Baking is Love: speculoos "biscoff" dark chocolate cake.

Don't you just love Speculoos, or Biscoff, or Lotus? Whatever they're called... They're actually the same thing and taste incredibly delicious! I'm sooo happy to finally tried it. I might break up with Nutella a bit after this. :p

If you haven't heard about it before, Speculoos is definitely one of the best creations on earth. It's a spiced shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on or just before St. Nicholas' feast in the Netherlands and Belgium. The texture is very crunchy, the visual-look is slightly browned and also quite thin (the Speculoos dough doesn't rise too much). Nowadays, Speculoos has become sooo popular all over the world.

The original Speculoos
(pic courtesy of Wikipedia)

And, as many other bakers do, they often use Speculoos as a main ingredient for baking! That's why I also wanna try myself. First, I had a chance to try the Speculoos Cookie Butter - also well known as Biscoff spread... and they have two different texture-flavours (Classic & Crunchy). What I found the most in the spread is actually a rich cinnamon flavour. Indeed so cinnamon-y! Kinda remembering me of Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzel from AuntieAnne's.

Speculoos Cookie Butter / Biscoff spread

Then, few days ago I tried the Speculoos biscuits one. That's what people mostly know as Biscoff biscuits or Lotus biscuits. They taste amazing too!.

Lotus / Speculoos / Biscoff biscuits

Today, I'm making a very scrumptious cake - which (of course) Speculoos and chocolate are involved. I made a combination between Speculoos and dark chocolate cake as filling. The Speculoos is for the base and topping, in between is full of chocolate goodness! -> No-Bake Speculoos "Biscoff" Dark Chocolate Cake"!. So so so so yummy.

This cake is completely NO-BAKE. You know, it's pretty hot these days... Hmm, not pretty actually. Honestly it's just really bad that the weather is up to 40 degree Celcius today! :( Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped in a small room on the highest floor.

One of the best thing you can do at home is making a delicious no-bake dessert to lift your mood up again. Trust me, it helps!.

If you wanna try this speculoos chocolatey goodness, just follow my recipe below! So easy to make!

Making a 20-23 cm cake pan.

For the Speculoos crust:

Ingredients:

90 gr unsalted butter, melted

250 gr Speculoos "Biscoff/Lotus" biscuits

Directions:

1). Crush the biscuits in a food processor until they became fine crumbs. Leave some pieces for topping and decorating.
2). Stir them with the melted butter, then mix with a spatula until well combined. Tip into the tin/spring form and press down well to cover the base of the tin.
2). Chill for at least 30 minutes to allow the crust to set.

For the dark chocolate filling:

Ingredients:

300 ml heavy cream

2 teaspoons powdered or icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200 gr dark chocolate, melted

Directions:

1). Pour the cream into a large bowl, then add the icing sugar and vanilla extract.

2). Whisk until the mixture forms soft peaks (1-2 minutes), then gradually whisk in the melted chocolate until the mixture thickens (take care not to over-whip the batter!).

3). Spoon the mixture into the chilled biscuit case and spread out.

4). Cover and chill for at least 5 hours or better overnight, until the filling has completely set.

For the confectioners' frosting and assembling:

Ingredients:

230 grams confectioners' or icing sugar, sifted
113 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons milk
Speculoos biscuits' crumbs

Directions:

1). In a large bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and well blended. Beat in the vanilla extract.
2). With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down sides of the bowl as needed. Add milk, beat to combine. Then, on high speed, beat frosting until it's light and fluffy and the colour turns out pink (about 5 minutes).
3). Spoon the frosting into a piping bag and decorate the top of the cake (after it's completely set and removed from the fridge), pipe around the edge. Add some biscuits, sprinkle the crumbs over the frosting and a little bit over the cake too), or you can decorate in any other way you fancy!.
4). Done and serve!.