The Marshmallowist: producer of gourmet marshmallows

Oonagh and Jenny Simms knew they had hit the sweet spot in the final few days of last year. January is normally the month of diets and restriction so it could have been a slow month ahead. But not for these sisters who run The Marshmallowist, the UK’s first producer of gourmet marshmallows, in Farsley, Leeds. They had just received an order from Marks and Spencer for 300,000 of their marshmallows, to be sold nationally in 490 stores for Mother’s Day.

‘We couldn’t believe it. People swear off sweets in January – it’s not usually a month for a confectioner to be busy,’ laughs Oonagh. ‘But their buyer told us they were increasing their order by five times. That meant 300,000 marshmallows to make and 50,000 boxes to order for packing.

‘It’s very much a pinch me moment. We are completely thrilled. We’ll be getting a banner at the front of stores – this is not something they do. Marks and Spencer sell Marks and Spencer products. We can’t believe it.’

Sweet sensations: Sisters Oonagh and Jenny Simms are the dream team behind The Marshmallowist in Leeds. Photo: The Marshmallowist And just like Marks and Spencer food, these are not just marshmallows, they are hand crafted, light as a feather, souffle marshmallows that are also used to create their glossy, bauble-like teacakes. Marvellous mouthfuls created to savour made using fruits, organic herbs and boutique alcohol. Intense flavours skip from raspberry and champagne to passionfruit and ginger to their CBD and pink grapefruit – a blend that created a real buzz.

‘Our flavours ae creative and completely delicious. We don’t use egg whites in our recipes. This means the flavours come out powerfully, and they develop,’ says Oonagh. ‘Our passionfruit and ginger, my favourite, gives you an initial, strong burst of passionfruit. And then it’s only when you’re eating a little bit more – you can get four or five bites out of our marshmallows – that the warming ginger comes through on the end.

‘You get a pure, beautiful hit of fruit, spices or alcohol – it’s a big burst of flavour. They’re all handcrafted, and a lot of effort goes into them. It’s so much work. They’re handmade, they’re hand cut, they’re hand packed. The boxes are made up by hand and everything’s hand sealed. There’s a lot of love and a lot of energy that goes into producing them. But I think you can tell.’

‘Our marshmallows are handmade, they’re hand cut, they’re hand packed. The boxes are made up by hand and everything’s hand sealed. There’s a lot of love and a lot of energy that goes into producing them’ says Oonagh. Photo: The Marshmallowist Marks and Spencer are one of several high-end food halls to stock the gorgeous creations including Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Daylesford and they have featured on the pages of Vogue. Oonagh’s first recipe book, The Marshmallowist, was published in 2016 and they have an impressive following – on the day we chatted, they had been asked to cater an afternoon tea wedding in Doha in the Middle East. They are also making more than 100,000 mallows a month for Knoops, a chain of high-end hot chocolate cafes.

‘This is going to sound ridiculous, but we do a lot of billionaire weddings,’ says Oonagh. ‘The Ambani wedding – the most expensive wedding in the world – we did that. We flew out to Portofino and did toasted marshmallows and hot chocolates with toasted marshmallow fluff.

‘There have been so many high points. I’ve been flown out to the Maldives to do a week-long interactive experience with InterContinental Hotels. All the weddings we’ve done are wonderful. We’ve been on TV with Paul Hollywood and Alan Titchmarsh and working with clients such as Selfridges and Harvey Nichols, it’s a real stamp of affirmation on what you do, because they’re the world’s best food halls. It’s a real “you’ve done good moment”. It’s been really magical. We are so, so proud.’

Oonagh Simms trained as a chocolatier and pâtissier in Paris before setting up The Marshmallowist 12 years ago. Photo: The Marshmallowist They have come a long way. Oonagh, fired up with an enthusiasm for bold flavours and a creative flair for sweet treats, moved to Paris, aged just 18, and spent four years training to become a chocolatier and pâtissier.

She then moved to London and in 2012 started her own Saturday stall at Portobello Market in Notting Hill. Although she made all kinds of bakes and cakes, it was the marshmallows with inventive flavours that soon had a cult-like following. As the business grew, Jenny lent a hand before eventually swapping her career in political communications to become the company’s co-owner and co-director alongside her sister.

It was a need for larger commercial premises that prompted a move back to Leeds eight years ago. They are now based former textile mill, Farsley Mills.

‘We wanted to be up here, we enjoyed the space and being here with our family,’ says Jenny. ‘Being in Leeds, makes complete sense.’

Their gorgeous, glossy-domed teacakes contain their fluffy marshmallows in creative flavours. Photo: The Marshmallowist It would be easy for their success to go to their heads. In reality, Oonagh, who is largely responsible for the making and Jenny, who does ‘all the things Oonagh doesn’t want to’ have spent several weeks with their small team of ten staff hunkered down in their Farsley bakery, hand making and packing tens of thousands of boxes of marshmallows and teacakes – not only for Marks and Spencer but for their legions of loyal customers.

‘Oonagh creates the flavours but most of the people that now work with us in the bakery are all real foodies and will go on holiday to places like Japan and come back with amazing ideas for new flavours,’ says Jenny.

‘We spend an inordinate amount of time chatting about food in this bakery. We have a super team and we’re really collaborative.’

The sisters are now focussed on the next year and making sure the business weathers any storm the current economic climate can throw at them.

‘It feels very tenuous at the moment and a little bit scary, and we are focussing on surviving,’ says Oonagh. ‘We are so lucky to have had a great start to the year and we want that to continue. We’re especially lucky to work together. We are best friends, and we get so much from it. We’ve learned so much from each other and we wouldn’t change it for the world.’