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Sweet on the royal wedding? Try these desserts

Feel like you’re at the palace with a version of William’s groom’s cake, fruitcake petit fours

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Video: Bake a royal wedding cake!

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    >>> royal wedding cakes, step by step . whether you're a prince and future princess or the boy and girl next door . the wedding cake is perhaps tone of the most important parts of your speciale day. you don't necessarily just have to pick one cake. prince william and kate picked two. dede wilson, contributing editor for bonn appetite magazine joins us. you know about cakes and desserts. a lot of people -- i'm surprised how many -- have said they are going to have on the day of the wedding, that evening, little parties.

    >> or even first thing in the morning. chocolate? i'll start off the day with chocolate.

    >> to have one of these cakes would be fun. first is a chocolate cake picked by prince william .

    >> this is a cake he's enjoyed since he was a child. it's been served to him in the palace. it's basically an icebox cake . it's so easy. we have chocolate and butter that we have already melted together.

    >> yum.

    >> help me add the cream.

    >> sure. heavy cream ?

    >> heavy cream . the chocolate can be up to a 60% dark chocolate . and this is called golden syrup . it's a very british ingredient. it's a liquid sweetener. it comes in a jar like honey. it's not as strongly flavored. i wouldle equate it to maybe like a brown sugar syrup with a slightly toasty flavor. it just makes it a little bit more intriguing and interesting. this is all stirred together on the stove.

    >> very low heat.

    >> and it's a no bake cake. so you were saying you know what these are. these are english digestive biscuits . that's what it may say on the label.

    >> sure, digestives.

    >> biscuit is the english word for cookie. you can dump it in. i will help you here. the reason i'm doing this as opposed to pouring the cookies over the chocolate is because this way we don't have to mess two pots.

    >> okay.

    >> this would be stirred more thoroughly. it goes into a springform pan that we buttered and lined with parchment.

    >> mm-hmm.

    >> it's refrigerated overnight.

    >> it turns into this. no cooking at all.

    >> when you unmold it, it's upside down so you have a smooth top.

    >> sure.

    >> this is a ganache frosting. how luscious. chocolate and cream.

    >> look how beautiful it is. it's almost like a candy bar . you can deck indicate it.

    >> we printed out initials and crowns.

    >> we have only a minute left to get to the other cake, the big cake.

    >> let's go to here.

    >> the fruit cake .

    >> we have whole orange, whole lemon, all the dried fruit .

    >> real fruit.

    >> soaking with brandy overnight. we'll get to it because it's been soaking for us. this is our batter. brandy. this is a pound cake batter but what we did in the test kitchen is we added almond paste to the batter. it's incredibly luscious and rich.

    >> you're making it a sheet cake and putting into petit fours .

    >> exactly.

    >> my grandmother had a cake like this. when you use real fruit and alcohol it's terrific.

    >> this gets smooth, very evenly, cut them out. here we go.

    >> thank you so much. this will be fun to try coming up. we'll have more

    Show transcript

TODAY recipes
updated 4/22/2011 6:59:14 PM ET 2011-04-22T22:59:14

Trends in wedding desserts come and go, but it’s a safe bet that whatever will be served at Prince William and Kate Middleton’s April 29 wedding will set trends for years to come. For Prince William’s groom’s cake, it has been announced that a chocolate biscuit cake will be served. And Kate Middleton has chosen a brandy-enhanced fruitcake for the main wedding cake. For those having royal wedding viewing parties or upcoming nuptials, Bon Appétit has a created a version of the groom’s cake and replicated the fruitcake into petit fours.

Recipe: Chocolate biscuit cake (on this page) Recipe: Wedding fruitcake petits fours (on this page)

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Recipe: Chocolate biscuit cake

This dense, ultra-rich dessert, enriched with crushed tea biscuits and glazed with chocolate ganache, was inspired by the cake Prince William has chosen as the groom’s cake for his royal wedding.

Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray
  • 1 1/2 cups plus 6 tablespoons (4 sticks minus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
  • 30 ounces bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), coarsely chopped
  • 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 6 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup
  • 2 7.5-ounce packages lightly toasted butter biscuits (such as Le Petit Beurre), coarsely chopped
  • For the glaze:
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Preparation

For the cake: Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper round. Stir butter and chocolate in a large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Stir in cream and golden syrup. Remove from heat; mix in chopped biscuit pieces to evenly incorporate. Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan; smooth top. Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours or overnight.

For the glaze: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly, stirring occasionally, until glaze is slightly thickened but still pourable.

Wrap a warm, damp kitchen towel around cake pan. Remove pan sides. Invert cake onto a cardboard round or the removable bottom from a 9-inch tart pan. Remove cake pan bottom and peel off parchment paper. Place cake on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Pour glaze over cake, allowing it to drip down sides; spread as needed to cover cake. Refrigerate cake until glaze sets, about 30 minutes.

Note: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and keep chilled.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Serving Size

16 servings

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Recipe: Wedding fruitcake petits fours

Inspired by Kate Middleton’s royal wedding cake, these petits fours consist of a traditional British fruitcake, also chosen by Princess Diana for her wedding. To decorate the petits fours with flowers — as Princess Kate’s cake will be — look for icing rose and narcissus blossoms; available at beryls.com.

Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • 2 cups assorted minced dried fruits (such as pears, apricots, and cherries; about 12 ounces total)
  • 3/4 cup dried currants
  • 3/4 cup brandy
  • 1/4 cup minced whole lemon (seeds discarded, peel and pith included)
  • 1/4 cup minced whole orange (seeds discarded, peel and pith included)
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar
  • 4 ounces almond paste
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped lightly toasted walnuts
  • For the white chocolate ganache glaze
  • 1 1/2 pounds white chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  • Assorted decorations (see introduction)
Preparation

For the cake: Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and let macerate overnight at room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet (about 18 x 13 x 1"); line with parchment paper. Whisk flour, salt, cardamom and nutmeg in a large bowl. Beat both sugars and almond paste on low speed in a large bowl until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add butter; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat to blend. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating just to blend each batch. Add walnuts and dried fruit mixture with soaking liquid; stir batter just to blend.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. 

Set a wire rack in a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Invert cake onto a work surface; peel off parchment paper. Trim 1/2 inch from all four sides. Cut cake into 1 1/2-inch squares. Place squares on wire rack.

For the white chocolate ganache glaze: Place chopped white chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Stir cream and corn syrup in a medium saucepan over low heat until mixture begins to simmer. Pour over white chocolate and let sit for 3 minutes, then stir until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly, stirring occasionally, until glaze is slightly thickened but still pourable.

Spoon glaze evenly over cakes to coat tops and sides. Refrigerate cakes on rack until glaze is set, about 30 minutes. Spoon a second layer of glaze over cakes. Refrigerate for another for 30 minutes.

Decorate petits fours. Transfer to platter.

Serving Size

Makes 70

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