Christmas Pudding Tea Cakes Recipe

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A festive take on the traditional marshmallow tea cake, these Christmas pudding tea cakes are encased in a layer of dark and white chocolate, with a base of crunchy biscuit and a centre of fluffy Christmas pudding flavoured marshmallow. To top it off, a few dried barberries and a couple of crystallised mint leaves make the perfect edible decoration.

In order to achieve a shiny finish the chocolate needs to be tempered. This can be done in various ways - the traditional method is pouring part of the chocolate onto a marble surface to cool it down. However, if you're not in the mood to make a mess, simply melt the chocolate and wait for it to cool whilst you do something else, stirring and monitoring the temperature using a thermometer from time to time. Enjoy these Christmas pudding tea cakes with a cup of afternoon tea in the run up to Christmas. They will keep for a few days, if you can resist eating them that is!

For the chocolate shell Serves: 8

30g white chocolate
150g dark chocolate, 54% cocoa solids

For the biscuit base

75g plain flour
45g muscovado sugar
A pinch of bicarbonate of soda
A pinch of salt
30g unsalted butter, in cubes
25g light corn syrup
1 tbsp milk
A pea-sized amount of vanilla paste

For the marshmallow centre

35g water
175g caster sugar
20g light corn syrup
4 gelatine sheets
1 large egg white
50g Christmas pudding

Assembly and decoration

15g dark chocolate, 54% cocoa solids
A small handful of dried barberries
A small handful of crystallized mint leaves
1 tsp light corn syrup

Equipment

Half sphere silicone mould
Disposable piping bag
Baking parchment
Superfast thermapen thermometer
Circular cookie cutter, 50mm in diameter

To make the chocolate shell

Melt the white chocolate in a bain marie.
Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the chocolate – it needs to drop to 28°C before it can be spooned into the silicone half sphere mould. At this temperature the chocolate is tempered and will be shiny once it comes out of the mould.
Spoon half a teaspoon into the moulds and tilt the mould from side to side so that it spreads out evenly.
Repeat the same process with the dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is usually tempered once it has reached 32°C. However, because we are using white chocolate, which has a lower tempering temperature, we must also bring the dark chocolate down to 28°C. Or else the dark chocolate will untemper the white chocolate when it is poured on top.
Pour the dark chocolate into the moulds – do four at a time, filling them up to the brim and then turning the mould upside down over a bowl and shaking so that the chocolate falls out.
After coating the inside of all 8 moulds, scrape a spatula over the surface to remove any excess chocolate.
Leave to set at room temperature.

To make the biscuit base

Break up the dark muscovado sugar by blitzing it in a food processor. Make sure you have got rid of all lumps.
Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt to the food processor and blitz for a few seconds to mix the ingredients together.
Add the cold butter in cubes and blitz again. The mixture should resemble crumbs.
Whisk together the milk, honey and vanilla extract in a bowl.
Add it to the dry ingredients and mix by hand to form a solid dough.
Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
On a floured work surface roll out the biscuit dough to a thickness of 1-2mm.
Use a 50mm cutter to cut at least 8 rounds in the dough. Use any remaining dough to make Christmas cookies.
Transfer the biscuits to the baking tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 170°C.
Bake the biscuits for around 10 minutes, until nicely brown and crisp.

To make the marshmallow

Soak the 4 gelatine leaves in cold water.
Heat the water and sugar in a pan to 130°C, monitoring the temperature with a sugar thermometer.
Meanwhile in a stand mixer start beating the eggs to form stiff peaks.
When the sugar syrup reaches 130°C add the glucose and remove from the heat. Drain the gelatine and add to the hot syrup.
Pour the syrup over the egg whites whilst they are whisking.
Continue to beat the mixture as the egg whites are cooking and turn into a smooth, fluffy marshmallow.
Chop the Christmas pudding into fine crumbs and add it to the marshmallow.
Once it has been whisked for 10 minutes and has cooled slightly, place a nozzle in a piping bag and fill with the marshmallow.
Pipe into the chocolate half spheres on top of the chocolate leaving a little space at the top for the biscuit and the Christmas pudding layer.

To assemble the Christmas pudding marshmallow tea cakes

Top each sphere with a biscuit.
Melt the 15g dark chocolate in a bain-marie.
Make a cornet out of baking parchment.
Fill the cornet with the melted chocolate and pipe it around the outside of the biscuit in order to cement the chocolate shell and the biscuit together.
Once the chocolate has set turn the mould upside down to release the tea cakes.
Use a toothpick and the light corn syrup to stick a couple of barberries and a couple of crystallised mint leaves on top of the Christmas pudding tea cakes.