Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g
Temperature can spoil this one from either direction. Out of a fridge the marshmallow turns rubbery and the coating reads waxy; off a sunny shelf the whole round loses its edges and goes to paste. Somewhere ordinary and cool it works: chocolate first, marshmallow up fast behind it, and the warm spice underneath as the only element in the build with an argument against sugar. That spice has more to get through in the coated version than it does in the sugared one, which is the real difference between the two packs. The setting agent in the centre is a pack question in a vegetarian household.
Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, in brief.
Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g is the chocolate-covered version of an Irish biscuit that people ask for by name, a warmly spiced round with a soft marshmallow centre, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the soft outlier on a shelf where nearly everything else is built to snap.
Buy this one because you want the chocolate coat, not because you want Kimberley by weight.
This pack is the coated one. Where the plain Kimberley carries a sugared finish, this version puts chocolate there instead, so the spice and the marshmallow now come through a layer that is itself sweet and itself soft at room temperature. Elite is the range name the pack sits in.
If you want Kimberley by weight, buy the big plain pack.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Storage notes and pairing guidance are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind The Pack
Bolands is a long-standing Irish biscuit name, and the Kimberley is the one people ask for. It belongs to a particular kind of shopping: the biscuit somebody brings back in a suitcase, or asks a relative to post. That is not nostalgia marketing, it is how regional biscuits work, and it is why a soft marshmallow format has survived in an aisle dominated by crisp bakes with long shelf lives.
What the format does is separate flavour from texture. The spice lives in the rounds, the sweetness in the marshmallow, and because neither is crisp the whole thing arrives as one soft mouthful rather than as layers you work through. A chocolate coat does not change that architecture, but it loads one more sweet layer onto it, which is why the spice matters more here. Take it out and there is nothing left but sugar in three forms.
The exact spice mix, the coating and the ingredient list belong to the pack rather than to us.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Weight: 132g.
- Soft, not crisp: the one thing everybody needs to know before the first bite, because it is the opposite of what the aisle trains you to expect.
- What it is not: a dunking biscuit or a keeping biscuit. It is a specific thing bought by people who want that specific thing.
Ideal Serving Conditions
Everything practical about this biscuit follows from softness. A crisp biscuit fails by taking moisture in; a soft one fails by losing it, and by having its coating melt. That inverts almost all the usual advice, and it is why a Kimberley behaves so differently beside a hot cup.
Serving A Soft Biscuit
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Do not dunk: there is no crisp structure to soften, so nothing to gain, and a marshmallow centre in hot liquid collapses. The rare biscuit where dunking has no upside at all.
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Room temperature, always: cold marshmallow goes rubbery and cold chocolate reads waxy. Five minutes out of a cool cupboard does more than anything else.
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One at a time: a sweet biscuit with a sweet coat on a sweet centre. Two in a row is a lot, and the second tastes flatter.
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On a plate: the coating marks fingers at room temperature and marks them badly in a warm room. Hand them out on something.
The Drink Beside It
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Strong black tea: the traditional pairing and still the right one. Tannin is the only thing that cuts three layers of sweetness, and the tea must be properly brewed to have any.
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No sugar in the cup: the biscuit has supplied everything the mouthful can carry, and more than most.
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Milk sparingly: a splash in something strong. A milky mug beside this leaves nothing cutting anything.
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Black coffee works: better than you would expect, the bitterness doing the tannin's job from another direction.
Serving Notes For Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake
- Water temperature: full boil for the tea. A pale cup has no chance against this much sugar.
- Measure: The biscuit count is on the pack, not here.
- Steep: four to five minutes on a strong black tea, covered.
- Service: no sugar in the cup, and the biscuit on a plate rather than in the hand.
- Milk: a splash in something strong, not a mugful in something weak.
- Dunking: no. There is no crisp structure to soften and the centre collapses.
- Best with: strong black tea, black coffee, or a plain mint infusion afterwards to reset the palate.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Bolands
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g is soft all the way through, so the builds that suit a crisp biscuit all fail on it and the ones that suit a confection all work. Five below cover the plain tea serve, the grilled version, a chocolate pot lid, an ice cream and a small gift pairing.
Made with this tea
The Plain Tea Serve
How to make The Plain Tea Serve with Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake.
- 1 Chocolate Kimberley Teacake
- 1 strong black tea, unsweetened
- 200ml water at a full boil
- A plate, not a hand
- Take the pack out of the cupboard five minutes early. Cold marshmallow goes rubbery and cold chocolate reads waxy.
