A Recipe For Small Chocolate Biscuit Wedding Cake for 40-50 people
The idea to make your own wedding cake can be tempting and daunting at the same time. However, being a baker for most of my life, I think with the right recipe and good planning, it very possible for anyone to make their own wedding cake.
Here, I share my quick wedding cake recipe idea which I believe will be manageable for all levels.
Tips Keep In Mind!
Keep in mind, no cake looks perfect, and sometimes we may look for extra flaws in our own work. So level your expectations. What does a wedding cake mean to you and what are where are you willing to compromise? Also, you can easily cover up any “flaws” with decorations.
Do a trial run. Way before you decide to make your own cake, do a trial run. You don’t have to do the full size cake but perhaps half portion. See how the sugar fondant works out for you. And which decorations you can manage to make the cake look nice.
Start the cake 2 days before your wedding day. The cake will set overnight so it is hard for covering with sugar fondant. Once the cake is covered in fondant it is airtight and will not go soft or stale. And chocolate biscuit keeps for 2 weeks anyway…so if you want you can make it even earlier.
Servings
This is a small cake but since it is chocolate biscuit cake then the servings can be small so this cake is suitable for a wedding party of 20 up to 40 – 50 people. This depends on the serving size whether you go for dessert size or finger size serving.
Why A Chocolate Biscuit Cake?
This recipe uses chocolate biscuit cake as the cake flavour. I do this so there is no need to mess around with supporting the bottom layer.
You see normally, when you add several tiers of cake on top of each other, the weight of the top tier can make the bottom tier sink. And thus, good supporting system is needed so that the cake holds a good structure.
But I think if you are attempting your own wedding cake, then chocolate biscuit cake is strong and heavy, and will hold the top layer beautifully. So this makes making a wedding cake a lot easier and worry free.
Also, chocolate biscuit cake is the most popular cake in Ireland, and it is loved by children and adults alike.
Ingredients
750g butter
900g dark chocolate
900g milk chocolate
9 tablespoons golden syrup
300ml fresh cream
600g digestive biscuits
600g tea biscuits
1kg of Ready to Roll Icing (supermarket brands will work perfectly)
Method For Chocolate Biscuit Wedding Cake
1. Melt butter on low heat in a large pot or saucepan.
2. Add cubed chocolate to the melted butter. Mix until all is melted and combined.
3. Add golden syrup and fresh cream, mix again.
4. Remove the pot from the heat.
5. Roughly chop and crush biscuits. Add them to the chocolate mixture. Mix well until all is evenly covered in chocolate mixture. (Use a strong wooden spoon as it will be difficult to mix.)
6. Divide the mixture in the 6 inch and 10 inch round baking tin. Press and smooth the top.
7. Place the baking tins in a fridge to set overnight (or until its is hard and sets which can take up to 6 hours).
8. Next day, remove tins from the fridge. To remove the cakes from the baking tins using a thin knife to slowly edge between the cake and the tin. Then the cake should come away easily.
9. Place the larger cake on a 12″ cake board and the smaller cake on a 6″ cake board. To stick the cakes on the board you can use a teaspoon of butter to spread in the middle of the cake board where the cake will go.
10. Roll the fondant icing thinly (about 0.5-1 cm thick) and roughly 12″x12″ size. Place this over the larger cake so that all sides are covered. Using a technique of pulling, stretching and smoothing the fondant will cover each part of the cake nicely. Here is a video to show you how to do it.
11. Repeat the same with the smaller cake but this time roll out the icing approx. 8″x8″. As the cake board for the smaller cake is 6″, the same size as the cake, then the fondant should cover the edges of the board and make it invisible.
12. Place the smaller cake in the middle of the larger cake and press gently.
13. Hide the edges of the cakes with sprinkles, pearls, ribbon and pipe a little bit of buttercream in small dots as on the picture below.
14. Cover the cake with your chosen decorations, such a fresh flowers, fondant butterflies and other decorations.
But if you don’t feel up to the challenge, then contact me or your local baker to make you a chocolate biscuit wedding cake.
I used this really simple recipe when making part of my friend’s 3 tier wedding cake. It was absolutely phenomenal and everyone was raving about it!! Thanks so much for sharing such a delicious and easy to follow recipe. Really cannot wait to make it again
Hi Sorcha, we are delighted it worked out so well, and well done for making your friends wedding cake! That’s a huge achievement! Bravo 😀
Do you need to have a layer between choc biscuit cake and the fondant icing?
Hi Sheelagh, you can probably try to do without and see how that works. Sometimes, it helps to make is smoother and subsequently easier to apply the fondant. But it might also be a matter of preference and your own technique. Hope that answers your questions. Many thanks for your comment 🙂
Hi, I was hoping to make a 6″ high biscuit cake. Best to layer 2 cakes for this and if so what would you put in the middle? Thanks
Hi Wes. If you have a tall cake tin, you can do it all in one go too. But tall 6″ cake tins aren’t very widely available, at-least we haven’t seen any. So to layer the 2 cakes, you can use a bit of melted chocolate or a bit of buttercream. This seems to work well. Best of luck!
