Gaming Recipe Recreations: Crown Saber Morgan from Fate/Grand Order

This doesn’t come up very often on a gaming website, but I actually rather enjoy cooking! It’s fun and you hopefully get to eat something tasty by the end! Now, in a complete reversal from how picky I was as a child, I particularly like trying new recipes to see what works and challenge myself to eat a greater variety of things. One way I often use to push myself in this regard is to find recipes based on videogames, shows, books, or movies that I’m a fan of. Eating a veggie wrap sounds way more appetising if you can tell yourself it’s a Star Trek veggie wrap after all!

However, sometimes I look for a recipe of an in-game food that looks scrumptious, but I can’t find anywhere that has an existing recipe! Usually, I just get kinda sad or try to find some other recipe that seems like it might be close enough to what I’m looking for. But, for this Valentine’s season, I decided that I would take one of these recipes and try my own hand at replicating it. Today, we’ll be looking at the Crown Saber Morgan, a Valentine’s chocolate burger from Fate/Grand Order.

Every year in Fate/Grand Order, there’s a special Valentine’s event where all of the historical and mythological figures that have come back to life — here known as Servants — run around trying to make the best chocolate gifts possible. Each of these events has their own unique story — this year’s event centres around a major character from the game Fate/hollow ataraxia, Caren Hortensia, melded the Roman God of Love, Amor, into one big powerful being — but they also feature a variety of little scenes where all of the characters that the player has summoned give them a Valentine’s gift.

One character, an alternate evil version of a female King Arthur — dubbed Artoria Pendragon Alter (and Altria Pendragon Alter in Fate/Grand Order itself) — provides the player with a chocolate burger. Called the Crown Saber Morgan in reference to Alter’s Servant class of Saber and her ultimate ability, the Noble Phantasm called Excalibur Morgan, the burger is described as having a “junky taste and style” in the in-game description. Alter herself also claims this burger is leftover from her dinner, where she’d eaten ten boxes of the stuff, which would imply that it is an actual burger that one would eat for dinner — Alter is famously a giant fan of junk food after all! However, she also describes this treat as “the chocolate,” so it’s entirely possible that this is just a sweet disguised as a burger.

Since I couldn’t decide whether to go sweet or savoury — and because I wanted to taste both options — I went ahead and prepared two different versions of this recipe! The main difficulty here is making a chocolate burger bun that tastes good both on an actual burger and on something sweet posing as one. I decided to go with a brioche bun recipe from Sally Vargas and put my own spin on it when it comes to making it a tad more chocolatey and more in-line with the image. Admittedly, I followed her recipe a little more closely when I made my first attempt where the images come from, only really adding the cocoa powder and the sesame seeds on top. The buns came out fine but nowhere near sweet enough and the colour, while chocolatey, wasn’t dark enough to match the picture (though I still think it came out nice). For the recipe as written here, I’ve added in a few additional tablespoons of sugar which should help to balance out the bitter chocolate and some black food colouring for something closer to the image in-game. Plus, looking more closely at the image now, it seems like the “sesame seeds” on top might actually be chopped nuts. I’m not a huge nut gal myself, so I’m fine with leaving those out, but chopping up some almonds for after the egg wash could give this tasty bit of junk food a good lift of nutty flavour. Beyond that, I’ve mostly copied the original recipe, as it works quite well!

Below that, I have some simpler recipes for putting together the fixings for the sweet and savoury versions of this dish, including a chocolate crispy rice cereal treat to mimic a burger patty and a few frostings to take the place of the pale cheese and the crispy lettuce. On the savoury end, things are a tad simpler as you can just grab a burger, some white cheese, and lettuce. I myself didn’t have any lettuce on-hand, so I substituted spinach, which was delicious!

Ingredients:

Buns (Makes 8):
1 tablespoon instant yeast (about 1 packet)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided into 3/4 cup, 1 3/4 cup, and 2 cups (563g, divided into 94g, 219g, and 250g)
3/4 cup lukewarm water (177g)

4 large eggs + 1 for egg wash
5 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (50g)
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 drops of black food colouring (optional, more if desired)

1 tablespoon water
Choice of sesame seeds or chopped almonds
Coarse salt as desired

For the sweet variant:

“Burger Patties” (Chocolate Crispy Rice Treats, Makes 10):

11 oz of chocolate crispy rice cereal (311.845, I used Cocoa Pebbles, but anything is fine)
4 tablespoons butter (roughly half a stick)
10 oz marshmallows (283.5g)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (38g)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (85g, I used semi-sweet, but if you want them sweeter, replace half of this total amount with milk chocolate)
Cooking spray

