The Queen's Favorite Chocolate Cake Has An Unexpected Ingredient

It seems like every country thinks it makes the best chocolate cake. There's a reason January 27 is National Chocolate Cake Day in the U.S. and "German" chocolate cake has become a unique flavor variation unto itself. The famous fabled quote "let them eat cake" has French origins. But, the U.K. might give international cake-lovers a run for their money. Season One, Episode One of "The Great British Bake Off" is all about cake (via PBS). Even British film icon Audrey Hepburn said, "Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does a lot for me." (And, frankly, we couldn't agree more.)

The Queen herself favors chocolate cake above all other teatime treats. Darren McGrady, The Royal Chef and former personal chef to the Queen herself, says that there is seldom any leftover chocolate cake, and if there is, the Queen travels with it. "If there is anything left when she has it at Buckingham Palace, it then goes to Windsor Castle so she can finish it there," McGrady says, via TODAY. "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." But, there is a specific secret ingredient that sets the Queen's favorite treat apart from all other chocolate cakes — and it's about as British as it gets.

Step aside, Heinz baked beans. Tea biscuits are the bread and butter (or, you know what we mean) of any English afternoon tea or high tea – and they're the secret ingredient that makes this chocolate cake the Queen's go-to favorite.

Rich tea biscuits specifically are a fashionable brand of sweet biscuits popular in the U.K. and the Isle of Man, per the aficionados at Biscuit People. In fact, in 2009, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown incited a massive wave of humorous public controversy when he refused to publicly identify his favorite flavor of Rich tea biscuit: The incident is famously referred to as "Biscuitgate," per Daily Mail. It's fitting, then, that the Queen of England herself prefers a chocolate cake that features these tea biscuits as the star ingredient. 

To incorporate, the biscuits are broken into almond-sized pieces by hand and gently folded into the cake batter, per TODAY. Not only are they a staple of English teatime, but they also add a crunchy texture to moist chocolate cake.