Advocat no-bake cake

Advocat cake is a delicious no-bake dessert made with layers of chocolate petit beurre biscuits and a rich advocaat custard buttercream. The custard is flavoured with advocaat (egg liqueur), giving it a distinctive alcoholic note and adding a new twist to the classic custard buttercream you already know. It’s a wonderful make-ahead dessert for parties and celebrations – and it disappears from the table in no time!

Note: If you can find advocaat-flavoured custard powder, use it instead of vanilla custard powder to enhance the advocaat flavour even further.

Ingredients for the biscuit layers:

• about 400 g cocoa petit beurre biscuits (enough for 3 layers)

Ingredients for the advocaat custard cream:

• 750 ml milk
• 250 ml advocaat (egg liqueur)
• 3 sachets vanilla or advocaat custard powder, unsweetened (3 × 40 g)
• 200 g caster sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 250 g butter

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the egg yolks and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until pale and creamy. Add the custard powder and continue mixing until a thick paste forms.

Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan. Remove about 375 ml (1½ cups) of the hot milk and gradually mix it into the egg yolk and custard paste until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk, add the advocaat and cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and comes to the boil. As the mixture is quite rich, it may catch on the bottom of the pan, so stir continuously. Transfer the cooked custard to a bowl and cover the surface directly with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. Leave to cool completely at room temperature.

Beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the cooled custard in several additions, beating well after each addition, until you have a smooth and fluffy custard buttercream.

Ingredients for the cream topping:

• 300 ml double cream, chilled
• 125 g mascarpone, chilled
• 1½ tablespoons icing sugar

Prepare the topping just before assembling the cake. Place all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until thick and smooth.

To assemble:

Line a 20 × 30 cm baking tin with baking paper. Arrange a layer of chocolate biscuits over the base. Spread over half of the advocaat custard cream. Cover with a second layer of biscuits. Spread over the remaining custard cream. Finish with a third layer of biscuits. Spread the whipped cream topping evenly over the biscuits and smooth the surface. Refrigerate overnight to allow the biscuits to soften and the filling to set.

Before serving, dust generously with cocoa powder and decorate as desired. I used chocolate eggs with a crisp sugar shell.

Enjoy!