Little Lovely #3: Teacakes

When I say that "teacakes" are little lovely #3 you probably suspect that I'm going to wax poetic on the beauties and virtues of little perfect patisserie creations found only in the most elegant of high tea settings and eaten only with the whitest of gloves, the finest of teas and the bubbliest of champagnes. Well, you'd be wrong.

* * *

Little Lovely #3: Tunnock's Teacakes

why they're lovely; in trifectal, anecdotal form

The First "1st"
Last weekend we took Roman to his first "1st Birthday Party." It was a surreal experience in many ways, some involving premature empty-nest syndrome, abundant comments on Roman being bigger than all the other kids despite being one of the youngest, and some involving an attention-seeking, jealous 4-year-old throwing plastic balls repeatedly at Roman's head.

Despite that, there were also lots of wonderful surreal things: a lovely little half-Colombian, half-Turkish girl dressed as a ladybug, copious amounts of wine, and these odd little ladybug shaped snacks that were essentially chocolate covered marshmallows with jam in the center. The latter are of greatest interest for the purpose of this post, because despite having had chocolate covered mashmallowy-thingies before, this was when my friend Stacey said, "Oh, these are like teacakes."

Hmmmm, teacakes, I thought...what are those?

Duly noted. Attention piqued. Appetite whetted.

* * *

Afternoon Tea & Cake

I embarked on a separate chocolate-covered voyage later in the week when I decided to do a practice run for Matt's birthday cake after last year's semi-fiasco. (Sorry Matt, guess now you know.)

Matt is the world's biggest fan of Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars. He eats part of one every single night and makes me buy them everytime I go to the grocery store. Much like me with eggs or shrimp, Cadbury Fruit & Nut bars are the food Matt will and can never get sick of, as he has professed on many occassions, chocolate, fruit and nuts hanging out of his mouth.

For this reason I decided to try to make him a chocolate fruit & nut cake - to kind of recreate his daily foodgasm in birthday cake form. In the meantime, I also invited a few of my friends and their wee ones over to help me eat said cake before Matt discovered my ingenious plan. (Again, sorry Matt.)

Anyway, the cake turned out mediocre (big surprise there) - despite my friends' protests to the contrary. It was too dry, not almondy enough, and the raisins did not taste of rum despite being soaked in it for five days. And yet, there was a light at the end of my cake party: Stacey brought a pack of Tunnock's teacakes for me to try!

* * *

Tunnock's Teacakes: A Chocolate-Marshmallowy-British-Revelation
If you'd asked me a few days ago after describing a Tunnock's teacake to me whether I thought it would instantly become my new sweet addiction, I would have said "absolutely impossible."

Marshmallows get on my nerves. They are only good when combined with something else - on their own they are too sweet, kind of annoyingly chewy, and often just downright gross. I can have them in smores, hot chocolate, ambrosia...but I'm not a huge fan.

Then I met a Tunnock's teacake. The sweet, dense milk chocolate covering. The melt-in-your-mouth borderline-peanuty shortbread. The soft, pliable, almost-creamy marshmallow filling! Oh the beauty! The exquisite British sweet deliciousness of it all! They may be odd looking, impossibly British, and seem a wrong fit for teatime, but I swear I almost had a religious experience when I finally ate one a day after the tea & cake party.

*dramatic pause*

Tunnock's teacakes - buy these little lovelies for your Valentine. But get an extra pack (or two) for yourself. :)

tiny, tempting and tantalizingly lovely

This little lovely is brought to you by Moi Je Joue a lighthearted French song by Brigitte Bardot that screams nothing if not "go eat something decadently sweet and lovely!" That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)