Afternoon Tea with a Twist

I dont think afternoon tea gets any more special than this.... my boyfriend and I arrived at the Ideal Home Show to find they had an area called the Central Marina, where they offered afternoon tea. As you must know by now I'm addicted to going to different places for afternoon tea. The setting was stunning and definitely not what you expect at a home exhibition.The special bit was that it was on water!! ^^

The menu was actually very good and only £15....

The only let down was the sandwiches, they were a little dry and with little filling inside, but all the ups made up for the only down. The scones were moist and not dry at all.... scrumptious! The cakes were impressive and very yummy too!!

 From right: Chocolate coffee cake, Chocolate Cream Eclair, Lemon Curd Cake, Strawberry Custard Tart

Fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam

The Montcalm Hotel Afternoon Tea

I had never heard of The Montcalm Hotel until I got an email from Groupon about a deal for afternoon tea here. (http://www.montcalm.co.uk/afternoon-tea-126.html)
The deal was very good value, afternoon tea for two for only £12. You cannot beat that bargain. Very rare to even be able to pay £12 for afternoon tea for one person, so off I went. Here's the menu, usual price for this set is £19.50.

 Traditional Afternoon Tea

Your choice from a fine selection of JING loose leaf teas served with 

the Savoury Tea Finger sandwiches, plain and fruit scones with clotted 

cream and strawberry jam, and a selection of pastries and 

fruit tartlets from the Sweet Tea.  

 Menu doesn't sound too bad does it? Although I must say it is not the best afternoon tea I have had. We had three finger sandwiches each, these were not bad, they looked and tasted fresh. We had a scone each, the scone was quite nice, it was moist and not too crumbly, which made spreading the clotted cream and jam very easy. However the big disappointment was the cakes. Very often when I go to afternoon tea, I never finish the set, as it is very filling and difficult to eat some many sweet things in one go. But nevertheless the excitement from seeing the tea set is the cakes on the top tier. You want to see pretty and delicate cakes that look too good to eat. However the cakes at The Montcalm, it was a disappointment. The display failed to generate any impact or reaction. The cakes did not taste that brilliant, but from the photo you can see the appearance of them are a let down, the top of the cakes are cracked and crumbling.

For the price of £12 for two I cannot complain too much, but if I had paid the full price of £19.50 per person I would not have been happy about it. Needless to say I will not be going back to her again... so the search continues ^^

Best Afternoon Tea...... so far....

I love sitting in a room surrounded by lovely decor with a slight tinker of china, soft murmurs and oohhhs and ummms in the background. I am in fact describing an afternoon tea session :). I love afternoon tea, I find the whole experience relaxing, it feels like being in a different world. A world of beautiful things and absolutely gorgoeus sweet things! Afternoon tea is definitely an art of its own.

So imagine my happiness level when my friends took me to The Kensington Hotel for a surprise afternoon tea seesion! Not only was this a lovely and thoughtful gesture, it was in fact the best afternoon tea I have had so far, and I've been to a couple of places.

The place was elegantly decorated with a twist of modernness. We were sat next to a big window that brought in lovely light which made afternoon tea even more pleasant.

http://www.doylecollection.com/locations/london_city_hotels/the_kensington_hotel/gallery.aspx

The afternoon tea set was not expensive at all, it was only for £23 and you would not be able to finish it.

Modern English Afternoon Tea 

SANDWICHES
Roast beef with rocket salad
and red onion chutney

Cucumber and chive cream cheese
Honey roasted ham with
wholegrain mustard mayonnaise

Scottish smoked salmon with
horseradish and chive crème fraîche

Egg mayonnaise and cress

Mini fish and crab cake

SWEET THINGS

Rich traditional English fruitcake
Victoria sponge
Carrot cake
Fresh fruit tart
Apple and rhubarb crumble

HOME MADE SCONES

Warm homemade plain and raisin scones
Cornish clotted cream
Lemon and passion fruit curd
Homemade strawberry and rose petal jam

lazy days.....

I had a lazy 4 months away from my blog, hahaha ... I am sooo lazy... havent had the time or the energy to post for awhile.. should definitely be one of my new year resolutions... to blog more!! ...

