This Chai Biscuit Cake is a simple no bake dessert with only three ingedients. It’s bursting with delicious flavours of chai spiced honey and cool whipped cream.
Short on flour or eggs? Maybe you don’t enjoy baking or perhaps you find it a bit intimidating (PS I can also help you bake a delicious cake!). In the summer sometimes it’s way too hot to turn on the oven to bake a cake. Whatever the reason, life’s little celebrations still deserve something special. Instead of buying a cake, construct a No Bake Biscuit Cake!
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What is a Biscuit Cake?
There are a few kinds of biscuit cake floating around on the internet. They are a classic dessert, around since the dawn of time. In general, a biscuit cake is a no bake tea cake made using biscuits and some sort of ‘batter’ that holds them together. The entire cake is constructed, rather than baked into existence. The cake is completed with a variety of attractive outer decorative layers such as chocolate glaze or whipped cream.
Varieties of Biscuit Cake
Biscuit cakes are made around the world! In the UK, chocolate biscuit cakes are prepared by combining melted chocolate and crumbled biscuits into a terrine. Other ingredients such as condensed milk, golden syrup, raw eggs, nuts, glacé cherries, marshmallows, or dried fruit can also be added. Once the terrine has set, the outer layer is coated with a chocolate glaze.
Other varieties use pudding (Jewish Biscuit Cakes) or whipping cream (American or Australian Icebox Cakes) as a batter. Even an Italian Tiramisu could be considered a biscuit cake!
Where Did the Biscuit Cake Come From?
The simple no bake cake is came from much more extravagant English desserts; the Charlotte or Trifle. However, it’s much easier to prepare and uses fewer ingredients.
In the 1930’s, the invention of the icebox (refrigerator) in North America led to the popularity of easy no bake desserts such as icebox cakes and jello.
How to Make a Biscuit Cake
Now for the fun part! To make this cake is as easy as 1-2-3. Step one: Whip up the cream (add the chai honey once the cream has started to thicken) Step two: Slather biscuits with whipped cream and set them up in an alternating pattern (the pattern is up to you!). Cover the cake with a layer of whipped cream. Step Three: Wait overnight for the whipping cream to soften the biscuits.
The easiest shape to master is the classic log shape. If you are feeling crafty, try for a more intricate shape such as a round (it’s a log that is just curved into a circle!) or a stack, like this No Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake.
How to Flavour an Icebox Cake
For this cake, I flavoured the cream with a locally made chai spiced honey. You can use regular honey or add alcohol to the whipped cream to personalize your cake. Folding nuts into the whipped cream would also be a tasty way to add extra oomph to the cake.
Let’s talk biscuits. This recipe uses Anna’s Ginger Thins from IKEA but you can use any flavour you like. The trick is to find a thin biscuit so that the moisture from the whipping cream softens it overnight. However, be aware that the biscuits are also quite brittle. Always buy an extra box to cover any breakage or losses due to snacking!
How to Store Chai Biscuit Cake
Once assembled, store the cake in cake tin or on a plate in the fridge covered with a large upside down bowl. Take note of the best before date on the whipping cream. If it’s not expiring soon, you can keep the cake in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Pin This Chai Biscuit Cake HERE.
Three Ingredient Chai Biscuit Cake
This Chai Biscuit Cake is a simple no bake dessert made with only three ingedients. It's bursting with delicious flavours of chai spiced honey and cool whipped cream. *Requires overnight refrigeration.
Ingredients
- 3 cups whipping cream
- 5 tbsp chai infused honey
- 2 5.25 oz packages Annas ginger Swedish thins (IKEA)
Instructions
- Pour the cold whipping cream into a chilled stand mixer bowl and whip until the cream just starts to thicken.
- Add chai honey by the tablespoon and incorporate into cream, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
- Whip until stiff peaks form.
- To assemble, spread a small circle of whipped chai cream on a serving plate or cake stand. Place one ginger biscuit in the middle.
- Working outward, add more biscuits in a circle around the first biscuit. This is the base.
