Let's make Queen Elizabeth's favorite cake, chocolate biscuit cake. This easy no-bake cake is made of broken biscuits and a rich, chocolate sauce holding them all together. All you need are a few hours in the fridge for this beauty to set up. Step-by-step photos teach you how to make this no-bake chocolate biscuit cake recipe.
Similar to a chocolate tiffin cake, this chocolate biscuit cake is made up of a chocolate sauce and crushed biscuits and requires no baking.
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, is known to enjoy a slice of chocolate biscuit cake each day with her afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace made by the Royal chef. Prince William also loves this delicious cake and served a chocolate biscuit cake as a groom's cake at his wedding to Kate Middleton.
Gather These Simple No-Bake Ingredients
Some notes on the ingredients
- Good Quality Chocolate. The chocolate you use makes a big difference in the flavor of this, so choose wisely. I like to use a combination of milk chocolate and dark chocolate. I use Callebaut chocolate callets. You can use chocolate bars just chop them into small pieces.
- Golden Syrup. This is a thick golden sugar syrup. While similar to American Molasses and Corn Syrup there is no true American swap so I suggest getting a bottle of your own Lyle's Golden Syrup, it can be found in many British sections in US food markets and also found on Amazon.
- Digestive Biscuits or Rich Tea Biscuits. I prefer using digestive biscuits but rich tea biscuits work beautifully as well! In an absolute pinch, you could try using graham crackers but I don't suggest it as graham crackers are thinner.
Switch It Up: Chocolate Biscuit Cake Edition
Some people like to add hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds to the chocolate biscuit cake batter when adding the biscuits. If adding I would use toasted nuts. If you are into fruit then you could add some dried cherries or apricots into the batter as well- you will need fewer biscuits depending on how many fruits and nuts you add.
You could also decorate the top of the cake with chocolate balls, like Maltesers, or crushed biscuits.
More British desserts we love are Eton Mess and Bread & Butter Pudding!
For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.
Mix, Chill & Slice: Your Easy Guide
Store the cake in an air-tight container or covered with cling film/ plastic wrap in the fridge for up to one week. If you live in a cool environment you can store the cake at room temperature for a couple of days.
More chocolate recipes
- This Viennetta Ice Cream Cake has layers of chocolate in between creamy vanilla ice cream, it's also no-bake and absolutely delicious!
- Flourless chocolate cake or chocolate cream puffs are such stunners for a dinner party! Trust me on this one, chocolate mayonnaise cake is SO good. Or try my sour cream chocolate cake.
- Orange and chocolate go so well together, you will adore this orange chocolate frangipane tart.
★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!
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Spoon Into Royalty: Chocolate Biscuit Cake That Wows
Let's make Queen Elizabeth's favorite cake, chocolate biscuit cake. This easy no-bake cake is made of broken biscuits and a rich, chocolate sauce holding them all together. All you need are a few hours in the fridge for this beauty to set up. Step-by-step photos teach you how to make this chocolate biscuit cake recipe.
- Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 6-10 Slices 1x
Ingredients
Cake
- 6oz (¾ Cup) Salted Butter, chopped into small chunks
- 8oz (240 Grams) Good Quality Chocolate, in small pieces
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- Pinch of Salt
- 3 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
- 3 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- 225 grams (8oz) Digestive Biscuits or Rich Tea Biscuits
Chocolate Ganache
- 4oz (½ Cup) Heavy Whipping Cream
- 120. grams (½ Cup) Good Quality Chocolate, in small pieces
- 2 Teaspoons Golden Syrup
Instructions
Cake
- In a medium saucepan add your butter chunks and chocolate then place over low- medium heat and stir constantly until everything is melted together. Do not walk away you don't want the chocolate to burn, so cutting the butter into chunks and stirring continuously prevents this.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt, once melted stir in the cream and golden syrup.
- Break the biscuits into small pieces, think postage stamp size, then gently fold them into the chocolate so everything is coated.
- Grease a 6-inch X 3-inch springform pan with butter then pour in all of the chocolate biscuit batter. Use a spatula to gently pack it all into an even layer. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for four hours or overnight.
Ganache
- Warm the heavy cream, by microwave or stove. Add the chocolate pieces to a liquid measuring cup then, add the warm cream and golden syrup. Let sit for five minutes then, whisk to combine, it will take a minute but will then turn into a lush chocolate ganache.
- Gently remove the outer lining of the springform pan and if you want to use an angled spatula to release the cake from the bottom of the pan then use a large spatula to transfer the cake to a wire rack. Place a plate under the wire rack to catch the drippings of the chocolate. Gently pour the chocolate ganache over the cake and use an angled spatula to help cover the sides. Once the cake is covered use the remaining ganache to pour down the sides of the cake to create chocolate drips. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes to set the ganache then transfer to a serving plate and enjoy. Store the cake in an air-tight container or covered with cling film/ plastic wrap in the fridge for up to one week.
Notes
* You can double the recipe and use a 9-inch X 3-inch springorm pan.
*You can freeze slices of the cake or the whole chocolate biscuit cake can be frozen. Make sure you wrap them tightly in cling film/ plastic wrap, twice, then wrap them in foil. If wrapping slices I will place them all in a freezer bag once wrapped in the foil. This all helps prevent freezer burn and the chocolate from taking on the odors of any other food in the freezer. Let the cake thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Prep Time: 5
- Chill Time: 4 Hours
- Cook Time: 5
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Stir
- Cuisine: British
yolande walton says
Sounds fantastic, I’m going to make this immediately!
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi Yolande, I hope you try the cake it is seriously sooooooo good I couldn't stop eating it! Let me know if you do! XX Liz
Niamh says
Lovely flavour with the golden syrup but ganache didn’t set for me at all. Going to use it with some ice cream as too liquid to eat as a standard biscuit cake
Donna Gresh says
You should include the size of the springform pan in the recipe instructions. You link to two different sizes on Amazon (6 inch and 9 inch). From reading all the details, apparently the 9 inch is for a double recipe.
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi Donna, thank you for bringing this to my attention, yes the recipe is written for a 6-inch by 3-inch pan. I have updated the card. Please let me know if you like the recipe, I would love to know. Take care. XX Liz
Dragana Pušica - Moje Grne blog says
I tried the recipe and it was just to our taste, my boys, children and husband really liked it. 🙂
Greetings from Serbia!
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi Dragana, thanks for reporting back! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! May I ask a huge favor, please? Next time you leave a comment would you be so kind to leave a star rating as well? That helps other readers and Google see that my recipe is credible. I would be so grateful!! Have a lovely weekend! XX Liz
Purple says
Hello! I don't have golden syrup, how can I substitute?
Thank's!
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi there, you could use light corn syrup instead, just missing a smidge of the beautiful flavor of golden syrup. Please let me know if you try the recipe and how you like it! XX Liz
Anonymous says