By Louise Cameron
This recipe is a take on the Scottish classic, the Tunnocks tea cake®! This is one of the treats from home that I miss the most, so re-creating it with Marshmallow Fluff was loads of fun. This recipe consists of 3 simple components: a biscuit (cookie) base, a fluffy marshmallow filling and a decadent chocolate coating. The beauty of this is that you can play about with the recipe and add your own flare to each component. For my recipe I used a shortbread cookie base, classic Marshmallow Fluff for the base, and dark chocolate for the coating. I also added a raspberry jelly layer and decorated my tea cakes with milk chocolate, freeze dried raspberries and pistachios.
Ingredients (makes 8)
For the shortbread base:
3.5 oz (7 tbsp) butter, cut into small pieces
1.75 oz (¼ cup) granulated sugar + extra for dusting
5.25 oz (1 cup + 1 tbsp) plain flour + extra for dusting
For the raspberry jelly filling:
12 oz fresh raspberries
4 oz (½ cup + 1 tbsp) granulated sugar
For the chocolate coating and fluff filling:
10.5 oz good quality chocolate
2 7.5 oz jars Marshmallow Fluff
To decorate (optional):
3.5 oz milk or white chocolate
Various toppings e.g. sprinkles, freeze dried fruit, chopped nuts
Special equipment required:
Two 6-hole semi-circle silicon molds (I used 2.5” diameter)
Candy thermometer (optional, for tempering chocolate)
Recipe
For the shortbread base:
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, either with a spatula, wooden spoon or electric mixer. Add in the flour and use your fingertips to mix until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (don’t worry if there are some lumps of butter still visible).
Form the dough into a ball and knead briefly on a lightly floured work surface. Gently roll out dough using a floured rolling pin (you can also knead out with your hands if you like) until it is 0.25” thick.
Using a cookie cutter or glass, cut out rounds. You want the rounds to be the same size as your silicon mold, so I found a glass the same diameter as my molds to do this.
Place the cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes, and switch the oven on to preheat at 350 °F. After 15 minutes, line a baking tray with parchment paper and transfer cookies to this. Sprinkle each cookie with a little granulated sugar and bake in the pre-heated oven until golden (15-20 minutes). Transfer cookies to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
For the raspberry jelly:
Place the raspberries in a microwave proof bowl and microwave for ~30 seconds until soft. Tip into a sieve held over a sauce pan, and press the raspberries through the sieve, so that you only have the juice in the pan. Discard the seeds.
Add the sugar to the raspberry juice, and heat on medium, stirring constantly. Heat until the juice has thickened to a thick syrup. At this point the syrup should stick to the back of the spoon when its lifted out of the pan, and should be a little difficult to stir. Remove from the heat and spoon into a jam jar, or other heat-proof container. Cool completely.
For the chocolate coating:
Temper the chocolate. To do this, cut the chocolate up into small pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Heat, stirring, until the chocolate is melted, and is 115-120 °F. Allow the chocolate to cool to ~82 °F, then reheat to ~88 °F. This last cooling and heating step will result in super shiny chocolate, but you can also skip it if you like!
Dip one side of each of the shortbread cookies into the chocolate, then place chocolate side up onto a plate or tray. Leave to cool completely (you can put them in the fridge to speed up the cooling process if you like).
Using a pastry brush, or clean flat-bristled paintbrush, brush a thin layer of chocolate into 8 of the silicon mold holes, then place molds in the freezer. Once solid (this should take less than a minute), remove the molds from the freezer and add another layer. Repeat until there are no gaps in your chocolate, and it is ~1mm thick. I added 4 layers, but you could add more if you like for a sturdier dome. Gently turn the domes out from the silicon molds.
To assemble:
Fill each of the domes with marshmallow fluff. Spread a generous layer of jelly onto the un-coated side of each cookie, then put the dome, marshmallow side down, on top of the cookie. Spread left-over chocolate around the edge to seal the cookie and the dome together (you may have to re-melt the chocolate first).
Make ‘em fancy (optional):
If you like, you can add toppings to your teacakes. I melted some milk chocolate, then used a spoon to drizzle a zig-zag pattern over the top of my teacakes. I then sprinkled some chopped pistachios and freeze dried raspberries over the top.
Enjoy with a strong cup of tea!