Hi Wes. If you have a tall cake tin, you can do it all in one go too. But tall 6″ cake tins aren’t very widely available, at-least we haven’t seen any. So to layer the 2 cakes, you can use a bit of melted chocolate or a bit of buttercream.
OR you can very briefly place on of the cakes on a heated pan for a few seconds until the chocolate starts to melt a little and then place it on top of the other cake. The chocolate will set and bind the two layers. Just be mindful with the timing, you only want the chocolate to melt a little bit, and yet enough for it to bind. Bets of luck!
Hello,
I’m making a chocolate biscuit cake for my brothers wedding and this recipe looks ideal for size. Just wondering if I want to add maltesers and crunchie pieces do I need to reduce the biscuit quantity or increase chocolate so it will all come together okay for slicing up??
Hi Kathy, sorry for delayed response, we were on a little winter break. Yes, your approach sounds correct to reduce the biscuit ration or increase the liquid chocolate mix. You can always do a small cake to test out, and see how it goes, and you can always have some extra chocolate ready if not everything gets evenly covered. Sounds delicious with maltesers and cruncies! Best of luck x
Hi I am making this and will put butter cream under the fondant does the cake need to be stored in refrigerator as I will not be using for 2 days ? I was just thinking cake would melt ???
Can you please advise how I should apply fondant to a chocolate biscuit cake to avoid the top looking lumpy, or if a layer is needed what could I use ?
How long in advance of the wedding can this cake be made. I ask this because of the inclusion of fresh cream.
Hi Eve,
Thank you very much for going to the trouble of putting the above recipe and method details on line. I did a trial run yesterday and although I wasn’t satisfied with my efforts, I will persevere. It was really helpful to have your info. I was wondering, however, if it would look stupid if I did a third tier (12in fruit cake) as the bottom tier with almond icing (marzipan) and covered in royal icing. The top two would be as per your recipe above. It’s for my daughter’s wedding shortly before Christmas. Just looking for a bit of advice from an expert. Thank you.
Hi Katherine, of course you can do the fruit cake as bottom tier, but in that case you would have to use some support system before you put the chocolate biscuit cake tiers on top. But the support tubes are easily found online or in baking shops. There might be a colour difference in the tiers (as I find royal icing to be whiter than fondant) but I think using flowers and other decorations masks the difference. You can also buy white food colouring and add some to the fondant until you are happy that the colour of the fondant and royal icing is as close as possible. But I think it will be no problem to use the different kinds of finish on the tiers. I hope this answered your questions, and sorry for the delay, not so nifty on the old computer. 🙂
eve just wondering by adding cream will that make the biscuits soft after a day as i have to make the cakes 2 days before the wedding and would like the biscuits to be still crunchy on the day.
So sorry for delay in coming back to you. In our experience it does not make the biscuits soft, but you can of course exclude the cream and see how it works out. Let us know how it goes.
Hi
I’m making my own wedding cake. 3 tiers, bottom and middle are chocolate biscuit and the top a plain sponge. Just wondering do I need to place cakes on boards when stacking or can I just sit them on each other. I don’t think I’ll need supports as only top layer is sponge.
Thanks
Hi, I,ve looked at the biscuit cake recipe, .
I am in the process of going to make a 6i
nch, cake as a top tier wedding cake, however your recipe is for a 6inch and 12inch, I would like to ask how much ingredients just for 6inch, as I wouldn’t like it to be higher than cakes made. Also amount of icing.
Many thanks
Marguerite
hi
my daughter loves the sound of this for her wedding cake just wondered how deep the tiers are .Also if I made a 8 inch madeira cake what support would I need or should i swap it around and make the madeira the top tier and adjust the receip for an 8inch biscuit tier.
thank you.
Hi just wondered how deep these tiers are thanks
Hey Eve,
I have one quick question regarding the dark chocolate. Is it a 53%, 63% or even 70?
Milk chocolate at 33%?
Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Wendy
Hi Wendy, it can be which ever you like. I personally don’t like it too dark, so I would be around 50-60 mark. But you can experiment with different rations and see which you prefer. There is a nice balance of dark and milk that makes the cake nicest.
This recipe looks great – thank you. If I wanted to make it rectangular, what size tin would you suggest for this recipe?
Hi. This is probably a silly question but do I leave the cake board under the smaller cake when I place it on top or take it off? And will the top tier just stay there and not slide off?😊
Hi Trish. Not at all. Normally yes, the smaller tier has a cake board underneath which is covered (so hidden) by the fondant. And yes, the top tier can slide off, so you can use a little bit of melted chocolate, or buttercream which acts like a glue and keeps it in place. But also if you don’t move the cake too much, the chocolate biscuit tier should be heavy enough that it might not move at all. You might juts be unfortunate if it does. Good luck!
Going to use this recipe but make a 3rd tier
Should I use dowels to support the tiers or is biscuit cake sturdy enough? I usually only stack sponge 3tiers high
Hello Carol, Biscuit cakes doesn’t need dowels. But I sometimes use melted chocolate or buttercream in between tiers to secure. Are you using fondant or buttercream to cover the cake?