Royal Wedding: Chocolate Biscuit Cake recipe
Serves 8 commoners.
1/2 teaspoon soft butter
8 ounces *McVities rich tea biscuits
4 ounces soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate
1 egg, beaten
8 ounces dark chocolate for icing
1 ounce white chocolate for decoration
1. Line the base of a springform pan with silicone paper, and butter the sides. Break the biscuits into almond-sized pieces and set aside.
2. Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Melt 4 ounces dark chocolate and mix with butter, add the beaten egg and mix well. Add biscuits and coat well.
3. Pour into the pan, making sure the bottom is well covered as this will be the top of the cake when it is unmoulded. Let set in a fridge for three hours. Let partially warm outside of the fridge while 8 ounces dark chocolate and white chocolate are melted. Flip cake and drizzle chocolate on top.
*You can buy 'McVities rich tea biscuits' at Amazon.com
Oh it's good alright. This recipe has been around for a while. The key is to use the chocolate bar you like eating because it's gonna be the predominant taste. I like to use 3 oz Lindt Milk Chocolate + 1 oz Lindt Excellence because I don't like very dark chocolate cakes.
Is there any cookie that can be bought in the grocery store that is similiar to the one used in this recipe? Thanks for recipe, sounds interesting.
Instead of the raw egg you can use a pastured egg product (egg beaters or that type of thing.) I raise my own chickens and know they're disease free so the raw egg doesn't phase me. I use them in my smoothies all the time. 
I have the same question as audrey0522;
Is there any comparable cookie in the US?
I don't know about a comparable cookie but they do sell the McVities on Amazon if you're really desperate to try it.
I have the book Eating Royally so thought I'd add the chocolate biscuit cake recipe as it written in the book. First part is what Darren McGrady (the chef) says about the recipe.
Chocolate Biscuit Cake
OK, you have to first understand that when I say "biscuit," I am referring to "cookies," not those big muffin looking things you eat at breakfast to keep the bacon grease off your hands! In Britain, biscuits are cookies . . . and . . . cookies . . . well those are things that keep popping up on your computer screens. That explained, this is an amazing no-bake cake best served straight from the refrigerator. I can't say how long it keeps because I have never had one last longer than five minutes before I was staring at a plate of crumbs.
Without a doubt, it is the Queen's favorite tea cake. We had request after request from palace visitors to divulge the recipe. Well, I've held off until now. Enjoy!
1/2 teaspoon butter, for greasing pan
8 ounces McVities rich tea biscuits
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate
1 egg beaten
8 ounces dark chocolate, for icing
1 ounce white chocolate, for decoration
1. Lightly grease a small (such as 6 x 2 1/2 - inch) cake ring with 1/2 teaspoon butter, and place on parchment - lined tray. Break each of the biscuits into almond size - pieces and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is a light lemon colour.
2. Melt the 4 ounces of dark chocolate in a double boiler. Add the butter and sugar mixture to the chocolate, stirring constantly. Add the egg and continue stirring. Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.
3. Spoon the chocolate biscuit 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 unmolded. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least three hours.
4. Remove the cake from the refrigerator, and let it stand while you melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate for the icing. Slide the ring off the cake and turn the cake upside down onto a cooling rack. Pour the 8 ounces of melted dark chocolate over the cake, and smooth the top and sides using a butter knife or offset spatula. Allow the chocolate icing to set at room temperature. Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where it has stuck to the cooling rack, and transfer the cake to a cake dish. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle on top of the cake in a decorative pattern.
I'm glad to know Amazon sells those tea biscuits -- I wouldn't have a clue where to get them otherwise! 
Just so we're clear, is this what you are referring to? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EPPC80/?tag=cakecentral-20
You know now that I read the recipe more closely, I have more questions:
~ Can any shortbread cookie be substituted for the tea biscuits?
~ Do you have to have a cake ring or can you use a regular 6 x 2 cake pan?
Thanks Relznik, that helps! I was looking at these cake rings http://cooksdream.com/store/bk.html and honestly in the stainless steel catagory I couldn't for the life of me figure out the difference in them other than size but they seem to have two different kinds of stainless steel rings. 
No, it's not a ring you pour it into. It's a spring-form pan.
