Biscuit Cake Recipe | Chocolate Biscuit Cake
This easy recipe for no bake biscuit cake is perfect to make as a tasty and indulgent dessert. Classic biscuit cake features your favorite biscuits (cookies) soaked in coffee and layered with a homemade chocolate sauce. Prepare as a sweet treat with my step-by-step instructions, video and photos!
About Biscuit Cake Recipe
I have many wonderful dessert recipes on the site, from Chocolate Cake to homemade Ice Cream and lots of sweet goodies in between.
This is a recipe which I had seen in my childhood in one of the cookery shows on the Indian Doordarshan channel and I still remember it. I had never forgotten this one. I used to make a few changes and make this no bake biscuit cake on occasions.
After several requests from readers for a no-bake cake made with biscuits (known as cookies in the US and other regions), I am sharing this foolproof recipe that’s a hit every time.
Speaking of, here are three more recipes for desserts that use biscuits and crackers shared on the blog:
Likewise, this chocolate biscuit cake is easy to prepare with nearly any sweet biscuit you like. I use glucose biscuits, but feel free to make no-bake cookie cake with Marie biscuits, your favorite digestive biscuit, or sweet crackers.
The taste is similar to a traditional chocolate cake, but has a slightly firmer and more tender texture. Biscuits are briefly soaked in coffee, then layered with a delicious chocolate sauce.
I have prepared the sauce with Cadbury’s Bournville raisin and nut chocolate for even more deep flavor. You can also use Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate, couverture, or compound chocolate, if you prefer. (However, do not use Cadbury’s Silk Chocolate. It does not work well for a smooth chocolate sauce.)
Keep reading for the simple steps to prepare the best no bake biscuit cake!
I have also shared a few cake recipes that don’t require an oven, like Pressure Cooker Chocolate Cake and Cooker Cake.
How to make Biscuit Cake (No Bake)
Prep The Ingredients
1. First assemble all the ingredients. You will need the following:
- 250 grams (8 ounces) of glucose biscuits or other sturdy cookies or crackers you prefer
- 80 grams (roughly 3 ounces) of chocolate
- ½ a cup of milk
- ½ tablespoon of instant coffee
- 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
2. Line a cake pan or a loaf pan with parchment paper, butter paper or aluminium foil. You can use any medium-sized cake pan.
You can use any medium-sized loaf pan. If you do not have a loaf pan, you can also use a regular medium-sized round pan or a tray which has some height and depth.
Make Coffee Solution
3. Add ⅓ cup of water to a small sauce pan and heat slightly over a low flame. The water should be warm or slightly hot, but not simmering.
4. Now pour the warm water into a medium bowl.
5. Add a ½ tablespoon of instant coffee. If you prefer to make this biscuit cake without coffee, simply substitute with drinking chocolate, hot cocoa powder, or regular cocoa powder or ground cacao.
6. Mix very well. Set aside.
Make Chocolate Sauce
7. Next add ½ cup of milk in the same saucepan. You can also use almond milk or cashew milk or soy milk for a dairy-free biscuit cake.
8. Add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder.
9. Mix very well with a wired whisk until the sauce is smooth without any lumps.
10. Next add 1 tablespoon of sugar. You can add more or less depending on personal taste and how sweet your chocolate is.
The cadbury chocolate I use is already quite sweet, but bittersweet or dark chocolate bars might need a bit more sugar.
11. Place the pan on stove top and turn the heat to low.
12. Stir with a wired whisk to dissolve the sugar.
13. Slowly bring this cocoa mixture to a gentle boil as you continue to whisk regularly.
14. After it comes to a gentle boil, then continue to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes on a low to medium-low heat. Continue to stir often.
15. After 2 to 3 minutes, switch off the heat and place the saucepan on your kitchen countertop. Add the chopped chocolate.
16. Begin to mix the chocolate into the sauce.
17. The heat of the cocoa sauce will melt the chocolate. Mix to a smooth glossy consistency. At this point, you can add some chopped nuts or dry fruits if you want.
