BLACKBERRY & VANILLA TEA CAKES BY FLORA MANSON
incase you haven’t gathered by the ratio of sweet to savoury recipes featured in this newsletter - i love a dessert - because they are so aesthetically pleasing, and i have a major sweet tooth.
as i was scrolling thorough my instagram saved folder looking for inspiration for this months newsletter, i noticed multiple gorgeous bakes photographed on the same pretty ceramic plate, then came to discover they were all made by the wonderful flora manson, if you love all things dessert like me you will ooze over her feed of perfect, pretty desserts.
as february is the month of love, i couldn’t not ask flora to share her recipe for these beautiful pink tea cakes, as she describes ‘ a twist on a favourite both past and present; a buttery vanilla sablé biscuit topped with raspberry jam, a little cloud of blackberry marshmallow and enrobed in a cloak of dark chocolate’
i can’t wait to give these a try
INGREDIENTS
For the sablés:
plain flour 125g
powdered sugar 45g
flaky sea salt a pinch
butter 90g, cold and cubed
egg yolk 1, save the white for the marshmallow
For the marshmallow:
caster sugar 113g
water 30g
liquid glucose 20g
gelatine 3 gold sheets
egg white 1
blackberries 40g, frozen or fresh
To build and finish:
raspberry jam 1 tsp per teacake
dark chocolate 300g, finely chopped
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For the sablés, sift the flour and powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Add the salt and whisk to combine. Add the cold cubed butter and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour until you reach the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add your egg yolk and combine with a wooden spoon, then use your hands to form a dough. Wrap in cling film, shape into a rectangle and leave to rest in the fridge for 2 hours, or overnight.
After the dough has rested, remove from the fridge and let it sit at room temp for 15 minutes to soften slightly. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top then flour the top of the dough lightly. Roll the dough out until it is at 3mm thickness, then use a 6cm cookie cutter to cut out 18 rounds–you can collect the cuttings, ball up the dough and roll it out again up to 3 times. Place the dough rounds onto plates and place in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Towards the end of the chill time, pre-heat your oven to 160C fan and line two baking sheets with baking paper. Arrange the dough rounds on your prepared baking tray and bake for 14-18 minutes, until very lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the marshmallow: to a medium-sized pot, add your sugar, water and liquid glucose. Mix to combine then set over low-medium heat and allow to come to a gentle boil, then cover with a lid and let come to a temp of 241F. Meanwhile, bloom your gelatine sheets in a bowl of ice cold water–leave for 10 minutes. You can also whisk your egg white at this time–add it to the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to soft peaks.
Once your syrup is at temperature, with the stand mixer on medium-high speed and with the whisk attachment fitted, slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites. Increase the speed of your stand mixer to high and whisk until the mixture is white, glossy and cool.
Add the blackberries to a small pot on medium heat. Crush them with the back of a fork to a purée and bring to a gentle simmer. Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine sheets and add to the blackberries, then stir until melted. Add this to your marshmallow in the stand mixer and whisk on medium-high until combined and glossy. Add the marshmallow to a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle. Spoon a teaspoon of jam onto each of your sablé biscuits, then pipe the marshmallow on top, holding your piping bag about 5cm from the jam and piping with an even pressure until the marshmallow covers the jam and reaches the edge of the sablé, finishing with a swift pull away upwards and outwards. Place them in the fridge to set overnight.
For the chocolate coating: fill a large bowl 1/3 full with water and ice and set aside. Add your finely chopped chocolate to a glass bowl and place over a pot of barely simmering water. Melt the chocolate and bring to a temperature of 118F. Remove the bowl and place in the ice water, taking care not to get any water in the chocolate, stirring continuously with a spatula until the chocolate reaches 81F, then place over the pot of barely simmering water again until it reaches 88F. Remove from the heat and pour the chocolate into a narrower, deep container like a ramekin, and dip each of the biscuits in to coat the marshmallow. Leave to set at room temperature.
Best enjoyed the day of making, but the tea cakes will keep for 1-2 days stored in a sealed container in the fridge. After this the biscuits will get quite soft due to the moisture in the marshmallow.