A couple of years ago, not long after starting Cakeyboi, I made Posh Top Hats. I realised pretty soon after posting this that I had jumped the gun a wee bit.
I made a more grown up version of this little treat that I grew up with, thinking that everyone knew what Top Hats were! How wrong could I have been?
Well, it seems like these are not internationally known, but more a local delicacy. Top Hats are very, very easy to make and perfect for a kids birthday party, or take to a bake sale.
All you have to do is melt chocolate and that’s as technical as it gets. Petit four cases are lined with a little of the melted chocolate then a marshmallow is sunk into the chocolate. A little dollop of molten choc on top then a smartie added to that and that’s it!
There was always a brand of marshmallow you HAD to use for these, nothing else would be right. They were Princess marshmallows. They came in pink and white and were the perfect shape for Top Hats. I went looking for these when I was going to make them, but could I find them?
I did find ones named Candyland marshmallows, and it turned out these are the same. I’m not sure if they’ve rebranded Princess ones. Anyhoo, as for the chocolate, the cheaper the better is what is called for here if you want truly authentic Top Hats. A baking chocolate called Scotbloc was always used and I don’t think it had been near a cocoa bean in it’s life. I couldn’t get that so supermarket own brand cooking (milk) chocolate was a good substitute.
But it melted well and set quickly so was the go to ‘chocolate’ for the job. And real Smarties had to be used. None of those milk chocolate beans nonsense. I bought a bag of Smarties to make these and realised they were mini-Smarties, but they look cute I thought!
It’s not really a recipe as such, but here goes
Petit Four casesTwo bags of marshmallows (400 grams in total)300 grams of cooking chocolate (milk)Smarties to decorate
Method:Melt the ‘chocolate’ in a microwave or over a pan of boiling water (microwaves were scarce when I was young).
Spoon chocolate into the bottom of each case and place the mallow into the chocolate. Lastly a drop of chocolate on top and add the Smartie. That’s it. Just let the chocolate set and they can be set out for whatever function you are catering! Kids and adults gobble these up, so make lots.
And if you do want to go that little bit further – check out my Posh Top Hats. Three colours of homemade marshmallow and dark chocolate are used for these. And I went the whole hog and used a peanut M&M on top. These weren’t exactly the same, but were fun to whip up.
As these are from my childhood, I am submitting them into Treat Petite this month as I came up with the theme Childhood Memories. I am hosting and Kat at the Baking Explorer will be next month.
And I am submitting these into Laura’s Biscuit Barrel challenge at I'd Much Rather Bake Than – the theme this month is Summer. My birthday is slap bang in the middle of summer, so Top Hats remind me of that time.
And this month’s We Should Cocoa is going gluten-free and these fit the bill perfectly! Michelle at Utterly Scrummy is hosting this month.