“Cheese and Lettuce” (Frosting/Icing):
12 oz white frosting/icing, divided in half (340g, and maybe some extra to ensure thickness)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
2 drops of green gel food colouring

For the savoury variant:

White mild cheese (I personally used white American cheese since I'm in the US, it melts quite well on a burger, and it provides that perfect junky fast food taste, but if that's not an option for you, a cheddar is perfectly fine; 1 slice per desired burger)
Lettuce, washed (as desired, romaine or boston would work best, but anything is fine)

Frozen burger patties (1 per desired burger)
Seasonings to taste (recommendation: black pepper, salt, onion powder)
~or~
1 pound of minced (ground) beef (453.5g, per 4 desired burgers)
1/2 tbsp salt (per 4 desired burgers)
1/2 tbsp ground black pepper (per 4 desired burgers)
A dash of onion powder (optional)

Instructions (Chocolate Buns)

1. In a stand mixer bowl, whisk the yeast and 3/4 cup flour together. Add the water and whisk gently until blended into a sponge. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the sponge rise at room temperature for 45 minutes.

2. Beat the sponge with the paddle attachment over medium speed. If you don't have a stand mixer, beat forcefully with a whisk. Add in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating them into the dough. Stop and scrape down the bowl as necessary.

3. Beat in 1 3/4 cups of the flour, the sugar, the cocoa powder, food colouring (if using), and salt. The dough will be sticky with a consistency of thick cake batter.

4. Switch to the dough hook and with the mixer on low speed, add the remaining 2 cups of flour in 1/2 cup increments. If you don't have a stand mixer or a dough hook, flour a clean surface and knead the flour into the dough in the same increments. The rest of the recipe will assume you are using a stand mixer, but I will throw in additional notes where the by-hand process should differ. (However, I myself have not done this by hand, so if your baking instincts tell you otherwise, please don't ruin your bake on my account!)

5. When all of the flour has been incorporated, knead for eight minutes on medium-low speed, stopping to scrape down the dough hook occasionally. The dough will be firm but still on the sticky side. If kneading by hand, do so for at least eight minutes, stopping once the dough has reached that firm-yet-sticky state.

6. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes before incorporating the butter.

7. With the mixer running on medium and the dough hook still attached, add the butter to the dough one tablespoon at a time. Wait until the butter has been fully incorporated before adding the next tablespoon.

8. After the final tablespoon has been added and incorporated into the dough, continue to knead for an additional five minutes.

9. Once the butter has been thoroughly absorbed, the dough will be soft and sticky. Scrape it into a clean bowl, shaping it loosely into a ball.

10. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for one hour.

11. Press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the dough and let rise in the refrigerator overnight (8–12 hours).

12. On a floured board, turn out the cold dough and press it into a flat circle that’s about one inch thick. Cut the dough into eight wedges of equal size.

13. Hold a piece of dough in one hand and draw the edges in toward the centre to form a ball. The dough will be quite soft and will not seem stretchy.

14. Place a dough ball on the board with the smooth side on top. Cup your fingers on one side of the roll and move it in a circular motion, drawing your cupped hand towards your thumb and using the friction on the board to shape it into a ball.

15. Repeat with remaining rolls. You should not need to re-flour the board. You want a little stickiness to help you shape the balls.

16. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the balls of dough three inches apart on the baking sheet and press them flat so they are about three and a half inches across. Cover the dough balls with a lightweight dish towel and let rise until puffy and almost doubled, about one and a half hours.

17. Towards the end of the rising time (about 20 minutes left or so), preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).

18. In a small bowl, beat the last egg and 1 tablespoon of water with a fork until thoroughly combined. Using a light touch to keep from deflating the dough, use a pastry brush to brush the rolls with the egg wash.

19. Sprinkle with your choice of sesame seeds or chopped almonds. Consider sprinkling some coarse salt as well.

20. Bake the rolls for 18 to 20 minutes. They should look firm, make a slightly hollow sound when tapped, and reach an internal temperature of 87°C (190°F). If not done by the 20-minute mark, continue baking in two-minute intervals until done.

21. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool.

22. Slice into a top and bottom bun with a serrated knife.

Instructions (Sweet “Burger”)

For the crispy rice treats...

1. Line a 12x15 inch baking sheet with wax paper, spray a large bowl with cooking spray (or extra virgin olive oil), and get out a medium saucepan.

