There was a secret ingredient to King Charles and Prince Harry’s first meeting in 19 months.
As reported by Tom Sykes on his Substack The Royalist, the monarch made sure to serve a specific chocolate biscuit cake when his 40-year-old son visited him at Clarence House last week.
“Insiders confirm no corners were cut: sandwiches, biscuits, and Harry’s beloved chocolate biscuit cake were all laid out,” the royal expert wrote in his newsletter.
Known to be Harry’s favourite – and often served to him when he went for tea with his grandmother – the chocolate biscuit cake is being seen as an olive branch. It was Charles’s way of showing Harry he was being welcomed back into the royal fold.
“As one source told me: ‘It was a proper tea – everything was there.’ A private reunion, yes, but also very deliberate theatre. Charles signalled to the world that Harry was back under his roof. Not a balcony return, yet, but the first step toward rehabilitation, and a direct rebuke to William.”
According to Darren McGrady, a former personal chef to Queen Elizabeth II, the chocolate biscuit cake has been a favourite of Harry’s for years, and was also the Queen’s most requested recipe.
“This chocolate biscuit cake is Her Royal Majesty the Queen’s favourite afternoon tea cake by far,” Darren, also known as The Royal Chef, once explained during an appearance on TODAY Food. “This cake is probably the only one that is sent into the royal dining room again and again until it has all gone.
“It is her favourite cake that she eats until it is all gone,” he continued. “If there is anything left when she has it at Buckingham Palace, it then goes to Windsor Castle so she can finish it there. I used to travel on the train from London to Windsor Castle with the biscuit cake in a tin on my knee. It was half eaten.”
The sweet treat is also a favourite of Prince William, who served a cake inspired by it as his ‘groom’s cake’ when he tied the knot to Kate Middleton in 2011.
“I used to prepare it for both of them when they had tea together,” Darren wrote on his website at the time. “The Queen would request the cake in the menu book for Sunday tea when she knew her grandson would be joining her from Eton.”
Here’s the recipe for the Queen’s favourite chocolate biscuit cake, so you can try it at home for yourself:
Ingredients:
- Cake:
- 1/2 teaspoon butter, for greasing the pan
- 8 ounces Rich tea biscuits or sweet cookies
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces granulated sugar
- 4 ounces dark chocolate
- 1 egg
- Icing:
- 8 ounces dark chocolate, for coating
- 1 ounce chocolate, for decoration
Method:
1. Lightly grease a 6-inch-by-2½-inch cake ring with the butter and place on a tray on a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Break each of the biscuits into almond size pieces by hand and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar until the mixture starts to lighten.
4. Melt the 4 ounces of the dark chocolate and add to the butter mixture, stirring constantly.
5. Add the egg and beat to combine.
6. Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake ring. Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the ring because this will be the top when it is un-molded.
8. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
9. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it stand.
10. Meanwhile, melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate in a double boiler or saucepan on the stove top over low heat. Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cake wire.
11. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and smooth the top and sides using a palette knife.
12. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature.
13. Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where the chocolate has stuck it to the cake wire and lift it onto a tea plate.
14. Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use to decorate the top of the cake.
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