Behind the palace gates, even royals have their simple pleasures and one shared delight that bridges generations is chocolate – a favourite treat of both the late Queen Elizabeth II and her grandson, Prince William.
Insiders and former royal chefs have consistently noted the late Queen’s fondness for chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Former royal chef Darren McGrady has often shared that the Queen had a “chocoholic” streak. Her favorite was a rich, dark chocolate cake called chocolate biscuit cake, made with tea biscuits and covered in ganache.
Mr McGrady once told today.com the late Queen would even travel with the cake: “If there is anything left when she has it at Buckingham Palace, it then goes to Windsor Castle so she can finish it there. I used to travel on the train from London to Windsor Castle with the biscuit cake in a tin on my knee. It was half eaten.”
The Prince of Wales seems to have inherited his grandmother’s sweet tooth. Like Queen Elizabeth, he’s a fan of the chocolate biscuit cake, so much so that he had it as one of his wedding cakes when he married Princess Kate in 2011.
While their official wedding cake was a multi-tiered fruitcake, the chocolate biscuit cake was a personal touch, possibly reflecting William’s childhood and preferences.
The choice to feature his grandmother’s favourite cake at his wedding was a nod to family tradition and their shared culinary indulgence.
Kate and William’s main wedding cake, however, was an impressive eight-tiered 220-pound fruitcake decorated with sugar paste flowers.
Former royal chef Darren McGrady, who served as personal chef to Queen Elizabeth and other members of the royal family for 15 years also revealed more culinary and beverage preferences.
He told Coffee Friend: “The Queen had afternoon tea every day, wherever she was in the world. If we were at Buckingham Palace and she was on her own for tea, or whether she had Prince William come and join her, or whether she had a garden party for 6000 people or even if she was on the Royal Britannia in Australia.”
McGrady also went on to share the menu for Queen Elizabeth’s daily afternoon tea, which included two types of sandwiches, scones, a small cake, and Earl Grey tea. The chefs at Buckingham Palace always made sure that she wasn’t getting the same scones she had the day before, and the small cakes also changed day to day.