It's a cake tin, but you undo a clip on the side to take it out... like this
http://www.kitchenaria.com/baking-and-roasting/baking-tins/spring-form-cake-tin/kitchenware_1244.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071026075442AAkhD7U
I grew up with this cake (well our version of it) - we called it 'chocolate concrete' and/or 'chocolate cake uncooked'. Love it still, however now I live in the USA so it is somewhat more expensive, (using imported ingredients) I make it for special occasions.
The ingredients can be purchased online or at some grocery stores that have an international section, (some grocery stores will actually order things for you)
here's my families recipe Enjoy
4oz butter
8oz McVite digestive biscuits
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp hot cocoa mix (cocoa powder can also be used for less sweetness)
melted chocolate for pouring over top
Method
Crush biscuits and add cocoa
melt butter and add syrup
once melted add to the crushed biscuits and mix
pour into a lightly greased pan/tin and press down
pour melted chocolate over the top and set in the fridge.
Ah!!! That makes more sense!! I have two 6 x 2 springform pans I can use already! Good, since the price of those biscuits are outrageous!!
By the way, what on earth is a "digestive biscuit"???
I *think* the nearest thing to digestive biscuits are Graham Crackers? I'm not 100% sure. It's something I asked my auntie!!
Digestive biscuits are a not over-sweet wholemeal biscuit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_biscuit
I found this reply on-line, re digestive biscuits
What is a digestive biscuit:
http://www.chineseop.com/others/What-is-a-digestive-cookie-.html
Sounds like those digestive biscuits are very similar to graham crackers. I don't have a box here to check the ingredients though. Graham crackers are darker, less sweet but still tasty little crackers. We like to crush them up for the base of cheesecakes and things like that.
I'm glad to know Amazon sells those tea biscuits -- I wouldn't have a clue where to get them otherwise!
Just so we're clear, is this what you are referring to? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EPPC80/?tag=cakecentral-20
You know now that I read the recipe more closely, I have more questions:
~ Can any shortbread cookie be substituted for the tea biscuits?
~ Do you have to have a cake ring or can you use a regular 6 x 2 cake pan?
Yes the amazon link is the correct biscuit/cookie.
I think shortbread would crumble too much as its so delicate. Tea biscuits are quite crisp. Like a cookie made for dunking.
Do you have a 6 inch spring form? That would work as well as a ring. I don't see why you couldn't use a 6 inch cake pan too. Anything is doable if we set our minds to it.
If I used a cake pan, I think I'd probably make 1 or 2 foil puller outer strips for easier removal. A trick I learned from a friend who bakes cheese cakes in regular cake pans.
Make foil strips, (width your choice) to fit the sides and depth of the pan and over a bit. I put the strips in a criss cross X ) Be sure to make the strips long enought that you'll have a bit of excess foil to grip. That way you can help ease the cheesecake out of the cake pan quite nicely. I don't see why it wouldn't work for the biscuit cake too.
If you don't want to be bothered with the strips just line the whole pan with foil or parchment and be done with it!
ooh, You know what I just though of?!! Animal crackers & arrowroot cookies. Those are available in US stores. They might be a fine sub. Texture is somewhat the same and the thickness is quite the same as social tea.
Thanks Warchild, that helps! Would biscotti be too much for this recipe?
good thinking warchild......anaimal crackers are a good substitute for a rich tea biscuit, and graham crackers are a good substitute for digestive biscuits.
Any pan/tin can be used so long as it's greased, also lining bottom of pan with greaseproof paper can add removal.
It is such a simple recipe, you can't mess it up
for people in the USA- graham crackers could be used instead of the rich tea biscuits.
it can be made in the pyrex dishes to, as long as pan is greased. HTH
Graham crackers have a different texture as they are a cracker, so the original recipe would be quite different.
Thanks Warchild, that helps! Would biscotti be too much for this recipe?
I'd imagine any type of cookie would do except soft or crumbly ones, it just wouldn't be the same as the oringinal recipe.
But then again, you might start a new tradition, Chocolate... Almond... fruit.... cashew.... pecan...... macadamia..... biscotti biscuit cakes, by the famous chef, !!bobwonderbuns!! 
Seriously though, I think the arrowroot or animal crackers would be the closest thing to tea bisuits in texture and taste.
And, If by chance you have family that live in Canada thats near a Zellers store, Zellers has their own brand of tea bisuits and they're quite lovely. I stock up when they go on sale as we like eating them as is.
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