Also, check the taste and add more sugar if required. But do keep in mind the sweetness of the biscuits you will be using. Set the pan aside so that it cools slightly to warm.
Making Biscuit Cake
18. Take each parle glucose biscuit and dip in the coffee solution. If using glucose or marie biscuits or digestive biscuits, then just dip for a second and quickly remove.
Do not keep it for any longer or the cookies will become too soggy.
19. You just need to coat the parle g biscuits with the coffee syrup.
20. Then place the biscuit in the pan lined with parchment paper. Continue to dip each biscuit in the coffee syrup and line the pan with a single layer of biscuits.
21. Stack on top to make a second layer of dipped biscuits. Depending on the size of the pan, you can make 2 to 3 layers.
22. Now pour half of the chocolate sauce over the biscuit layers, and spread it evenly but gently with a spatula. Tilt the pan a bit so that the chocolate sauce spread all over the biscuit layer.
23. Make another third layer of coffee solution dipped biscuits.
24. Then make a fourth layer.
25. Finally, pour the remaining chocolate sauce and spread it evenly.
26. Seal the pan with a lid or cover it with foil. Place in refrigerator and let the biscuit cake set for at least 4 to 5 hours. You can also keep it in the fridge overnight.
27. Below picture is of the biscuit cake after being set.
28. When ready to serve, carefully lift the sides of the parchment paper and place the biscuit cake on a chopping board or tray.
29. Slice the no bake cake gently.
30. The chocolate biscuit cake will have many layers. It looks as pretty as it tastes, so I suggest you serve it in such a way that the layers can be seen. And be sure you also eat those yummy little bits of biscuits and chocolate left on the parchment paper!
31. Serve biscuit cake as a dessert after meal or with tea or coffee. You can also enjoy it as a sweet snack anytime of the day.
Expert Tips
- Biscuits or Cookies: To make these biscuit cake feel free to use any type of sweet cookies or biscuits or crackers. You can also use Marie biscuits, digestive biscuits and Graham crackers.
- Type of Chocolate: For the chocolate use a good quality compound or couverture chocolate. You can also use dairy milk chocolate.
- Sweetness: Depending upon the sweetness of the chocolate and biscuits you can vary the amount of sugar. E.g if you use dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate or semisweet chocolate, you will need to add more sugar.
- Scale: The recipe can be easily scaled to make a big batch of this sweet treat for kids parties or birthdays.
- Cocoa Powder: Swap cocoa powder with drinking chocolate or ground cacao.
- Coffee: Use instant coffee powder or granules. If you don’t prefer coffee replace it with drinking chocolate or cocoa powder or ground cacao.
- Nuts: For some crunch you can also make a layer of finely chopped nuts like almonds, pistachios, walnuts and cashews.
More Decadent Cakes To Try
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Ingredients
For coffee solution
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ tablespoon instant coffee
For chocolate sauce
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar or add as required
- 80 grams chocolate or ½ cup chopped or broken chocolate
Other ingredients
- 250 grams glucose biscuits (can use marie biscuits or sweet crackers or digestive biscuits)
Instructions
Preparation
- First assemble all the ingredients.
- Line a cake pan or a loaf pan with parchment paper, butter paper or aluminium foil. You can use any medium sized cake pan.
Making coffee solution
- Take water in a small sauce pan and warm it. The water should be warm or slightly hot.
- Then take the warm water in a bowl. add ½ tablespoon instant coffee.
- Mix very well. Keep aside.
Making chocolate sauce
- Next milk in the same sauce pan. add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.
- Mix very well to solution without any lumps.
- Then add 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Keep the pan on stove top and keep the flame to a low.
- With a wired whisk stir so that all the sugar dissolves.
- Let this cocoa mixture come to a boil.
- After it comes to a boil, then continue to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes on a low to medium-low flame. Stir often.
- After 2 to 3 minutes, switch off the flame and add the chopped chocolate.
- Keep the pan down and begin to mix.
