Digestive biscuit cake
This cake takes a little time to make, but the results are really worth it. A rich and buttery cake is made from ground pecans and crushed digestives, baked, then filled and topped with a caramel icing.
Ingredients
Serves: 12
- 170g digestive biscuit crumbs
- 65g ground pecans
- 60g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 225g unsalted butter, softened
- 220g light brown soft sugar
- 3 egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 250ml milk, lukewarm
- 3 egg whites, room temperature
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 340g unsalted butter, softened and divided
- 110g dark dark brown soft sugar
- 125ml double cream
- 90g icing sugar
- 60g chopped pecans
Method
Prep:30min ›
Cook:40min ›
Extra time:3hr cooling ›
Ready in:4hr10min
- Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Grease and line two 23cm round cake tins with baking parchment.
- Combine the biscuit crumbs, 65g ground pecans, flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and the light dark brown soft sugar until fluffy. Slowly beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla. Alternately add the milk and the crumb mixture while beating on low.
- Beat the egg whites in a bowl until foamy. Add 4 tablespoons sugar slowly and beat to soft peaks. Fold into the crumb batter and pour into the tins.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tins on a rack about 10 minutes, then invert and cool completely.
- To make the icing, heat 2 tablespoon sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until it turns golden. Remove from heat and add 60g of the butter; swirl. Whisk in the dark brown soft sugar and place back on the heat. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Add the cream and bring back to the boil. Boil for 1 minute and remove caramel from heat.
- Place icing sugar in a large bowl and mixing on medium speed, slowly drizzle in the caramel. Beat until the bottom of the bowl is just barely warm, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining butter, 15g at a time. Beat until smooth and chill icing until ready to ice the cake. Ice the cake and press the pecans into the sides.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(18)
Reviews in English (17)
Great recipe, just like my grandmother's. In reading some of the reviews, I noticed some folks wondered about the amount of flour. Not sure why the cake fell apart for one reviewer, but the flour amount is correct. I'm a pastry chef, and can say that the graham takes the place of flour, both providing gluten and tenderizing. The whites must be prepped as instructed, because they provide structure and lift to the cake. If they're not properly whipped and carefully folded in, the result will be a dense cake with the wrong texture. The yolks and all the sugar also tenderize, so you've got to really adhere to the recipe. - 14 Dec 2011 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I've had graham cracker cake only once before, at a bakery in Asheville, NC. I was looking for a similar recipe, and I'm happy to say that this is it! There are a lot of steps to make the cake, but they're not hard and they're well worth it. The frosting is a change from the buttercream my palate expects; the high butter ratio almost tastes like something is wrong at first, but once I adjust my expectations I realize it's the perfect complement to the cake. - 13 Feb 2008 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
This cake is rather tedious to make. Although I received rave reviews from my guests who tried it, I don't think I'll try this recipe again. I've made it twice now and both times the cake itself literally falls apart as I try to frost it. The frosting tastes really good, but all that butter scares me! - 24 Aug 2002 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)