2. Fill the bowl with chocolate crispy rice cereal.

3. Melt butter in the saucepan about halfway, so that the bottom of the pan has melted butter around it but there’s still a melting chunk left over.

4. Add marshmallows, cocoa powder, and chips to the butter. Stir until smooth.

5. Add to the crispy rice in their bowl. Mix with a rubber spatula until combined. Don’t forget about the crispy rice underneath! They need chocolate too.

6. Pour onto the baking sheet and form into patties. You could maybe get around ten thick ones. They might be a little hot to work with at first and there might not appear to be much room, but it will get easier as you work.

7. Let cool until ready to serve! These will keep if covered in plastic wrap for a good few days, maybe longer — but you’ll probably eat them first.

For the frostings/icings...

1. Prepare about two small bowls with six ounces of frosting/icing in each. Declare one the vanilla frosting/icing and the other the mint frosting/icing.

2. Gently mix one bowl of frosting/icing (the cheese one) with your vanilla extract.

3. Gently mix the other frosting/icing with your mint extract.

4. Take the mint frosting/icing and add two drops of green gel food colouring. Mix.

5. If either bowl is not to desired level of thickness, mix in more white frosting/icing one spoonful at a time. When not in use, cover and refrigerate.

For the assembly...

1. Spoon or pipe mint frosting/icing onto bottom bun. If you don't want a lot of mint, you can spread it only around the edges to give it that lettuce look.

2. Place a crispy rice treat on top of the "lettuce", pressing down firmly. Then spread vanilla frosting on top of the "burger patty" such that it looks like a melted piece of cheese.

3. Add any desired extra toppings or sauces. A raspberry jelly or sauce can be a fun approximation of ketchup!

4. Firmly place the top bun to finish your burger and serve.

Instructions (Savoury Burger)

For the burgers...

1. If you take the minced (ground) beef route, put the minced beef into a medium or large bowl and season with about 1/2 a teaspoon each of salt and ground black pepper per pound (or per 453.5 grams) of meat. I personally sprinkle in some onion powder as well. Mix well with your hands, then shape into your desired amount of patties. Try to make them equal in size!

2. Whether you’re making your patties from scratch or using store-bought patties, get out a pan (you can use a flat pan, but I prefer a grill pan with ridges) and heat it up at medium level. To test if it's ready, lightly touch your burger patty to the pan and listen for a sizzle. If you can hear one, you're good to go!

3. Set burger patties (amount will depend on your pan. On mine, I can fit around 3–4, but if yours is larger, it could fit more) into the pan. If these are store-bought, now would be a good time to season the side facing up.

4. Cook to desired doneness, flipping over the burger with a spatula when you can see that the patty is cooked on the sides. It should take, at minimum, 5–7 minutes on both sides. Again, if store-bought, season the side now facing up with your chosen seasonings.

5. If you're not sure if it's ready, use your spatula to cut a little bit into the middle of the patty on top. If it's still on the rare side, juices should start to form at the top, possibly running down the sides, flowing more freely the further along the burger is. You can also try to look inside at where you've cut to see how pink it is.

6. Once the burger patties look just about done, place a slice of your chosen cheese on top of each patty to melt it a little bit so that it wraps around the edges.

7. Remove from heat and set aside, either directly to the assembly stage or to a plate, with the plate and patties then wrapped in foil to trap the heat for a bit longer.

For assembly...

1. Place a bed of lettuce on the bottom bun.

2. Firmly place the burger patty with cheese melted on top onto the lettuce bed.

3. Add any desired sauces or toppings — I like mine with a good splurge of mustard!

4. Top with the top bun, pressing firmly.

5. Serve!

Conclusion — How’d It Taste?

Honestly, despite not adding any extra sugar to my buns, I’d somehow gotten it in my head that the savoury version would be too sweet? If anything, the buns were too bitter and could’ve used more sugar to brighten up the burger. Thankfully, I had my trusty bottle of mustard to put a smile on my face. However, the buns were an excellent match for the sweet-as-heck faux patties and the frosting/icing. I’m a sucker for mint, so that certainly helped too!

I don’t bake very often, but I’m definitely going to keep this bun recipe in my back pocket to try and improve upon it so that I can make my own delicious chocolate buns at home. I am, however, definitely going to make those crispy rice treats again. I might go a little sweeter with them sometimes, but they are rich and tasty, with an excellent crunch to them. And, of course, I’m going to have more traditional burgers in the future. I love them too much to give them up!

If these look good to you — or if you have the time to start these a day beforehand and you want to try something new for Valentine’s Day, give these a go and share how they went in the comments below!