- The heat of the cocoa solution will melt the chocolate. Mix to a smooth glossy consistency.
- At this point you can add some chopped nuts or dry fruits if you want.
Making biscuit cake
- Take each glucose biscuit and begin to dip in the coffee solution. If using glucose or marie biscuits or digestive biscuits, then just dip and remove in a second. Do not keep for more time as biscuits will break.
- You just need to coat the biscuits with the coffee syrup.
- Then place the biscuit in the pan with the parchment paper. Similarly dip each biscuit in the coffee syrup and line the pan with a single layer of biscuits.
- Also make a second layer. Depending on the size of the pan, you can make 2 to 3 layers.
- Now pour half of the chocolate sauce on the biscuit layers and spread it evenly but gently with a spatula. You can also tilt the pan slightly so that the chocolate sauce spreads all over evenly.
- Make another third and fourth layer of coffee solution dipped biscuits.
- Finally pour the remaining chocolate sauce and spread it evenly.
- Seal the pan with a lid or with a foil. Keep in fridge and let the biscuit cake set for 4 to 5 hours. You can also keep overnight.
- Now carefully lift the sides of the parchment paper and keep biscuit cake on a chopping board or tray. Slice the cake gently.
- The chocolate biscuit cake will have layers. So while serving you can serve in such a way that the layers can be seen.
- Serve biscuit cake as a dessert after meals or as a sweet snack.
Video
Dassana’s Notes
- If you do not plan to use a coffee solution, then substitute drinking chocolate or ground cacao or cocoa powder with coffee.
- Use any sweet biscuits or cookies or sweet crackers of your choice. You can also use Marie biscuits or sweet digestive crackers.
- For the chocolate, you can opt to use a good quality couverture or compound chocolate.
- Add sugar as needed in the chocolate sauce depending upon your taste buds and the sweetness of the chocolate and biscuits.
- Use a regular loaf pan or a medium-sized round pan. You can also use a baking tray which has some height and depth.
- The recipe can be scaled to make a large batch for kids party.
- Nutrition info is for 1 slice of biscuit cake.
Nutrition
This Biscuit Cake Recipe from the archives first published on December 2017 has been updated and republished on December 2021.
This recipe is excellent. Have prepared it earlier. I prepared it today and have prepared it four days prior for someone’s birthday.
How can I store it? Can I freeze it or just refrigerate it? Also it is prepared for someone who lives 2 hours away.
Thank you Nicole. Glad you liked the biscuit cake and made it again.
You can refrigerate it for 3 to 4 days. Keep it well covered so it does not dry out.
Freezing also works if you want to store longer. It will become quite firm when frozen. After thawing in the fridge, it softens again, though the texture may be slightly softer and more fudgy.
For travel (2 hours), just keep it chilled and carry in an insulated bag or ice box so it stays firm. I hope this helps.
Thank you for the reply.
Dear Madam, instead of layering the biscuits like this, what if I break the biscuits into pieces. Then mix in the chocolate sauce and press down firm in the cake tin.
Then add chocolate sauce (leftover sauce) on top and then set it in fridge? Will this method work?
Also why is it that you dip biscuits in coffee solution and then layer? Can I skip this step so that the biscuits retain their crispness?
Yes, you can do it that way. It will set well, but the texture will be different.
When you break the biscuits and mix with chocolate sauce, it becomes more like a dense, fudge-style cake. While slicing, it may crumble a bit and you won’t get clean layers.
Dipping the biscuits in coffee is done to soften them. This helps the cake set into soft, cake-like layers. If you skip dipping, the biscuits will stay crisp and the cake can feel dry or crumbly.
If you want a slight bite, you can just give a quick dip. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for your reply.
Can I use graham crackers for the biscuits?
Yes you can use graham crackers.
Wow Dassana I love just all your dessert recipes! I’m just a so sweet tooth and these recipes make me so happy! Thank you so much!
Wow Dassana…thank u so much…will b looking forward for your air fryer recipes…it will b helpful to many like me
welcome shubha. i have still not started. but yes i do remember and will eventually add the recipes.
