Chocolate Marshmallow Teacakes Food

CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW TEA CAKES

Steps:

• With a wooden spoon or mixer, mix together the butter and sugar. Add the cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and flour. Rub the ingredients together with the tips of your fingers until it comes together into a dough. Roll it into a ball, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for half an hour.
• Meanwhile, prepare your silicone dome moulds with chocolate. Melt 300g of your chocolate either in the microwave in short bursts or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, and then spoon around a tablespoon of melted chocolate into each mould. Use the back of the spoon to spread it around each dome, ensuring that you bring the chocolate right up to the edge.
• Put domes in the fridge for a few minutes to allow the thinnest part of the chocolate to harden, then using a pastry brush, spread any pooled chocolate in the centre around the dome. Return to the fridge until ready to assemble.
• Remove dough from the fridge and roll onto a lightly floured worktop until it is around 3/4 cm thick. Use a small circular cutter to cut out 12 biscuits. Place the biscuit circles on a lined baking tray and return to the fridge for around another 20 minutes. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 190ºC (170ºC Fan).
• To make the coffee marshmallows, add the egg whites, coffee powder, sugar, salt and golden syrup in a large mixing bowl, giving it a light whisk. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water without letting the bottom touch the water and let the mixture reach 71ºC so the eggs are pasteurised, ensuring you stir/whisk so that you don't let the mixture cook and get scrambled eggs. Once it has reached this temperature, transfer to a standing mixer, or use a hand held mixer to whisk for around 7 or 8 minutes, until the marshmallow is completely cool and it has reached stiff peaks. Once it is ready, transfer to a piping bag, ready to assemble!
• Remove biscuits from the fridge and bake for around 10minutes, or until slightly darker around the edges and allow them to cook fully. They will seem very soft when they come out the oven but the with crisp up as they cool.
• To assemble, melt the remaining 100g of chocolate and leave to cool slightly so it is not too hot. Pipe the coffee marshmallow into the chocolate moulds, leaving enough room for the biscuits. Carefully place a biscuit on top of the marshmallow in each mould. Cover each biscuit in a layer of chocolate, and fill in any gaps so that the marshmallow and biscuit are completely sealed in the moulds. Try to ensure there is not too much excess chocolate around the sides of the moulds as this will make them neater when you pop them out! Place in the fridge until set. Once set, carefully pop the teacakes out of their moulds and tuck in!

RASPBERRY & DARK CHOCOLATE TEACAKES

Steps:

• First, make the chocolate biscuit bases. Put the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl, mash together with a wooden spoon then beat for 1-2 mins or 2 until smooth. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, milk, flour, cocoa and a pinch of salt, and mix again. Tip onto your work surface and knead briefly until evenly coloured. Wrap in cling film, pat into a disc and chill for 20 mins.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Dust the surface with a little flour, unwrap the dough and roll to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use a 5cm cookie cutter to stamp out as many discs as you can, then re-roll the trimmings to cut out more - you should get about 35 in total. Place on the baking sheets and bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through. Cool on a wire rack.
• Next, make the marshmallow filling. Put the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and set aside to soften. Put the egg whites, sugar, 1 tbsp water and a good pinch of salt in a heatproof bowl. Place over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water, and whisk until thick and leaving a prominent trail from the beaters - this will take about 5 mins. When the meringue is thick, remove the bowl from the heat and continue whisking while you add the gelatine leaves, one at a time. Keep whisking for another 3-5 mins until the meringue has cooled slightly and is really stiff. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle (mine was 1.5cm).
• Flip each biscuit over so the bottom is facing upwards. Spoon 1/2 tsp jam onto the middle of each biscuit. Holding the piping bag above the jam, pipe a blob of meringue to fill the surface of the biscuit, quickly pulling away to make a spike. Leave to set for 30 mins.
• Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 20 secs or so to ensure it doesn't burn. To cover the teacakes in chocolate, hold each one above the bowl at an angle and drizzle over the chocolate, letting it run back into the bowl, turning the teacake until completely covered. Place on a wire rack suspended over a baking tray. After every 5-10 teacakes, sprinkle over a little freeze-dried raspberry, if using. Will keep for 3 days in a sealed container.

