Mrs Simkins: The Queen's Favourite Chocolate Biscuit Cake!

Photo by Mrs Simkins - The Queen's Favourite Chocolate Biscuit Cake!

Miss Windsor and I can scarcely believe our Queen has now been on the throne for 65 years. It’s a whole lifetime! She is our longest reigning monarch, Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years, seven months and two days, in case you are wondering!
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The Queen loves afternoon tea and there are several cakes she particularly enjoys: Dundee cake, ginger cake, sponge cake filled with jam and maybe cream, possibly Battenberg, but her favourite cake of all is chocolate biscuit cake. 

Photo by Mrs Simkins - The Queen's Favourite Chocolate Biscuit Cake!

​She loves this cake so much, apparently, if it appears on the royal table one day she asks for it to be kept for her and brought back to her tea table every day until it has all gone. If it appears on the tea table on Thursdays, and the Queen is going to Windsor Castle for the weekend, it has to be wrapped up and sent over. I believe it’s carried over by hand.

Photo by Mrs Simkins - The Queen's Favourite Chocolate Biscuit Cake!

​With any other cake, incidentally, as soon as tea is over the Queen is quite happy for any leftovers to go to the staff dining room for their tea the next day. But not when it’s Chocolate biscuit cake! You may remember, it’s Prince William’s favourite too and he had a super-size version as his ‘groom’s cake’ at his and Kate’s wedding back in 2011.

Photo by Mrs Simkins - The Queen's Favourite Chocolate Biscuit Cake!

The royal chocolate tiffin is made with dark chocolate, granulated sugar, butter, egg and Rich Tea biscuits and is covered with more dark chocolate. There may be glace cherries and nuts. Made in a round cake tin, it’s completely covered in chocolate and decorated.

What better cake to make in honour Her Majesty’s 65 year reign?

Here’s a similar mini version made in a pudding basin. Providing you can keep them cool you could make several for your garden party.

Toodles!

Mrs Simkins X 
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Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 75g butter, diced
• Approximately150g Rich Tea biscuits broken into small pieces  
• 25g cocoa powder
• 50g dried cherries

Plus:

• 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 15g butter, diced
• Decorations of your choice

Equipage: 

• You will need a lightly greased 1 pint pudding basin, lined with cling film: leave enough over-hang to take hold of easily

Method: 

• Melt golden syrup gently in a pan and stir in butter. Once butter has melted, stir in biscuits, cocoa powder and cherries. Pile into basin and smooth down evenly with the back of a dampened metal spoon. Make sure the bottom is level as this will be the base of the cake.

 

• Chill for 3 hours.

 

• To cover the cake: microwave chocolate in a heatproof bowl on High, in 30 second bursts: it will take a couple of minutes or so in all. (Alternatively, melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water: choose a bowl that will fit comfortably in the top of the saucepan but without the bottom touching the hot water.)

 

• Stir in butter towards the end of melting time.

 

• Loosen cake with a small palette knife and ease out of basin. Stand it, flat side down, on greaseproof paper. Remove cling film. Pour chocolate over the top smoothing it down the sides.

 

• Position decorations before chocolate sets. Trim away excess chocolate from the bottom with a sharp knife and peel off the paper. Keep cool and covered until ready to serve.

 

• Cut the cake at the table, in slices crossways rather than wedges, with a sharp knife dipped in boiling water.

 
Congratulations Ma’am!
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