Royal Wedding Groom's Cake

If you're anything like me and kept up to date with absolutely ever last detail of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, you probably know about the cakes (yes, multiple cakes for you non-royal watchers out there).  There was, of course, the traditional English wedding cake with lots of tiers and incredibly intricate decorations.  For this particular wedding, it was so massive and impeccably decorated that I'd say it more closely resembled a sculpture than a cake!

But, it was the other cake that caught my attention. At the very end of the press release announcing the designed of the big fancy sculpture cake was a small note: "The couple have also asked McVitie's Cake Company to create a chocolate biscuit cake for the reception at Buckingham Palace. The chocolate biscuit cake will be made from a Royal Family recipe and was specially requested by Prince William." My first thought was, "Royal Family recipe?  You mean they actually cook??"  But then my second thought was, "What on earth is a chocolate biscuit cake?  And where can I find this recipe to make it?"

Enter my dear friend Michele.

Without even being asked or hearing about my curiosity about this cake, she found a recipe on a blog she enjoys and posted it on my wall on Facebook!  One look at the recipe made me realize I wasn't going to eat an entire cake of this stuff (it's seriously rich...but oh so good!), so I made it cupcake-sized.  So, for all of my fellow Americans out there curious about this decadent delight that is chocolate biscuit cake...here is my slightly altered version!

Chocolate Biscuit Cake (Royal Wedding Groom's Cake)
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
3/4 c. + 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
15 ounces 60% bittersweet chocolate (I used a blend of Ghirardelli and Nestle's new dark chocolate chips)
6 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp. golden syrup (I used Lyle's, which I found at Cost Plus World Market)
1 7oz. package butter biscuits, chopped (I used Leibniz, also found at Cost Plus World Market)

Glaze:
4 ounces 60% bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

For the cake, prepare a cupcake pan with liners.  Over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate.  Once heated thoroughly and smooth, stir in the heavy cream and golden syrup.  Remove from heat and stir in butter biscuits.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared cupcake cups.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

For the glaze, place heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then pour over the bittersweet chocolate.  Mix until silky and smooth, then pour over the individual cakes.  Refrigerate 30 minutes to let the glaze set.

There you have it!  Apparently the royals must not be terribly high maintenance, because it's quite a simple recipe to make!  Since it requires no actual baking, it's easy to adapt to other size pans or molds.  This recipe makes enough for about 12 cupcake-sized cakes.  

Congratulations, William and Kate!  And William...thanks for introducing us to such a great dessert!!

<3 Riley

Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

There are few dessert items more classic than a chocolate cupcake!  So, when I really wanted to bake cupcakes the other day, that was what I decided on. However, I also happened to be out of butter, which tends to eliminate a lot of my usual recipes.  But, I stumbled upon Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe (which is the recipe on the back of all of their cocoa boxes, in case you were wondering) which requires no butter at all!  Now, the buttercream, of course, did require butter...but I had to do something while all those cupcakes were cooling so I made a field trip to Meijer.

This cupcake recipe is quite unique compared to a lot of other chocolate cake recipes I've tried.  It's not dense, but it's also not light and airy.  It's not super moist, but it's also not dry.  It's not overwhelmingly chocolatey and it's a bit on the sweeter side.  If I had made this recipe before, I probably wouldn't have made buttercream for the topping (the end result was a little too sweet for my taste...but I'm also a fan of bittersweet chocolate so take that suggestion with a grain of salt).  But, my grandma requested caramel buttercream so I adapted a recipe based on what I had on hand
and here's the results!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water (I just microwaved a bowl of water for 2 minutes)

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add in eggs, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and water.  Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.  Fill prepared paper cups 1/2 full with batter. Bake for 21-23 minutes.  Yield: 30 cupcakes

Caramel Buttercream Frosting

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, not packed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter or shortening
• 5 cups powdered sugar

Melt 1/2 cup butter with 1 cup brown sugar in a pan on the stove.  Bring to a boil and cook (while stirring constantly) for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and whisk in milk and vanilla extract.  Mix the other 1/2 cup of butter (or shortening) with 2 cups of powdered sugar until well-mixed.  Alternate adding the brown sugar mixture and remaining powdered sugar. 

There you have it...sorry for my absence here for the last month.  Finances haven't been great and thus I haven't gotten the chance to try out many inventive recipes.  I am, after all, a poor grad student!  Hopefully once all the conference I'm going to are over, I'll have more time for posting!

Happy baking!

Riley =)