Time has passed sooo quick and even though I have been away from the kitchen for all this time, it doesnt mean I've stopped eating all things sweet... ^^ ....

Lets start with a Birthday slice...

this is a slice of carrot cake that one of my colleagues bought me for my birthday from a local cafe near where we work. This is one of the best carrot cakes I have tasted. It was moist and not too sweet. Often you get cakes that are just overpowered with sweetness... this cake was just right. Needless to say I ate it all .... pretty quick... umm my mouth is watering just thinking about it....

The Great British Bake Off

BBC 2 is currently showing The Great British Bake Off.... every Tuesday at 8pm.
http://www.greatbritishbakeoff.com/

This show is heaven for bakers out there, as I've not really ever seen a show that is dedicated to just baking. Interest in baking has seemed to increased over recent years, just look at the number of blogs about baking and the number of new entrepreneurs in the industry. I am sure this show will no doubt influence and inspire many people to start baking or bake even more. I know it has that affect on me.

This week's focus is on baking bread, an area that I have not yet experienced. I always imagined and thought of bread as a timely process with a lot of kneading, proving and waiting around. But most of all one that requires a lot of skill to get a good baked bread. The show has definitely confirmed these points but watching this week's show, its really tempted me to give it a try. I love the smell of freshly baked bread and it might be time to be brave and give it a go... watch this space!!!!

Can I have another cookie please????

I've been really lucky to sample a lot of my friends baking recently.... you can't get them better than homemade.

One of my friends made a chocolate cornflake cookie crunch..... When I first saw these I honestly thought they were shop bought. You can see why right??

These looked good for sure, and they tasted delish!!! After taking a bite, you are hit with a crumbly chocolate biscuit with a chocolate topping and then comes the cornflake crunch. A surprise in disguise!!!

This isn't shop bought either.. but made by the same friend. A good cookie with a chewy middle and choc chips... I could have easily eaten half a dozen of these. I've made a lot of cookies before, but they never turn out this shape, mine tends to spread out while baking and then either come out too chewy or crunchy!! whoopssss......

Coconut and Rum Macaroons

ummmm.... some more macaroons.... don't these look like the Laduree ones I raved on about before.... ???
These are in fact home made, not by me of course... I havent as yet gotten around to making these. These are made by a really good friend of mine. Coconut and Rum Macroons... these were really moist with a hint of rum flavour......melt in the mouth..... and completely delicious.....

As you can see the macaroons has the the rough edge, which is known as the foot. The macaroons were smooth on top, with a slight shine and no cracks at all. This may sound easy but it requires a lot of skill to get them to this perfection.

I'm hoping this post will award me another one... lol.... x

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I love the pandan cakes that you can buy from chinese supermarkets or bakeries. Pandan is of Malaysian origin and comes in the form of a leaf. The cake is made from the juice of pandan leaves, and so the colour of the cake appears light green.

I attempted to make this once before and failed considerable. The cake just sunk as soon as it came out the oven and so was not light and fluffy. My sister found a recipe on the internet and asked if I could make it for her. I was dubious but thought I'd give it a try anyway. U can find the recipe below, taken from http://nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com/

Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Step 1:

8 medium egg yolks
2oz  fine sugar
2oz Pandan /Screwpine Leaves Juice ( Made from blending 6 Screwpine leaves with 2 – 3 oz water)
3oz corn oil or olive oil
5oz self raising flour

Method:

1. Beat egg yolk and sugar lightly with a hand whisk till sugar dissolve.
2. Stir  in pandan juice and corn oil.
3. Fold self raising flour into egg mixture.
4. Set aside.

Step 2:

Ingredients:

8 egg whites
5 oz fine sugar
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Beat egg whites till frothy. Slowly add in sugar and pinch of salt while beating at high speed.
2. Beat until the egg white is stiff and shining but not dry. ( About 3 minutes)

Step 3:

1. Preheat oven at 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Use a spatula and gently fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture(meringue).
3. Pour into an ungreased 25cm tube pan.
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
5. Once cake is cooked, remove cake from oven immediately and invert  pan onto wire rack. Let it cool before removing cake from pan.

