It’s quite a well-known fact I have a penchant for Afternoon Tea and other quintessential traditions. Who can say no to unlimited pots to tea, dainty sandwiches and all the cake you can eat? We’ve eaten Afternoon Tea in various places from Little Bettys in York to Michelin Starred tea at Northcote but I have never attempted to bake Afternoon Tea at home. Mother’s Day provided the perfect opportunity and willing participants in the form of Grandma and Mother-in-Law.
As any Afternoon Tea aficionado will tell you, there are a few essential elements – fine china, cake stand, crisp white tablecloth and sugar tongs. China I could do along with sugar tongs and cake stand but shockingly a tablecloth was harder to come by. After trawling every shop in town that could feasibly sell one, I settled on possibly the naffest 100% polyester £7 table cloth I have ever seen. It was horrible and shiny, which thankfully doesn’t show in the photos. I’m planning to replace this shocking piece of table covering with a nice cotton one in the near future.
The menu was loosely based on various Afternoon Teas we’ve eaten.
Finger Sandwiches served on homemade white bread with various fillings:
Egg & Cress
Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese
Beef & Horseradish
Honey Glazed Ham & Mustard
Freshly baked Sultana Scones served with jam & Lubcloud Extra Thick Cream
Chocolate Buns
Bara Brith
Mini Carrot Cakes with Cream Cheese Icing
Champagne
Selection of teas including:
English Breakfast, Cranberry-Elderberry Green Tea, Pure Rooibos and Darjeeling Earl Grey
The advantage of this menu was that quite a bit of it was able to be made the day before with just the sandwiches being made up last minute and scones being quickly baked. The cream I served with the scones is amazing stuff. It comes from a dairy just over the border in Leicestershire. So thick it’s almost like butter and a perfect pairing with jam.
Leave a Reply