Queen Elizabeth’s Favorite Cake Recipe from her former Royal Chef

In tribute of the late Queen Elizabeth II, here’s her favorite cake recipe from one of her former chefs, Darren McGrady. As the author of “Eating Royally” (Nelson, $24.99), McGrady offers a peek into the palaces where he spent 11 years cooking for Queen Elizabeth II and four years as Princess Diana’s personal chef.

I interviewed McGrady when I was food editor at the Deseret News. He said when he saw the movie, “The Queen,” Helen Mirren’s portrayal of Queen Elizabeth was so realistic that “when she looked down into the audience, I snapped to attention.”

His cookbook features cakes from garden tea parties, souffles from state dinners and wild game from royal hunting parties. 

It’s sprinkled with lots of personal tidbits — helping princes Harry and William make their “Mummy’s” favorite stuffed eggplant, dancing with Diana at royal balls, and helping Queen Elizabeth rescue her belongings while Windsor Castle was on fire.

McGrady was hired as a junior cook at Buckingham Palace shortly after Prince Charles and Diana married. By the time they separated, he had worked his way up to senior pastry chef and was ready for a change. He found Diana’s kitchen at Kensington Palace more relaxed, where William and Harry could wander in for ice cream and eat it out of the container while sitting in the windowsill.

“You didn’t get that at Buckingham Palace. If the boys wanted ice cream, the Queen would call her page, who in turn would call the head chef. The head chef would call the pastry kitchen and the pastry chef would in turn call the silver pantry for some silver dishes to present it on. The ice cream would be formed into decorated quenelle shapes and placed in the silver dessert dish. Then it was off to the linen room to get the proper napkin.”

In fact, Buckingham Palace’s kitchen is located more than a mile away from Queen Elizabeth’s dining rooms, and the covered silver dishes of food are transported in heated trolleys. Delicate souffles are usually reserved for Sandringham, “where it was almost like a real house, you could walk from the kitchen into the dining room.”

He wrote that Queen Elizabeth was especially fond of teatime, and he usually made two different types of sandwiches. The bread was cut into squares with the corners trimmed to create an octagon. Early in his career, he was told to never cut the sandwiches in squares or rectangles. “It looked too much like a coffin and it meant you wished the Queen ill. I was mindful never to make that mistake.”

Queen Elizabeth’s favorite cake was chocolate, either with a sponge or biscuit base. Every year, she requested a chocolate sponge cake. It was cut into three layers, with each layer filled with rich chocolate ganache.

“And I mean rich,” he wrote. “The ganache is made with cream from the Windsor dairies. To complete the cake, more hot ganache is poured over the top and allowed to run down the sides. It is excessive and utterly delicious. Any leftover ganache is cooled and used to decorate the cake with a simple ‘Happy Birthday.’ “

McGrady also shared some of Princess Diana’s favorite recipes, and the chocolate biscuit cake used as Prince William’s groom’s cake.

Royal Birthday Cake

Ganache Filling

1 pound Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate, chopped and divided

2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream, divided

Sponge cake:

6 egg yolks

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Filling: Prepare it at least 6 hours before baking the cake. Put half the chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl. In a separate saucepan, bring half the heavy cream to a simmer. Pour the hot cream onto the chocolate, letting the chocolate melt. Whisk it until smooth and well-incorporated. Refrigerate until it cools and thickens to the consistency of a spreadable icing. (Reserve the other half of cream and chocolate for topping.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cake: Butter an 8-inch round cake pan and line it with buttered parchment paper. Set a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water. The water shouldn’t touch the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks, eggs, and sugar to the mixing bowl, and whisk together, allowing the heat from the simmering water to warm the mixture. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and cocoa together.

Keep whisking t he egg mixtgure until it doubles in volume. Gently fold in the flour and cocoa mixture. Then fold in the cooled butter. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back slightly when pressed. Remove the cake from the oven onto a cooling rack.

Topping: Put the remaining half of hte chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl. In a separate saucepan, bring the remaining heavy craem to a simmer. Pour the hot cream onto the chocolate, letting the chocolate melt. Whisk it until smooth and well incorporated, and then set aside while you assemble the cake.

To assemble, slice the sponge cake into three horizontal layers. Place the bottom layer on a cooling rack. Using the refrigerated icing, top the bottom discs with a thich layer or icing, then add the next layer of sponge cake and another thick layer of icing. Place the top of the cake over t he second layer of icing.

Ladle the warm chocolate icing over the top of the sponge cake, allowing it to run down the sides. Cool the cake for at least 2 hours before decorating with chocolate.

Makes 10 servings.

— Darren McGrady, The Royal Chef and author of “Eating Royally”