I couldn't get hold of any leaves for this recipe so I used pandan food flavouring instead, you can buy this from chinese supermarkets. This seemed to work, although next time I might put a little more in the mixture. I was really careful of how much flavouring to put in, as the pandan flavouring tastes bitter and really strong. The last thing I wanted was to put too much in and have a bitter cake.

The cake was a success this time, although there are still areas to improve on. It was light, moist and fluffy with little sunkage... though the overall appearance of the cake could be better. But I was happy that it tasted good and had some good feedback from my sister and other guinea pigs I have!

Event Day

Arrived at about 9.30am to set up on the day of the event. Setting up the stall didn't take too long, as the cakes were packed in a way that the larger box contained a selection of cupcakes of all the designs and colours.

I bought a disposable three tier cup cake stand for the day, as this was light and easy to transport on the day. It was very easy to assemble and very sturdy. We placed about 35 cupcakes on the stand and replenished as they were sold throughout the day. I bought this online for about £6, easily found with a quick search on the internet, especially on sites like ebay stores. The only downside of the stand are the stain marks from the cupcakes itself.

I had positioned the cup stand on the right hand of the table, and the left was a little setting created with flowers, tea set, almost an afternoon tea setting.

Event Baking Day 2

I was really excited about day 2, because this is where the fun really starts. I love the decoration part of baking, it is where I can be creative and imaginative... and I love making things look pretty.

On this occasion, as there were 100 cupcakes to decorate and pack up, one of my close friends came over and helped. It was a really fun day, having a catch up, bouncing off ideas and all for chairty too. Its a lovely feeling to be able to do something that you enjoy and have the task done for a meaningful cause.

There were a lot of experimenting of colours and designs on the day, and so this batch of cupcakes I made looked a little different from the ones I made before.

All of the cupcakes were frosted with vanilla flavoured buttercream frosting. Food colouring were added to the buttercream to create a range of cupcakes in different colours. I used food colouring that came in a liquid form (pink/red colour), like the ones you find in the local supermarket and one in a paste form (purple), which is a lot more concentrated. They both produced similar results though I prefer to use paste as adding too much liquid to the buttercream mix can weaken its stiffness and affect the piped result.

Have a look at the photos below and see what you think....

Selection of decoration ingredients, food colouring and flavourings.

Packing up .... 35 cupcakes in this box...

The pink and white batches here, with different piping techniques. 

Event Baking Day 1

5 hours.....
27 eggs.....
5 blocks of butter.....
1.4kg of flour.....
1.5kg of caster sugar.....
and a bottle of vanilla extract later  .... equals.....

I used a basic cupcake mix, (I've blogged the recipe in a previous entry), which makes 12 cakes per batch. To make the baking process more efficient. I first made sure all butter and eggs were at room temperature, then batches of 2 were weighed and put aside ready for use.

I mixed the batter in batches of 2 and baked every 12 cakes at a time, as unfortunately my oven isnt big enough and I only have one cupcake tray. Nevertheless the whole process actualy went pretty smooth and took quicker than I had anticipated.



All cupcakes are packed away in air tight tuppleware boxes now... ready for Day 2... frosting and decorating!!!....

Just a little piece of card....

From my last blog, I mentioned about a cupcake stall for a charity event, well the time is nearing. So my baking schedule has been set up.... getting ready to bake 100 of these sugar things to help raise money. Everything is under control at the moment... only days away from my first event.

I got some business cards made to accompany my stall, as my boyfriend always says you have nothing to lose and you dont know what might come out of it. Sounds like some wise advice, so my business card was born ^^

Afternoon Tea at the Wyndham Grand, London Chelsea Harbour

Not long after visiting The Orangery, a group of friends and I headed to the Wyndham Grand for a birthday Afternoon Tea Party. The tea was served in the lounge of the hotel, and where we were sat we could see the marina outside. With it being a nice bright sunny day, it was a perfect setting for a group of 10 girls sipping away and secretly scoffing on the sweet delicates. 

We decided to share an afternoon tea per couple, but the tea sets were bought out in sets for four people to share. 

