No-bake honey cake

No-bake honey cake is the perfect dessert for anyone who loves traditional honey cake but doesn’t want to bake multiple honey layers. Instead, crisp biscuits are layered with a luscious honey and dulce de leche whipped cream filling, creating a festive dessert that’s quick, easy, and absolutely delicious. I used plain petit beurre biscuits, but if you’d like a more spiced, caramel flavour, Speculoos biscuits are an excellent alternative. You can also add a layer of your favourite jam between the biscuits or flavour the cream with a little coffee. The cake is finished with a crunchy topping of gingerbread biscuits and walnuts. Highly recommended!

Ingredients for the biscuit layers:

• about 500 g petit beurre biscuits (for 4 layers)

Ingredients for the honey and dulce de leche cream:

• 400 g canned dulce de leche, chilled
• 115 g runny honey
• a large pinch of salt
• 1 litre + 150 ml double cream, chilled

Place the dulce de leche, honey and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until combined. Pour in 150 ml of the double cream and beat until smooth. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining 1 litre of double cream into a large mixing bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Add the chilled dulce de leche mixture and continue whipping until the cream is thick and holds its shape. Do not overwhip, or the cream may split.

Divide the finished cream into 4 equal portions.

Ingredients for the gingerbread and walnut topping:

• 4 plain gingerbread biscuits (without chocolate or filling)
• a handful of walnuts

Place the gingerbread biscuits and walnuts into a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

To assemble:

Line a 20 × 30 cm baking tin with baking paper.

Arrange a layer of biscuits over the base of the tin. Spread over one portion of the honey cream, then cover with another layer of biscuits. Repeat until you have four layers of biscuits and four layers of cream, finishing with the final layer of cream. Sprinkle the gingerbread and walnut crumbs evenly over the top. Refrigerate the cake overnight. During this time the cream will firm up and the biscuits will soften.

Before serving, decorate as desired, for example with walnut halves on each slice.

Enjoy!