Tunnock's Teacake Croquembouche for Foodie Quine's 5th Birthday!

The perfect no-bake-cake for a Scottish celebration - a tower of Tunnock's Teacakes! To celebrate my 5th blogiversary I've created a Croquembouche of chocolate and marshmallow from the iconic silver and red wrapped biscuit.

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday dear Foodie Quine.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I have reached the grand old age of FIVE - or rather my blog has. 7th August 2012 saw me enter the blogosphere with my own wee corner of the Internet. For those who don't know the story www.foodiequine.co.uk came about when as a self confessed foodie and spender of way too much time online it was suggested by one of my friends (that would be YOU Julia!) that I should combine both and catalogue my adventures in food with a blog. There began my Edible Scottish Adventurers.

So why Foodie Quine?   (NB when it comes to pronunciation Quine rhymes with Wine - unless you are Paul Hollywood who called me Foodie Queen - I forgave him!)

Foodie - foody [ˈfu:di] Someone greatly (even excessively) interested in the preparation and consumption of good food. Epicure, Gastronome, Gourmet, Bon Vivant 

Quine - quean (Scottish Doric dialect) a young woman, girl or daughter. A female person from Aberdeen/shire

So now you know!

A birthday celebration can surely mean only one thing for a food blog - CAKE! Trouble is I'm not very good at showstopping celebration cakes. When I'm asked to describe my style of cooking I always struggle as it's a bit of a mish mash of styles combined with a passion for seasonality, cooking from scratch and family friendly recipes. However if there is a particular area of speciality it's probably 'Quirky Scottish' or 'Scottish with a Twist'. As such when it came to a 5th Birthday Cake for Foodie Quine it just had to be made of Tunnock's Teacakes! Those who've been with me at any point over the last 5 years will no doubt have stumbled across at least one of my Tunnock's Teacake Creations. 

• Tunnock's Teacake Rocky Road
• Scottish S'Mores (aka BBQ'd Tunnock's Teacakes) 
• Tunnock's Teacake Sheep 
• Tunnock's Teacake Christmas Tree Baubles

Irn Bru has also proved popular in my Irn Bru Ham and Irn Bru Pulled Pork so do feel free to quaff a glass alongside your Croquembouche.

A croquembouche (or croque-en-bouche) is a French dessert consisting of choux pastry balls piled into a cone and bound with threads of caramel. In Italy and France, it is often served at weddings, baptisms and first communions. I reckon my Scottish Croquembouche is a pure dead brilliant way to celebrate a birthday in auld alliance or entente cordiale style. I initially bought four packs of ten teacakes but I just couldn't build the perfect tower without the addition of just one more. Hence you'll need 41 #sorrynotsorry I also swithered about wrapped v's unwrapped and decided to go for a combination of both however I reckon all wrapped would also look pretty spectacular but less opportunity for decoration. Do feel free to mix it up with the blue and silver versions if dark chocolate is more your thing. If you make your own version I'd LOVE to see it. In blogging terms there's no better feedback. 

Big thanks to all who have followed my Edible Scottish Adventures so far - Here's to the next five years of blogging - Slàinte Mhath!

Tunnocks Teacake Croquembouche

41 Tunnocks Teacakes

Milk, Dark and White Chocolate

Toffee Sauce

Chocolate Sprinkles

Spun Sugar (optional)

To assemble the Croquembouche firstly clear a large space in the fridge!

Melt some chocolate and brush it onto the base of the bottom layer of wrapped teacakes to secure them to your serving plate. Refrigerate until set and continue to brush with melted chocolate and stack up the Teacakes as follows:

Bottom layer - 14 wrapped teacakes (4 in the middle)

Second Layer - 12 teacakes (3 in the middle

Third Layer - 7 teacakes (1 in the middle)

Fourth Layer - 4 teacakes

Fifth Layer - 3 teacakes

Sixth Layer - 1 wrapped Teacake

Decorate with drizzled chocolate, toffee sauce, chocolate sprinkles and if you're feeling particularly ambitious - spun sugar.

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