It's some of the best news of 2026 and we're delighted to be a part of it! That's right, vegan teacakes are now a thing!
What started as my simple dream to have a teacake at the cinema became a topic of conversation at many of our Goupie meetings this year. I was trying to figure out how to create something that resembled a teacake with what we had at the factory.
What I hadn't anticipated was that at one of those meetings mum would bring out an experiment cooked up by our very own long-serving oompa-loompa Claire. Clearly talk of the teacake had reached the factory, and a new, brilliant idea had formed.
The first iteration of Mallow Tops were a little wacky. Small circles of marshmallow sat upon little squares of Goupie with the whole thing covered in chocolate. The result was a sort of top-hat like treat (a look I quite enjoyed) and the flavour was obviously great.
The second iteration was equally as wacky but a little less pretty. Tiny pieces of Goupie were cut to fit the marshmallow circles, with each one slightly more wonky than the next. They were still delicious, but their looks didn't do them any favours.
Then after some tweaking and re-orienting, we finally found their shape! Something that looked a little more uniform and a little less strange with a mound of marshmallow over a rectangle of Goupie. Perfect! But what were we going to call them?
Everyone in the Goupie family gave their input here, some name suggestions more dodgy than others (thanks, dad), and after whittling down the list to the final 3, we put the vote to a group of family friends. Mallow Tops came out as a clear winner and now I can't imagine them being called anything else.
Next on the agenda - packaging! Initially I thought we'd add the Mallow Tops to our Dips & Dabs range, selling them in compostable bags alongside our Chocolate Covered Marshmallows, Honeycomb, Marzipan, etc. But once we'd finalised their look we decided they needed something more special.
We were originally planning on creating a whole new bespoke design for the Mallow Tops boxes. We'd even decided on a shape, format, and look before it was decided that we'd release them... In a month's time.
It wasn't going to be feasible to sort out this new packaging (making the design, getting quotes, taking photos, proofing, getting them made and delivered) in a month, let alone sort out the marketing. When considering the cost of bespoke packaging and potential MOQs for getting them made, it would also be a big financial risk to commit to something like this so quickly. Instead we decided to pivot. We'd use our existing boxes and create a new look for the label - something unique to Mallow Tops that still fits in with the rest of our products. That was my job!
I wanted something bold and fun so I picked a few colour combinations to play around with, took a few photos of the Mallow Tops I hadn't yet eaten, and experimented with our existing labels. The final look combined our Goupie triangle motif, the bold purple of Original Goupie, and the light blue from our Chocolate Covered Marshmallows.
Mallow Tops weren't originally part of our plan (a plan we actually, definitely, finally had this year) but given how much everyone seems to love them, they'll probably be a big part of our plans going forward!
We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