- Take two biscuits and sandwich them together slightly with 2 tbsp chai whipped cream in a way that one two sides of the biscuits are closer than the other two sides (like a triangle).
- Add another one or two biscuits in this way, then place them on top of the plated base biscuits with the close edges closer to the lone middle plated biscuit.
- Repeat, until all the biscuits have been arranged in a circle around that middle plated biscuit (if you have biscuits left over, they can be used as a crumbled cake topping).
- Place remaining chai whipped cream in a pastry bag or ziploc baggie with the corner cut out. Pipe the chai cream into the remaining air spaces, then over top and sides of the biscuits.
- Smooth out the whipped cream and refrigerate cake overnight.
- Decorate with ginger biscuit crumbs or as desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 332Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 21gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 101mgSodium: 28mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 3g
Nutritional calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator.
Bernice, you know how much I love baking, but now you’ve sold me on this idea of a no-bake biscuit cake! That slice looks so scrumptious it made my mouth water. And it’s so easy and fast!
Yes, you sure do!! Glad you enjoyed the post…it’s pretty handy once the weather turns hot.
What an awesome idea! And chai spiced honey?! Sounds freakin’ amazing. Pinned to try!
Thanks Kelly!! Hope you enjoy it when you do make it. It’s so tasty!
Do you have a recommended substitute for the IKEA biscuits? They aren’t open yet. Would love to whip this up if my kids feel like cake that I don’t want to bake.
Hi Cynthia, I think I’ve also seen them at London Drugs and possibly Save On Foods. Otherwise, you can find chocolate biscuits pretty readily. I was thinking maybe pandan flavoured whipped cream and chocolate biscuits would be an awesome combo too! (I just found some pandan flavouring while cleaning out the pantry!)
Where has this been all my life! I’ve never even heard of a biscuit cake but this was SO easy, and SO good! Ours was a little messy since I let my toddler help construct, but it tasted great as a cool, no stress dessert!
awww that’s so cute! Nothing wrong with a nice mess, especially if it’s a tasty one. Glad you enjoyed it Mikayla.
This is epic. Who doesn’t like chai biscuits and you have replicated the flavors in a cake! What an awesome idea!
Thank you Sophie…it’s such a fun and tasty cake!
Chia biscuits are the best especially for tea time. My family loves snacking on them.
mmm yes! I should make some biscuits too. We do love them with our tea.
This Chai Biscuit Cake looks so deliciously good. I wish I could eat that right this minute! I love to try that with chai spiced honey and cool whipped cream.
Thank you Maggie…it’s a flavour match made in heaven!
I love desserts you do not have to bake in the hot summer and this one is perfect. Thanks so much for sharing!
Yes!! These kinds of recipes are handy to have when the weather turns hot.
I have never seen anything like this. So smart (any tasty!). Best Ikea hack ever!
Start the car!!!! lol
You’re sooo right that sometimes it’s just way too hot to bake a cake! But there are some summer days when I could totally use a little cake, even though just the thought of heating up the kitchen any more just makes me start sweating, haha. I’m bookmarking this recipe to make soon — it looks so tasty and easy!
Thanks Amy, I hope you enjoy constructing it!!
This is such a clever twist on an old-fashioned refrigerator cake! Love it.
Thank you Karen…love the classics but adding my own spin is so much fun too.
Okay, this is the coolest cake idea ever! Not only can you make this cake without an oven, you only need 3 ingredients! Love it!
Thanks Aleta!
Since then I have never tried to make a no-bake biscuit for my kids, will try making this and I am sure they’re going to love it.
They sure will…if you give it a try, the can get involved too!
3 ingredients to make this dessert?! I love how simple this is. I absolutely love the flavors of ginger and I certainly love no-bake!
yes…super easy! A great way to get little kids involved too.
Such a clever recipe! When I saw three ingredients, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but layering the ginger cookies with the whipped cream is such a delicious combination. Great recipe, thank you for sharing!
Yes, I’m always skeptical of bare minimum recipes but this one is a tasty winner!