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Prince William and Kate Middleton's No-bake Wedding Cake Is Surprisingly Easy to Make — and We Have the Exact Recipe

Baking, it seems, has become the new global pastime since we all stayed home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and baked more banana bread than we'd ever care to consume. But, at least we can now put those newly formed baking skills into making something epic — something like, Prince William and Kate Middleton's exact wedding cake.

Mentioned in The Royal Collection Trust's book, Royal Tea, the recipe shared for one of the two wedding cakes served at their historic nuptials is a delicious-sounding chocolate biscuit cake. This particular cake, the trust says, was served as the groom's cake at the wedding. Their shared wedding cake was a rather over-the-top fruitcake by famed British baker Fiona Cairns.

"It had to be multitiered, and it had to be a fruit cake," Cairns told People of the fruitcake. "[Kate] didn't want any gold or glitter. It wasn't to have any color on it all. It had to reflect the flowers of the four [U.K.] nations, and it also had to reflect the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace, where the cake was going to be, to show some of the architectural detail."

While you may not have the skills required for a multi-tiered confection with custom flower frosting work, the groom's cake may be an easier feat. In fact, the cake requires no baking at all, so really anyone can try their hand at recreating this confectionary masterpiece.

The Chocolate Biscuit Cake made at Prince William and Kates wedding
The Chocolate Biscuit Cake made at Prince William and Kates wedding

Lisa Linder/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021/Courtesy of Royal Collection Trust

All you need to do is gather some tea biscuits, plenty of chocolate, and ganache. Ready to try to make it yourself? Keep scrolling for the ingredients and directions via the Trust below.

Ingredients:

  • 225g Rich Tea biscuits

  • 115g softened unsalted butter

  • 115g unrefined caster sugar

  • 115g chopped dark chocolate (minimum 53% cocoa solids)

  • 2 tablespoons warm water

  • For the chocolate ganache

  • 125g dark chocolate, chopped

  • 125g whipping cream

Instructions:

Prepare a metal cake ring by greasing with butter and lining the sides and the bottom with baking paper. (Place the lined ring onto a flat tray and leave to one side until required.)

Break the biscuits into small pieces, around 1–2cm in size. Do not place into a processor – the biscuits should not become crumbs.

Place the softened butter and the sugar into a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.

Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or over a simmering saucepan of water.

Once melted, pour the chocolate onto the butter and sugar and mix thoroughly.

Finally, add the water and then the broken biscuit pieces. Stir well to make sure that all the biscuit pieces are coated with the chocolate mix.

Place the mixture into the lined cake ring and carefully but firmly push it down to create an even texture. Place the cake into the fridge to chill until the chocolate becomes firm. This could take up to 30 minutes.

For the chocolate ganache:

To prepare the ganache for the cake covering, place the chopped chocolate into a bowl and pour the whipping cream into a saucepan.

Bring the cream to a simmer and then pour over the chopped chocolate. Carefully stir until the chocolate has completely melted and the ganache is smoothly blended.

Remove the chocolate biscuit cake from the fridge and from the cake ring. Place on to a wire rack with a tray beneath to collect the excess ganache.

Carefully coat the chocolate biscuit cake with the warm ganache, making sure that all of the cake is evenly coated. Allow it to set fully before moving to your serving plate and decorating as desired.