Traditional Afternoon Tea £15.00

Sandwiches  (seen on the bottom tier)

Scottish Smoked Salmon and Herbed Cream Cheese
Honey Glazed Wiltshire Ham and Grape Chutney
Cornish Yarg with Homemade Piccalilli
Free Range Egg and Chive Mayonnaise

Homemade Plain & Raisin Scones (middle tier)
Served with Clotted Cream & Fine Strawberry Preserve

Sweets and Pastries (top tier)

Elderflower and Gooseberry Fool

Cheeky Chocolate Bourbon
Strawberry Crumble Tart
Earl Grey Cream Slice
Cherry and Almond Cake
Fruit Cake

Selection of Coffees, Teas and Fruit Infusions

The experience here although the setting was perfect was not as good as some of the places I have been to before. We had to ask for milk when our tea arrived and only a small jug was brought over, so we had to ask for some more. The clotted cream portions were tiny and was not sufficient for four people sharing, the portion size is usually for one person at any other afternoon tea place. All in all it ruined the experience a little bit as we had to keep trying to attract the attention of the waitress. The service could definitely have been more attentive and better. And the fact that we were amoung a few other diners there, the service was very very slow. It took almost half an hour for them to prepare the table for us to be seated. Definitely will not be coming back here, its such a shame as the scenery was absolutely stunning. 

http://www.wyndhamgrandlondon.co.uk/food-drink.php

Trial Baking

I've recently become a volunteer for a really worthwhile charity, called Shanti International that helps vulnerable people in Asia. There is an clothing event next month, and I have been given the opportunity to have a stall on the day selling cupcakes. Of course all proceeds go to charity. But the thought of the idea of having a stall that is mine, even for a day feels pretty good.

So I've since then been planning what types of cakes to make and how to decorate my stall. Its all under control at the moment and I can clearly envisage it in my head. Just hope the execution of it will be the same.

I did a quick test trial of the cupcakes..

Vanilla cupcake with strawberry flavoured

buttercream, with sugar star

sprinkles

I was pretty happy how these turned out, as I used a different recipe for the buttercream. Think I found the winning recipe! 

Afternoon tea at The Orangery

Nothing beats afternoon tea in the summer especially when it allows you to dine alfresco. Enter The Orangery at the Kensington Palace.

View from our table

Their speciality is the orange scented scone, although these are only available in the afternoon tea sets and cannot be purchased on its own. 

 Enchanted Palace Tea

£17.95

Enchanted Palace chocolate ganache slice and heart 

shaped raspberry shortbread, signature orange scented

scone with Cornish clotted cream & strawberry

jam and an assortment of finger sandwiches. 

Served with a choice of teas or coffees. 

This tea set recommended the chocolate tea, which was very unusual. Chocolate pieces are infused with the tea leaves, creating a very aromatic chocolate smell and slight sweet taste. 

Chocolate Tea 

There are also a selection of other cakes on offer...

This the scone set ... a fruit scone with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam

ummmm .. think its time to visit another afternoon tea place........ ^^

Abu Dhabi Dessert

Its been a long long while since the last blog... (shameful...lol).... so here I am blogging about the things I should have done.

Went to Abu Dhabi in May, and needless to say I ate a lot and I mean a lot of good food!! Combined with sun, pool and sand... you really cant go wrong. We stayed at the Beach Rotana, where it housed many of the city's best restaurants. We particularly loved the Rosebuds Restaurant... cos it was buffet style... ahaha... and of course with any buffet hotel restaurants comes with it an extensive dessert selection!!!

Only a small selection of the desserts available.... I didn't have the stomach to try all of them, and cos they were not all labelled, I can only guess what some of desserts were.

Creme Caremel...yum yum....

 

This one was super yummy, a light fluffy vanilla cheesecake decorated with fresh fruit... I had two helpings!! ehehe

Lime Moouse Cake with a light freshly whipped cream on top, garnished with a cherry and chocolate stick.
Very tangy and refreshing dessert, a good twist on the lemon curd puddings you normally find.

Didn't have any stomach space to try these, these were strawberry and orange fool pots!!!

Eastern Sweets... Baklava.... Yum!!! ^^