- Brew the tea at a full boil for four to five minutes, covered, and leave the sugar out of the cup.
- Serve on a plate. The coating marks fingers at room temperature and marks them badly in a warm room.
- Eat it dry and drink the tea alongside. Dunking has no upside on a biscuit with nothing crisp in it.
What you'll end up with: The pairing this biscuit was built for, and a tea with enough tannin to cut three sweet layers.
Grilled Kimberley, The Thirty-Second Pudding
How to make Grilled Kimberley, The Thirty-Second Pudding with Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake.
- 2 Chocolate Kimberley Teacakes
- A small heatproof dish
- A teaspoon each
- Heat the grill and set the shelf low, well away from the element.
- Warm the biscuits for twenty to thirty seconds only, watching the whole time. The coating goes from set to liquid very quickly.
- Lift them out the moment the chocolate loses its shine and let them stand for a minute.
- Eat with a teaspoon while the centre is soft. This is closer to a s'more than to a biscuit and it is meant to be.
What you'll end up with: A hot pudding in under four minutes from something already in the cupboard, with no baking involved.
Kimberley Lid On A Chocolate Pot
How to make Kimberley Lid On A Chocolate Pot with Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake.
- 2 Chocolate Kimberley Teacakes, halved
- 150g dark chocolate, 70 per cent
- 200ml double cream
- 4 small glasses
- Heat the cream to just below a simmer and pour it over the chopped dark chocolate, stirring until smooth.
- Divide between the glasses and chill for two hours until set.
- Press half a Kimberley into the top of each pot just before serving, cut side down.
- Serve at once. The dark chocolate in the pot supplies the bitterness the biscuit has none of.
What you'll end up with: A pudding that fixes the one weakness of a triple-sweet biscuit by putting something bitter underneath it.
Chopped Kimberley Ice Cream
How to make Chopped Kimberley Ice Cream with Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake.
- 2 Chocolate Kimberley Teacakes
- 500ml good vanilla ice cream
- A pinch of flaked sea salt
- Chill the biscuits for fifteen minutes first. Cold is the only way to cut a soft centre cleanly.
- Chop into rough pieces with a heavy knife rather than breaking them by hand.
- Fold through softened ice cream, refreeze for twenty minutes and add the salt at the table.
- Eat the same day. A marshmallow centre goes hard if it sits in a freezer overnight.
What you'll end up with: Spiced marshmallow and chocolate through vanilla, with a pinch of salt doing the work the biscuit cannot do for itself.
The Suitcase Gift Pairing
How to make The Suitcase Gift Pairing with Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake.
- 1 pack Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g
- A caddy of strong loose-leaf black tea
- A box or a bag and a card
- Pair the pack with a strong unsweetened black tea rather than a flavoured one. The pairing is the point of the gift.
- Write the serving note on the card: room temperature, on a plate, and do not dunk.
- Keep the parcel out of a warm car or a sunny window between wrapping and giving.
- Hand it over rather than posting it in summer, when a chocolate coat will not survive the journey.
What you'll end up with: A small present that explains itself, for the person who has been asking somebody to bring these back for years.
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Spiced biscuit rounds | the structure of the piece | Warmly spiced and soft rather than crisp. The spice is the only thing in the build arguing with the sugar, and it has more to get through in the coated version than in the plain one. |
| Marshmallow centre | the middle layer | Soft, sweet and the first thing the bite finds once it is through the coating. It is also why nothing in this biscuit snaps and why it will not take a dunk. |
| Pack size | 132g |
Pack: Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g; soft spiced biscuit rounds with a marshmallow centre under a chocolate coat. Best before the date printed on the pack, and best kept sealed, cool and out of the sun.
Characterising components shown. The setting agent in particular is the detail a vegetarian or vegan buyer needs from the pack rather than from us.
Sourcing & recipe. Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g is made by Bolands, a long-standing Irish biscuit name, and Kimberley is the line people ask for by name. It belongs to the category of regional biscuit that travels through people rather than through distribution, brought back in a suitcase or posted by a relative, which is a large part of why a soft marshmallow format has survived in an aisle otherwise dominated by crisp bakes with long shelf lives. The pack you receive is the current UK retail pack rather than an import made to a different recipe.
What is in Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g, and what is not:
- In: soft spiced biscuit rounds with a marshmallow centre, finished with a chocolate coat rather than the sugared outside of the plain version.
- Not a dunking biscuit: there is no crisp structure to soften and the centre collapses in hot liquid. That is construction rather than preference.
Asked about this product
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Bolands Elite Chocolate Kimberley Teacake, 132g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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