"Mallow-Dramatic" Marshmallow Biscuits

STEP 1: MIX THE SPECULAAS SPICE BLEND

Whisk the cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, white pepper, coriander and mace together in a small bowl. You need 4 tsp in total across the bake; keep the remainder in a sealed jar, where it holds for 6 months and improves anything containing brown sugar. The blend above sits at a moderate setting: for the fuller spicing Prue Leith defended on the day, raise the ginger to 1½ tsp and the cloves to 1 tsp and leave everything else alone.

STEP 2: MAKE THE BISCUIT DOUGH

Rub the cold butter into the flour, muscovado sugar, 3½ tsp of the spice blend, baking powder and salt until the mixture looks like coarse damp sand, then press it together into a dough. Add the milk only if it refuses to come together. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

STEP 3: CUT AND BAKE THE DISCS

Roll the dough to 4 mm between two sheets of baking parchment and cut twelve discs with the 6.5 cm cutter, each sized a fraction wider than the base of your mould cavity. Chill the cut discs on a baking sheet for 15 minutes; cold dough holds its edge. Bake at 170°C fan (190°C conventional / 375°F) for 11–13 minutes, until the edges are set and the kitchen smells of clove. Cool completely on the tray, then blitz the trimmings to fine crumbs for the buttercream.

STEP 4: MAKE THE SPECULAAS BUTTERCREAM

Beat the softened butter until pale, then add the icing sugar in two additions and beat for a full three minutes. Fold in the biscuit crumbs and ½ tsp of the spice blend, loosening with milk to a firm piping consistency. The lighter dose here is deliberate — matching the biscuit dose is what made the spicing read as heavy in the tent.

STEP 5: TOP AND CHILL THE DISCS

Spread or pipe a thin, level layer of buttercream over each cooled disc with a small offset palette knife, stopping 3 mm short of the edge. Chill the discs while you make the marshmallow. This layer is both flavour and glue.

STEP 6: DUST THE MOULD

Sift the cornflour and icing sugar together through a fine sieve, then dust every cavity of the silicone mould generously and tap out the excess. Do not skip this; it is half the demoulding fix.

STEP 7: BLOOM THE GELATINE AND BOIL THE SYRUP

Sprinkle the gelatine over 60 ml cold water in the bowl of the stand mixer and leave to bloom for 10 minutes. Combine the caster sugar, golden syrup and 60 ml water in a heavy pan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then boil without stirring to 118°C (244°F) on a sugar thermometer. This is a firm-ball syrup and it sits deliberately at the upper end — a softer set is exactly what tore on the day.

STEP 8: WHIP THE MARSHMALLOW STIFF

Meanwhile, whisk the egg white with a pinch of salt to soft peaks in a separate bowl. With the mixer running on low, pour the hot syrup onto the bloomed gelatine in a steady stream down the side of the bowl. Raise to high and whip for 6–8 minutes. Add the egg white and the vanilla bean paste and continue for a further 3–4 minutes, until the mixture is stiff, matte and holding a clean ribbon — not merely thick. Underwhipping reads as elegance in the bowl and as collapse in the mould.

STEP 9: FILL THE MOULD AND SEAT THE BISCUITS

Work quickly. Pipe or spoon the marshmallow into the dusted cavities, filling each to within 3 mm of the rim, and tap the mould firmly on the work surface to drive out air pockets — in an ornate cavity these are tear lines waiting to happen. Press a chilled buttercream-topped biscuit, cream side down, onto each filled cavity so it seats level with the rim, pressing gently and evenly.

STEP 10: SET FOR AT LEAST FOUR HOURS

Refrigerate the filled mould for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Chilling in the mould is safe because the biscuit is sealed under the buttercream; it is only the demoulded, finished piece that should never go back into the fridge. This is the step the challenge could not afford and the single largest change in this version.

STEP 11: FREEZE, THEN PEEL THE MOULD BACK

Fifteen minutes before serving, move the mould to the freezer. A firm, cold marshmallow releases; a cool one stretches. Demould by inverting the mould and peeling the silicone back and away from each piece, easing one edge free and then rolling the cavity off. Never push from behind — that is what shears the swirl off an ornate mould.

STEP 12: FINISH WITH LUSTRE

Brush away any surplus dusting with a soft dry brush, then apply the lustre to the high points of the swirl, where it catches the light. Rest at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving. These are best within about 6 hours of assembly; store in a single layer in an airtight tin at cool room temperature for up to 2 days and never refrigerate an assembled piece.