Parle-G Biscuit Cake (no-bake)
A decadent no-bake cake with coffee-soaked glucose biscuits and silky chocolate frosting!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 8 pieces
Ingredients
- 375 gms unsalted butter at room temp
- 3/4 cup icing sugar (85 gms)
- 4 tbsps cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsps cold whipping cream, optional
- 70 Parle-G biscuits, or other glucose biscuits (see notes)
- 1 cup water at room temp (250 ml)
- 1 and 1/2 tbsps instant coffee powder (I like Bru)
- Chopped or grated chocolate for topping, optional
For an alternate whipped ganache frosting, see notes
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and creamy.
- Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa. Stir gently to combine (so it doesn't fly everywhere), before continuing to beat with the hand mixer until smooth. Taste as you go and you want to add more sugar or cocoa. Parle-G biscuits are quite sweet so personally, I like the frosting a bit under-sweetened.
- Add the salt and whipping cream and beat again until light and fluffy.
- If the frosting now seems too soft, keep it in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Keep your biscuits ready along with the platter or tray on which you plan to assemble the cake.
- Mix the coffee and water together in a small bowl until smooth.
- Working with one biscuit at a time, dip each one into the coffee solution for just a couple of seconds, without turning it over. Place it on the plate. It will continue to soak and soften as it rests. I made 7 layers of 10 biscuits each (therefore 70 biscuits total), with five biscuits in each row. Repeat the dipping till the first layer of soaked biscuits is ready.
- Now spread about 1/3 cup of the frosting in an even layer on the biscuits. Make a second layer of soaked biscuits on top of the frosting. Repeat till all the biscuits and frosting are used up.
- Smoothen the sides with the frosting that would be seeping out through the layers, and spread more on as needed till the cake is completely covered. If you're working in a warm kitchen, you may have to chill the cake in-between layers.
- Top with chopped or grated chocolate and chill the cake for at least 4 hours before cutting into pieces but preferably overnight. The flavour and texture gets better the after a day or even two. Let individual pieces sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before eating but otherwise keep the cake refrigerated in an airtight tin, and it'll be good to eat for 5 to 6 days. Enjoy!
Notes
Shop this recipe: Parle-G biscuits, Bru, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate
*Glucose biscuits are recommended here for the best flavour, but if you don't have them, you can use a different kind of biscuit too, adjusting the number of layers depending on the size. Preferably, use square or rectangular biscuits.
*Prep-time does not include chilling time.
*I recently tried a whipped ganache frosting instead of buttercream for two reasons: the texture is soft even straight out of the fridge unlike buttercream which hardens and the flavour of chocolate is definitely more pronounced. I loved this slightly grown-up version! But the whipped ganache does mean the cake is less sturdy so for neater slices, wipe down the knife between each cut. See the photo below for the airy, mousse-like layers of frosting.
Here's the way I made this whipped ganache for a 40-biscuit cake (5 layers; 8 biscuits per layer in a 4x2 pattern):
Heat 1 cup whipping cream until hot but not boiling and pour it over 100 gms of finely chopped dark chocolate (50% to 55% dark). Let it sit for a few minutes, then stir gently into a smooth ganache. Refrigerate for 3o minutes to 1 hour until completely cold and thickened. Then using a hand mixer on medium-high speed, beat the ganache until it becomes light and fluffy with soft rounded peaks. Stir in 1 to 2 tbsps sifted icing sugar if needed along with 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Keep chilled till you assemble the cake and then spread 1/3rd to 1/2 cup between each layer and around the sides and top as written in the recipe above. As with the buttercream version, this will taste best after an overnight chill.