No-Bake Chocolate and Vanilla Biscuit Cake Recipe

If you are looking for a fast and easy chocolate cake recipe that you can easily make at home you are in the right place!

No-Bake easy Chocolate and Vanilla Biscuit Cake

This Chocolate and Vanilla cake is light and airy with a silky chocolate pastry cream that contains very little sugar. This is the perfect amount of sugar for my taste because I like my desserts light on sugar but feel free to increase the sugar to 3/4 of a cup for a more sugary dessert. A great recipe for a quick and easy dessert. It takes less than 2 hours from start to finish and is a really delicious, light dessert!!!

2 ways to decorate your cake

The 1^st way is to use melted chocolate and a little butter (1/2 Tbsp) to make swirls with a skewer or a straw on top of the cake.

The 2^nd way is to use melted chocolate and make parallel lines on top of your cake with a teaspoon.

I prefer the 1^st way of decoration but whichever one you choose it gives the cake an extra crispy element which elevates it even more!

No-Bake Chocolate and Vanilla Biscuit Cake Recipe

Prep: 20m | Rest: 1h | Cook: 10m | Total: 1h 30m | Yield: 12

Equipment: 26cm / 11 inches Baking tray with removable sides

Ingredients:

For the base

225g Biscuits Petit Beurre, cut into 4 (1 pack)
100ml Milk (about 1/3 cup)

For the chocolate pastry cream

125g Dark Chocolate (Couverture)
125g plain Sugar (1/2 cup)
900ml whole Milk
60g Unsalted Butter (about 3 Tbsp)
35g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, sifted (2.5 – 3 Tbsp)
2 medium Eggs
50g Cornstarch (1/3 cup)
1 Vanilla capsule or 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the whipped cream

500ml Vegetable whipping cream
1 Vanilla capsule or 1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp Powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp Cream cheese (optional)
14g Cognac brandy* of your choice (2 Tbsp) (optional)
80g Chocolate, melted (optional for the top decoration)

Instructions:

For the base:

1. Add the cookies to a bowl and break them into 4 parts with your hands. Pour the 100ml of milk over the cookies, stirring lightly, and let them soak for 10 minutes or more until you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. Pour the soaked cookies into a round 26cm cake tin with removable sides, press them lightly with a spoon, and set it aside.

For the chocolate pastry cream:

1. For the EGG mixture: Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk in the cornstarch mixing them well. Add the sugar, mix lightly and set aside.
2. Hot Milk mixture: Heat the 900ml Milk in a saucepan over medium/high heat until it comes to a soft boil and take it off the stove.
3. Keep 3 soup spoons of the hot milk for the egg mixture and in the remaining milk add the 125g of Dark chocolate which we first cut into small pieces.
4. Pour the 3 tablespoons of hot milk little by little into the egg mixture while stirring constantly. Whisk in the 35g cocoa powder and mix until everything is incorporated.
5. Cut the 125g couverture into small pieces and pour them into the saucepot with the hot milk. Wait 1 minute and then mix well with a whisk.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepot with the hot milk off the heat, add the butter, and the vanilla, and transfer the pot to the stove, constantly stirring over high heat until it comes to a boil and thickens. (About 5 minutes). Do not remove the mixture from the heat unless you see bubbles popping on the surface. The bubbles signify that the pastry cream is ready and should be taken off the fire.
7. Pour the chocolate pastry cream, as it is hot, on top of the biscuits that you have layered in a round cake tin and cover it with a plastic wrap so that it does not develop a crust on top.
8. Cool it in the fridge for 1 hour.

For the whipped cream:

1. Pour in your mixer the vegetable whipping cream*, the vanilla, the cream cheese, the Cognac, and the 2 Tbsp powdered sugar and beat them on max speed for no more than 30 seconds, and the whipped cream is ready.

Assembling the cake in detail:

Add the cookies to a 26 cm cake pan with removable sides and press them lightly with a spatula or spoon to sit nicely.
Pour the chocolate pastry cream on top while it is still hot and spread it everywhere. (We can also add it cold but the hot one integrates better with the biscuits)
Cover it with a plastic wrap and cool the cake in the fridge for 1 hour.
After it cools, pour the whipped cream on top of the cake.
For decoration melt 80g Chocolate in a bain marie or in the microwave * and make circular rafts or parallel lines on top with a straw, skewer, or a spoon.
You can eat the cake as soon as you decorate it but if you add it to the fridge for 1 hour it will be even better.

Notes:

I use Metaxa Cognac for this recipe which is a type of brandy, and it gives a wonderful taste to the whipped cream, nevertheless, you can skip it.
To melt the chocolate in the microwave, set it at the middle temperature and give it 20 seconds each time until it melts. It takes about 5 times from 20 seconds each. Alternatively, we can melt the couverture in a bain marie.
The whipping cream should be cold before you start making the whipped cream. The vegetable-based cream I mention in this recipe is just a personal preference. It seems to be tastier than the normal ones (At least in my country).
The 2 Tbsp of cream cheese that I add for the whipping cream is because it makes a firmer whipped cream. If you don’t have it or you run out you can skip it.

Did you make this recipe? Or are you planning to make it? Let me know in the comments below, tag me on Instagram @freshpiato or show me your photos on Pinterest!