Bake of the Week: Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Teacakes

TODAY’S treat is from Hotel du Vin. These teacakes are divine. No surprise – Bake of the Week recently had afternoon tea at Hotel du Vin and it was fabulous.

It’s the perfect way to spoil a special someone. Go on, you’re worth it.

You’ll need

100g butter

75g icing sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

175g plain flour

4 tsp cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

8 gelatine leaves

6 egg whites

350g of caster sugar

200g dark chocolate

10g of frozen raspberries

50g raspberry jam

Method

To make chocolate biscuit bases, mash butter and icing sugar, beat until smooth.

Mix egg yolk, vanilla, milk, flour, cocoa and salt. Tip the mix on to a floured work surface, knead the dough until evenly coloured. When done, wrap in cling film, pat into a disc and chill for 20 mins.

Heat oven to 180C and line two baking sheets with parchment. Dust with flour, unwrap dough and roll to £1 coin thickness.

Use a 5cm cutter to stamp out discs. On baking sheets, bake for 10-12 mins.

For the marshmallow filling, put gelatine in a bowl of iced water, set aside to soften.

Meanwhile mix egg whites, sugar, 1 tbsp water and pinch of salt in a heatproof bowl. Place over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water, and whisk until thick.

When thick, remove from the heat and continue whisking adding the gelatine, a leaf at a time. Keep whisking until the meringue has cooled slightly and is stiff.

Transfer to a piping bag and allow it to rest for about five minutes.

On bottom of biscuits, spoon ½ tsp of jam then pipe a blob of meringue, quickly pulling away to create a spike. Leave to set for at least 30 mins.

Melt chocolate over a bain marie. To cover the teacakes, place on a wire airing rack and spoon on chocolate until covered.

When chocolate cools, chop raspberry pieces and carefully dot a couple of freeze-dried raspberry pieces around the top of your teacakes.