Where to Buy Tunnock's Tea Cakes in the USA

Quick answer: A Tunnock's Tea Cake is a dome of Italian meringue marshmallow on a biscuit base, coated in chocolate and wrapped in foil. Made in Scotland since 1890. Buy the 6 pack from The British Vault, shipped from Britain with duties included.

Key facts at a glance

• Product: Tunnock's Milk Chocolate Tea Cakes, 6 x 24g.
• Marshmallow dome, biscuit base, chocolate coating, foil wrapper.
• Shipped from Britain, Delivered Duty Paid. First order: use NEW10 for 10% off.

Buy Tunnock's Tea Cakes. The other Tunnock's staple is the Caramel Wafer, and both sit in Biscuits & Cereal Bars.

Not a tea cake

The name is misleading even within Britain. A teacake in most of England is a toasted fruited bread roll eaten with butter. A Tunnock's Tea Cake is nothing of the sort: it is a confection, and the two products share a name and nothing else.

What it actually is: a small round biscuit base, a dome of marshmallow set on top of it, and a thin chocolate shell over the whole thing. It is light, and it collapses in a specific and satisfying way when you bite it.

The foil

The foil wrapper is not packaging fussiness. The chocolate shell is thin and the dome is fragile, and the foil keeps both intact. It is also the single most recognisable thing about the product: red and silver for milk chocolate, and generations of Scottish children have smoothed the foil flat on a table.

Giant versions of these danced in the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which is a fair indication of the brand's standing in Scotland.

Why nothing in America matches

There are American chocolate-coated marshmallow sweets, and they are the obvious comparison, but they tend to be sweeter and softer throughout. The Tunnock's version depends on the contrast between a crisp biscuit base, a light aerated marshmallow and a thin snap of chocolate.

The marshmallow is also different in kind. It is closer to an Italian meringue than to the dense American marshmallow, which is why it eats light rather than chewy.

Where to buy Tunnock's Tea Cakes in the USA

Order from The British Vault. We source Tunnock's in the UK and ship straight to the United States, Delivered Duty Paid, so every import duty and tax is already in the price and nothing is charged on delivery. Orders dispatch within 1–2 business days and usually arrive 1–3 business days after that.

Shipping is a flat $39.99 below $99 and free above it, so build the basket out from Biscuits & Cereal Bars or Tea. First order: NEW10 for 10% off.

Frequently asked questions

Is it a cake?

No. Despite the name it is a marshmallow confection on a biscuit base, not a cake and not the toasted fruited teacake eaten in England.

How many are in the pack?

Six, at 24g each.

How fragile are they?

The dome is delicate and the chocolate shell is thin, which is what the foil wrapper is for. They travel better than they look.

Are these good for dunking?

Dunking is a genuine British skill and the biscuit matters. A plain, dry biscuit holds its structure in hot tea for a few seconds; a chocolate-coated one softens fast and the coating melts. Judge it by the second, not the minute.

Add Tunnock's to a UK haul

Shop Tunnock's Tea Cakes from The British Vault and build the order past $99 for free shipping.

Related reading: British biscuits in the USA and British sweets in the USA.