Prince William Cake by Colleen

Hey, I saw you are doing England.  I've never made this but I always think about it when I'm in the grocery story and see McVities biscuits.  It's the cake Prince William had at the wedding.

http://www.theroyalchef.com/2011/04/the-royal-wedding-cake-recipe/

It is concerning that it calls for an uncooked egg, although I read some comments that said you could leave it out, and other versions of the cake do not include egg. 

Many call for golden syrup and some also call for nuts, and raisins.  (Which I personally would leave out - I do not care for raisins mixed in with other foods. )  

I'm off to google golden syrup now.  I assume it is a simple syrup or perhaps a simple syrup combined with honey.

The next day:

Well I am now in possession of McVities rich tea biscuits and golden syrup.  Our local Piazza's market had both in their tiny intl section.  

So I've been doing research and apparently there are as many ways to make the Prince William cake as there are ways to make meatloaf.  I've seen many many recipes and about all they have in common is using the biscuits and chocolate.   

Some require the golden syrup, and others just use sugar.  The ratios are really quite different as well.  So I will just wade into the pool and let you know how I do.  I suspect you can't go too far wrong, unless the cake won't set up.  

Later that night:

I made the cake. It's in the fridge now. I'll unmold it tomorrow. Some recipes call for glazing it which I think I'll do unless it doesn't come out of the mold. I wrote down what I did so if it works I'll type it up and send it to you. It's actually pretty easy if it does turn out. 

Golden syrup is a bit like corn syrup but with more Amber color and nicer flavor. 

Cake molds were specified which I don't have. So I used a cheesecake pan. I'll update you this afternoon. The excitement builds.

Yesterday:

Okay, so I've finished the cake and here is the recipe I ended up with (see below).  It ended up being very easy to remove the ring from the cheesecake pan, although the cake seemed a little sad and flat.

You could easily fix this, by doubling the recipe and filling up the 9 inch spring form pan.  Or you could find a smaller pan.  I created a glaze that was similar to a glaze from a chocolate tart recipe, sans cream.  It worked fine.  

When I cut the cake, it looked basically like the photos I've seen of Prince William Cakes online.  So far so good. It tastes good as well, but really, this cake is simply a very dry biscuit coated with chocolate.  

You need to use top quality chocolate, as all the flavor is coming from the chocolate.  I refrigerated the cake overnight and put the coating on in the afternoon and returned it to the fridge for an hour before cutting.  Perhaps if it sits longer, the biscuit absorbs some of the moisture from the chocolate and the consistency changes.  But if served quickly, you have a very crunchy biscuit suspended in chocolate.  

It is good, but I'm not sure why it is so popular.  It is easy and no bake, but in many ways, it tastes like a Cadbury Finger or a Tam Tam (store bought cookie/chocolate products).  

There is a lot of chocolate in the cake (1 full pound) and I thought it might be too much, but it really did need that much chocolate to coat the biscuits.

----Colleen 

Prince William Cake

1 package McVities Rich Tea Biscuits (8 oz)
¼ cup golden syrup
1 stick butter
8 oz milk chocolate
8 oz dark chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla

Break cookies into small pieces.  In a saucepan, melt butter with the golden syrup.  Add in chocolate, broken into pieces.  When melted, stir in vanilla until smooth and take off the heat.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the cookie pieces and toss to coat thoroughly.  Spray the inside of a spring form pan or cake mold with cooking spray.  Press the cookie mixture into the pan, trying to make sure there are no gaps.  You can cover the top of the mixture with Press and Seal or waxed paper and use it to press down the mixture so that it is even.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours.  When chilled, remove from cake mold/spring form pan.  Place the cake on a cooling rack to prepare to glaze.

Glaze:

8 oz dark chocolate
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2-3 tablespoons hot water

Break the chocolate into pieces  and put in microwaveable dish.  Microwave slowly until chocolate melts.  Stir in corn syrup and hot water.  Add more water as needed to make glaze thin enough to pour.  Pour over the top of the cake and use an offset spreader to spread out glaze and coat sides.  Once covered, you can refrigerate the cake again until set.  Decorate as desired and serve.

This recipe lives and dies on the quality of the chocolate.  So use a top quality bar.  You can use chocolate chips, but they will be more difficult to melt to a smooth consistency.  You can add almonds or hazelnuts and/or raisins to the cookie mixture if desired.

             --Colleen