Chocolate Biscuit Cake is the recipe our girl scout troop used to represent Denmark at World Thinking Day. My favorite Girl Scout event, World Thinking Day is a day when troops get together to discuss different countries and honor the fact that Girl Scouts is a global organization. In late February, each troop is assigned a country which they represent with a presentation and a recipe.
So Denmark. We were pretty happy to represent Denmark this particular year.
Picking one recipe was tough because there are so many great Danish recipes. At one point our plan was to go with “Aeblekage” a simple dessert made with crumbs and applesauce, but in the end we decided to make something a little easier to divvy up between 200 Dixie cups. We are going to make "Kiksekage" or "Chocolate Biscuit Cake", a no-bake recipe where you layer squares butter cookies in a matrix of chocolate, butter and (depending on the recipe) eggs and/or cream.
Loaf Pan Chocolate Biscuit Cake
My plan at first was to use the recipe on the Lurpak butter website which calls for pasteurized eggs. Since I couldn't find Danish butter anywhere in Austin, I tested Lurpak's recipe using KerryGold Irish butter. I was ready to introduce that recipe to the girls when last night I stumbled upon an even better one on a blog called My Danish Kitchen. Gitte had adapted the European pan size to the standard American 9x5 loaf and specified the type of butter cookies, which in this case were Leibniz which are pretty easy to find. Most importantly, she swapped out the raw eggs for cream. Not that there is anything wrong with pasteurized or "Safe Eggs", but I liked the smooth, silky, texture of the cream based ganache a little better.
Though I've only made a "mini" version using one of my tiny 3x5 inch loaf pans, Gitte's recipe was perfect and I'm looking forward to scaling it up to 200 servings this weekend. The girls in our troop have stated that they do NOT like dark chocolate, but their Thinking Day dessert might change their little fourth grade minds.
Here's the adapted version of Gitte's from My Danish Kitchen and a Danish web site called madgal.dk. If you happen to have a 3x5 loaf pan just make ¼ of what's below.
Recipe
Danish Chocolate Biscuit Cake for Thinking Day
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 8 oz. semisweet chocolate
- 7 tbsp butter, room temperature
- 7 oz butter biscuits (Leibniz)
Instructions
- Line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with non-stick foil (Release).
- Place the chocolate in a bowl.
- Combine whipping cream and confectioners’ sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Slowly pour the hot cream mixture over the chopped chocolate. Stir the mixture until shiny and smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes. Cut butter into small pieces and add to chocolate mix, stir until completely melted. Place mixture in refrigerator for 10 minutes to cool. Cover bottom of loaf pan with chocolate, then place a layer of biscuits, repeat chocolate, biscuit, ending with a layer of chocolate.
- Cover the top of chocolate with cling wrap and place in refrigerator overnight. The following day gently and slowly lift the cake out of the form.
- Invert cake onto a plate and slowly peel off parchment paper. Decorate top with whipped cream or shaved chocolate (whatever you like). Cut into slices.
Anna says
Hi Gillian,
That's great! Glad the recipe came in handy.
Gillian Saunders says
I just found your recipe and I'm a leader of a Brownie Troop that has chosen Denmark for the next Thinking Day. I go to Denmark a lot for work and I love the country. I have not had this type of cake there and hadn't heard of it. So I am glad I found your recipe. I needed an easy no-bake recipe for our food giveaway at Thinking Day. I will definitely be using this! We will also be doing a Danish Folk Dance as our troop performance for the day. It will be a great event.
Gitte says
I just came across your web site and I am thrilled that you and your Girl Scouts enjoyed the Danish Kiksekage. My husband does some Blacksmithing work with the Boy Scouts from time to time and I think it's so great to get the kids involved in different projects.
cindy says
Its been a while since you posted this but I saw on the news that Prince William asked for a biscuit cake for his wedding reception. Sounds like the same kinda of cake as this one. I might have to make this for tomorrow.
Irma says
It looks absolutely delicious!
I'll try it very soon!
thanks 🙂
Irma
Laura says
My HEB (in Houston) always has Lurpak butter; just mentioning in case you didn't check there.
vanillasugarblog says
i'm so glad you picked this! I am half danish. My mothers' side of the family (her father) came over to washington state from denmark back in the 1900's. Back then it was very hard for her to come over, she had to study english for a year, take many tests and then get permission to come over. Obviously she did (if she didn't I would not be here). ha. I want to learn more about her and her voyage over here...at some point I should.
So, the biscuit cake looks so good.
Em says
WOW-I've been following your blog for over a year and couldn't believe it when I saw that you posted a Danish dessert recipe! I'm from the US, but I'm studying in Denmark for the year, and am enjoying learning about the different baking methods they have here, so I loved reading this post 🙂
Sarah @ Mum In Bloom says
I love this idea and will highly recommend we do this next year for Thinking Day. The food is always the best part!
Molly says
Anything covered in that much chocolate is fine with me!! Those look super decadent 🙂
Lee says
Boy that would not last long here, looks so good
Darlene says
Wow!
Lisa Ernst says
What a great idea -- these look so good. They remind me of Cadbury shortbread cookies (covered in chocolate) that aren't available here any more. I used to stack them up and they looked just like this. But I know these are much better with that wonderful ganache.
Katrina says
Yummy and simple. Quite the big undertaking there for you though. Looks like Emma is doing a great job helping. I just finished a big ol' poster project with Parker doing an oral report on someone famous. He picked the actor, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron in Harry Potter. Next week he has to dress like him and give the report.
Sarah says
This looks so yummy, it almost reminds me of an icebox cake with the flavors reversed:) If I don't have Leibniz cookies available, are there any other cookies you'd recommend?
Gloria says
This looks like yummy fudge covered cake and not too time consuming to make! Right up my alley!
Unrelated to this post: Fuzz is becoming quite the video star! I'd be so nervous I'd forget everything!
Shelley says
What a sweet project. The cake looks delicious!
Stacie @ Imperfectly Healthy says
YUM, that looks good!!
jessielou says
aww my mum makes this every christmas time. i love it so much!
Anna says
Mary, it was really good! It reminded me of a Tiffin but in cake form.
Thanks for letting me know about the link. It was actually just a broken image file. Image is fixed.
Jennifer says
That looks delicious! Sadly, even though I am 1/2 Danish, I've never made any Danish recipes, other than, well, danishes, and I'm not sure if those are really Danish, LOL.
bakingblonde says
Wow, look at that chocolate layer!
HeartofGlass says
Wow. All I can say is wow! I think that recipe has just about every 'food group of decadent deliciousness!'
For some reason, the presentation link didn't work.
Girl Scouts do such cool and educational stuff nowadays!
Anna says
Steph, I forgot to mention that the crackers get soft. I'm glad I used a fairly sturdy cracker like the Leibniz which soften to a nice texture. I'm interested in what would happen with shortbread or graham crackers.
Corinne, my mini version does seem to have more chocolate. The original version uses 7 oz of cookies so there are actually a lot of cookies. I kept mine with only 3 layers of cookies because that made it easier to slice into samples.
corinne says
haha, the chocolate v cookie proportions in that are amazing. I heartily approve!
Steph@PlainChicken says
Looks great. I am saving this. I love that it is no-bake!