TEACAKES

Steps:

• Warm the milk with the butter in a pan until the butter has melted, then add 100ml water to cool the mixture to room temp. Tip the flour, yeast, sugar, spice and 1 tsp salt into a bowl, making sure the yeast is on the other side of the bowl to the salt. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the milk and butter in, mixing until it forms big flakes, then bring together with your hands. Tip on a surface and knead until smooth (about 5 mins). Put the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave until doubled in size, so about 1-1 ½ hours.
• Line a tray with baking paper. Tip the mixed dried fruits into the dough and knead them in, trying to disperse them evenly throughout the dough. Cut your dough into 6 even-sized balls, take each ball and, using the cup of your hand, and pressing down a little with your palm, roll the ball in a circular motion on the surface to create tension across the top of the bun and a neat round shape. Place onto a tray about 5cm away from each other and press down with your palm to flatten the dough down a little, creating the teacake shape. Cover loosely with an oiled sheet of cling film, for a further 45 mins, or until they have doubled in size.
• Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Brush the top of each bun liberally with the egg wash, then bake for 20 mins on the top shelf of the oven, until the buns are golden and well risen. Allow to cool on a wire rack, then slice in half, toast and slather with butter if you like.

CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW TEACAKES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. You will need a silicone mould that has 6 x 7.5cm/3in wide, half sphere moulds.
• 2. Melt 300g/10½oz of the dark chocolate in a bowl set over a simmering pan of water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Melting the chocolate over a soft heat stops the chocolate from discolouring later on. Leave aside to cool slightly - you can't line the moulds if the chocolate is too runny.
• 3. To make the biscuits, put the flour, salt, baking powder and caster sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips. Add the milk and stir everything together to form a smooth ball.
• 4. On a floured surface roll out the dough to about 5mm/¼in thick. Cut out six rounds with a 7.5cm/3in straight sided round cutter.
• 5. Place the rounds on a flat plate or board and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Make sure the biscuits are perfectly round and well chilled, otherwise they might spread or shrink when baked.
• 6. Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes. They do need to be hard, not soft as they form the base of the teacake.
• 7. Remove the biscuits from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
• 8. Coat the inside of the moulds with the melted chocolate. The thickness of the chocolate should be enough to make them sturdy but not too thick. This is best done with a spoon, using the back to run the chocolate around the moulds. If the chocolate is too runny it will mean that the top of the dome is too thick and the side too thin.
• 9. Set aside to set. Do not put the domes in the fridge as the chocolate will lose its shine.
• 10. Meanwhile dip the cooled biscuits in the remaining melted chocolate, covering them completely (you may need to melt more chocolate). You can either dip the biscuits in the chocolate or spread the chocolate onto the biscuits with a palette knife. Place the coated biscuits onto parchment paper.
• 11. For the marshmallow, place all of the ingredients in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water), and whisk with an electric hand whisk for 6-8 minutes, making sure it is smooth, silky and doubled in volume. Make sure it is very stiff, the consistency of whipped cream, so it will hold when piped - you don't want it runny.
• 12. Spoon the marshmallow mixture into a piping bag.
• 13. Melt the remaining chocolate, and place into a disposable piping bag with a sealed end. Set aside to cool and stiffen up a bit, but not harden.
• 14. Peel the biscuits off the parchment and place them onto clean parchment, flat side down.
• 15. Pipe the marshmallow into each chocolate-lined mould just up to the top.
• 16. Snip a 2cm/¾in end off the piping bag with the chocolate in it.
• 17. Carefully pipe some chocolate on the marshmallow and a rim of chocolate around the biscuit base and swiftly place the biscuit on top of the marshmallow filled dome. Smooth the join with a knife.
• 18. Leave the teacakes to set until completely cool and sealed together.
• 19. Very carefully remove the completed teacakes from the mould - be careful of fingerprints on the glossy dome.
• 20. Place on a plate and keep cool - but do not refrigerate, to make sure the chocolate keeps its glossy shine.