A Tea Party for the Royal Wedding

In honor of William and Kate's Royal Wedding today I thought we would celebrate in English style.    As we watched the recaps of the Royal Wedding we had a Tea Party... Of course wearing pretty dresses and hats.

I wasn't planning on watching as much as I did.  But as I watched... the more I missed my grandmother.  My Grandmother would have loved today and it reminded me of the stories she would tell me (when I was a little girl) all about the Royal Family.  All she read were books on the Royal Family and Elizabeth Taylor.  And this became part of who she was.... And I so want to share with Ainsley who my Grandmother was.   

So I dressed her up in the dress Josie and Alex (our neighbors) gave her for Easter and we had a party.    
 

I then decided her hat was not a fascinating as those at the wedding so I went into my jewelry and grabbed some pearls and improvised to make her a fabulous and fantastic fascinator (sp?)!  

 

One of the shows we watched was Oprah.  She had a "Royal Party" today and one of her guest was a  Chef for the Queen and Princess Diana.  And he shared his recipe of a cake that he used to make for the Queens Tea.  This is also the recipe for Prince William's Grooms Cake. 

I just had to have it!  And I can't wait for my favorite baking friend, Leslie, to visit to make it!   

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Recipe courtesy of Darren McGrady 

Oprah.com
April 28, 2011

Servings: Makes one 6-inch round cake (8 portions)
Ingredients

1/2 tsp. butter , for greasing
8 ounces Rich tea biscuits
4 ounces unsalted butter , softened
4 ounces granulated sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate , for the cake
1 egg
8 ounces dark chocolate , for coating
1 ounce chocolate , for decorating


Directions

To make cake:

Lightly grease a 6" x 2 1/2" cake ring and place on a tray on a sheet of parchment paper.  Break each of the biscuits into almond-size pieces by hand and set aside.  Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until the mixture starts to lighten.  Melt the 4 ounces of dark chocolate and add to the butter mixture while constantly stirring.  Beat the egg into the mixture.  Fold in the biscuit pieces until they are all coated with the chocolate mixture.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake ring. Try to fill all of the gaps on the bottom of the ring because this will be the top when it is unmolded.  Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

To coat and decorate:

Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it stand while you melt the 8 ounces of dark chocolate. Slide the ring off the cake and turn it upside down onto a cake wire. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and smooth the top and sides using a palette knife.  Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature.  Carefully run a knife around the bottom of the cake where the chocolate has stuck to the cake wire and lift it onto a tea plate.  Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use to decorate the top of the cake.


You know... with all the horrible things happening in the world these days... it was so nice to watch and celebrate with the world this wonderful day.  I know a lot of people said it seemed silly... but I prefer the chance (for at least one day) to pretend to be British and have a proper Tea Party with my little girl than try to explain about all the war and destruction going on in the world!