk chocolate or milk chocolate chips
1 egg, beaten

8 oz. chocolate for icing

Method:
Lightly grease a 6" spring form pan.  Set aside.  

Melt 4 oz. chocolate in a double boiler or microwave it for 1 minute on high. Stir well. Add butter and stir till it melts. Add sugar and mix till well incorporated.  Add the egg and continue to stir.  Fold in biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.

Spoon the chocolate coated biscuits into the cake pan.  Press firm with the back of a spoon to fill in any gaps - the bottom of the cake will be the top when turned out.  Chill the cake in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

Remove cake and unmould on a wire rack.  Melt the 8 oz of chocolate (I did this in the microwave) and pour over the cake.  Spread smooth with an off-set spatula.  Allow chocolate coated cake to sit at room temperature until chocolate is set.  When set, run a spatula under the cake to remove from wire rack (chocolate makes it stick a little).  Transfer to a fancy serving platter, slice and serve.