Hi dassana…this is so yummy…I will have to prepare once again…literally finger licking…thank u…
Today I had prepared ur methi muthiya in airfryer….I did not put soda…I baked it 180 for 25 min…preheated for five min…it twas excellent…first time I prepared muthiyas..
I had read that while preparing cake in fryer can follow the same steps of otg but should reduce temp to 25 to 30.. So I baked cake in steel vessel lined in parchment paper..at 160.n it took same time as of otg…I felt texture of cake was good…n even economical wen compared to my gas oven cos preheating requires around 20 min…wer as here three to five min is sufficient… Wat I learnt is should use bit wide vessel otherwise while raising the cake touches to coil….mine is Philips…at the same time vessel should not cover fully the pan…some space is required for air …
I had also prepared bindi…sliced thinly put all the masalas n baked at 160 for 30 min…
Carrot halwa I prepared using two carrots…got some idea in you tube n slightly altered…it was good but ur carrot halwa is ultimate…this is just my extension of previous comment …
thank you shubha for the feedback on biscuit cake and carrot halwa. today i created some space in my kitchen and removed the air fryer and kept it on the counter top. so i will plan accordingly and then add the recipes.
also thanks for sharing the tips on air frying. i have seen some recipes on baking in air fryer, but never checked them. they just came on my fb wall and i did not see the details. even koftas turn out good. you can try them. i tried onion pakoras, but i did not like the texture. it was not crispy as the fried ones. veggie fries can be easily made. i did try with karela and it was good. nicely golden and crispy.
Hi dassana…i prepared this using good day n white cooking chocolate… It was good…I stored in freezer…outside it became bit liquidy..then in air fryer I prrpared mirchi pakoda…it was good ..I also prepared carrot halwa using milk powder….can u pl guide me can v use milk to prepare halwa in airfryer..I mean so much liquid is it OK??? I did in steel vessel…i had also baked cake in 160 degrees… It came out good…….pl post oats granola bars…
thanks shubha for sharing the recipe feedbacks. i have never made halwa in air fryer i have no idea. i have just used air frying to make dishes which are always deep fried like samosa, pakoda etc. so i am unable to help you. i know about baking cakes, but i was scared with the idea of baking in an air fryer. thanks for letting me know. sure give me some time. i have taken a note of your request.
Thankyou so much for this recipe.I made it.It was delicious.
welcome beena and thanks for sharing ????
I just love your website. your recipes are just too perfect. Your pictures always motivate me to try new recipes. Also most ingredients that you use are readily available at home. three cheers.
This recipe is just a wonderful concept.
Regarding this cake, my question is what can I use as a substitute for coffee? We NEVER have coffee.
thanks sunita. nice to know. you can just skip coffee and dip the biscuits in some milk instead of water. alternatively you can use ½ tablespoon drinking chocolate or cocoa powder in the warm water and mix.
Hello Dassana,
Me and my husband are ardent followers of your blog. We love and swear by your recipes.
Recently, I have been experiencing an issue on your webpage/ blog. Is there any way to get the list of posted recipes sorted in order of posting dates – like the last 15 recipes. I keep missing new recipes and hate that.
Sorry to bother. May you keep sharing your wonderful collection with us. Happy 2018!!
Regards
Thanks Sayanti for your kind words and positive feedback. As such we don’t maintain a list for sorting recipes in order. However you can follow us on facebook or twitter. We share the newly posted as well as old recipes there. Happy New year.
Its mouth watering dassana….bit busy now…will try after two weeks….as usual m having few doubts;-)…can I place first biscuit in the pan n later sprinkle liquid…I feel it may break if I do like u….secondly my white cooking chocolate still is there can I use that here instead of cadbury????
thanks shubha. its better to dip each biscuit and then layer. just dip and remove. do not allow the biscuit to soak. when you dip and remove, the biscuit soaks enough. if you pour the coffee solution, the biscuit layer can be become too pasty or mushy. yes you can use white chocolate.