Here are the recipes from my latest video ‘ How To Create The Perfect Afternoon Tea At Home’ which I recently shared on YouTube. I hope you find them useful and delicious. If you would like to see the episode CLICK HERE
Tea Sandwiches
Chicken and Tarragon
Mix 200g (7oz) shredded cooked chicken breast with 3 tbsp mayonnaise,1tbsp whole grain mustard, 1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon, and salt and black pepper. Spread the chicken mixture onto your individual finger sandwiches.
Prawn and Avocado
Mix one diced ripe avocado with 1tbsp lemon juice, salt and black pepper, 3 tbsp mayonnaise, and 200g (7oz) small cooked prawns. Spread the mixture onto your individual finger sandwiches.
Egg and Cress
Boil two eggs until hard (about 9 minutes)
Add the boiled eggs to a bowl with 3 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 bunch of cress, stalks removed and finely chopped, and salt and pepper. Mix together and spread mixture onto your individual finger sandwiches.
Cucumber and Mint
Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the cucumber. Then peel the cucumber into very thin slices. Scatter a generous sprinkling of sea salt onto the cucumber and leave in the fridge for two hours. Gently pat dry and place the slithers of cucumber onto your individual finger sandwiches and then top with two mint leaves on each.
Vegan Scones
INGREDIENTS:
350g Self-Raising Flour
95g Vegan Spread (or butter)
1tsp Baking Powder
3tbsp Caster Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
150ml Oat Milk (or your milk of choice)
Handful of raisins (or your fruit of choice)
Icing sugar for dusting (optional)
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180ºc
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter into a large bowl
With your finger tips, knead everything together until you have fine breadcrumbs. It is very important to work lightly if you want to achieve a good texture. Running you hands under cold water before you do this step will keep your hands cool and help with this too.
Stir in the raisins and milk. Make sure you stir with a knife - again delicately - so you don’t overwork the mixture.
With your hands, knead everything together until you can form a ball of dough.
Dust your work surface with a little flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about a 1 inch thickness.
Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into small rounds. If you don’t have a cutter - simply use the rim of a glass.
Place the scones on a baking tray and brush a little milk on each one to glaze.
Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.
10. Allow the scones to cool for 5 minutes and dust with a little icing sugar
Cakes and Pastries
Fortnum and Mason’s Individual Coffee and Walnut Cakes
Coffee and Walnut Cake is one of my favourites and where better to find inspiration for a tea time recipe than Fortnum and Masons who have been serving afternoon teas in their London store for over 200 years.
Makes 12 Individual Cakes
Cake Ingredients:
225g/8oz unsalted butter
225g/8oz caster sugar
4 large eggs
225g/8oz self-raising flour sifted
1tsp baking powder
50g/2oz finely chopped walnuts
2 tbs freshly brewed and left to cool espresso or 1 tbsp coffee essence
Directions:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F
Grease a 12 hole mini Victoria Sponge baking tray.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
With the mixer on slow, fold in the flour, baking powder and coffee flavouring.
Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for 10 -15 minutes.
The cakes should be well risen, golden, and firm to the touch when you take them out of the oven.
Buttercream Ingredients:
100g/3½ oz softened, unsalted butter
300g/10oz icing sugar, sifted
2 tbs espresso coffee, brewed and left to cool or 2-3 teaspoons coffee essence
1-2tbs milk
Walnut halves or a few chopped Walnuts for decoration
Directions:
Cut the rounded tops off the individual cakes and slice each in half crosswise.
Put a layer of coffee frosting between the two halves and sandwich them back together then frost the top of the little cakes and add a sprinkle of chopped walnuts.
Lemon Meringue Tartlets
Here I have used Mary Berry’s sweet pastry recipe as the base for this classic, quintessentially British tart. The tangy lemon filling is traditionally crowned with a mallowy meringue but if you want to skip this step, the tart looks equally appealing topped with seasonal berries.
Makes 6 – 8 individual tarts
Pastry Ingredients:
100g/4oz plain flour
50g/2oz icing sugar
50g/2oz chilled butter, diced
1 large egg yolk
About 1tbs cold water
Directions:
Butter your tart or muffin pan.
Mix the flour and the icing sugar in a large bowl and then add the cubes of chilled butter.
Rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolk and up to 1 tbs of cold water mixing until you have a ball of firm dough.
Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes or longer.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
Roll the pastry out to 3mm/1/8in thick and, using a cookie cutter, cut out circles of pastry a couple of centimetres /an inch bigger than the individual holes in your baking tin.
Neatly press the pastry circles into the tin and prick the bases of each tart.
Bake for 9-10 minutes until golden.
Lemon Filling Ingredients:
45g/ 3tbs unsalted butter
80ml/ 1/3 cup double cream
1 egg
3 egg yolks (save 2 of the egg whites for the meringue topping)
80g/ 1/3 cup caster sugar
6tbs lemon juice
Grated zest of one large lemon
Directions:
Melt the butter in a small pan.
Add the cream, stir well, then remove from the heat and set aside.
Lightly whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl.
Place the bowl over a pan of hot water on the stove, making sure the bowl doesn’t make contact with the water.
Gently heat the mixture for a few minutes, stirring continuously.
Add the lemon juice and zest, cream and butter mixture and, still stirring, continue to cook until the mixture is smooth and has thickened.
Set aside to cool.
Meringue Ingredients:
2 egg whites
120g/2/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour/cornstarch
Directions:
Whisk the egg whites until they are foamy and hold a soft peak.
Add the sugar a spoonful at time while continuing to whisk.
Once the sugar is incorporated and the meringue is glossy and stiff, whisk in the cornflour/cornstarch.
Put some of the meringue into a piping bag.
To Assemble:
Fill each tart case with the cooled lemon curd.
Pipe a swirl of meringue over the filling and either use a cooking blow torch or pop the tarts into an oven set to 200C/400F for a few minutes to lightly set the meringue.
Mini Chocolate-Lover Cakes
I always like include at least a taste of chocolate in my Afternoon Tea pastry selection. Be it a chocolate dipped shortbread finger or a decorative curl on a cake. Here we go the whole way with a rich chocolate cake topped with a luxurious chocolate ganache and sprinkled with gold leaf for an extra touch of decadence.
Makes about 20
Cake Ingredients:
150g/5 ½ oz unsalted butter
400g/14 oz dark chocolate (70% Cocoa) broken into small pieces
150g/5 ½ oz granulated sugar
5 eggs, separated
45g/1 ½ oz flour
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F
Butter and line a 35cm x 25 cm /14in x 10in swiss roll tin / brownie pan with baking parchment.
Put the chocolate pieces and butter into a bowl placed over a pan of hot water, not allowing the water and the bowl to touch.
Place the pan on a gently heat and stir until the chocolate and butter have melted and the mixture is smooth.
Set aside to cool until just warm.
Beat the sugar, egg yolks, and flour into the cool chocolate mixture.
Whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites until evenly combined.
Pour the batter into the lined tray and bake for 20 minutes until firm.
Cool completely.
Chocolate Ganache Ingredients:
5tbs double cream
75g/2 ½ oz dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 tbs icing sugar
Gold leaf flakes to decorate (optional)
Directions:
Heat the cream in a pan until just below boiling point.
Remove from heat.
Stir in the chocolate until melted.
Add the icing sugar and stir until smooth.
To assemble:
Cut the cold cake mixture into rounds using a small cookie cutter or slice into squares with a sharp knife.
Top with a teaspoon or two of the cooled ganache.
Sprinkle with gold flakes.
Bite Size Pavlovas
This is a bite size adaptation of the classic dessert named for the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. The addition of powdered, freeze dried raspberries gives the meringue a beautiful, pink colour and I love the way the concentrated flavour of fresh, ripe raspberries cuts through the sweetness of the meringue. Again, we have Mary Berry to thank for this recipe.
Makes 18-20 Pavlovas
Ingredients:
12g/ ½ oz freeze dried raspberry powder
3 egg whites
175g/6oz caster sugar
Directions:
Line two baking trays with baking parchment.
Heat the oven to 100C/200F
Whisk the egg whites to the foamy, soft peak stage.
Add the sugar a spoonful at a time until you have a stiff, glossy meringue mixture.
Gently fold in most of the freeze-dried raspberry powder but don’t over mix as you are trying to create a marbled effect.
Spoon small circles of meringue onto the parchment paper.
Using a teaspoon make a small indent in the centre of each meringue.
Sprinkle over the remaining raspberry powder.
Bake in the oven for 1 ½ hours until the meringues lift easily off the paper.
Turn of the oven, keep the door ajar and leave the meringues in the oven until cold.
They can now be stored in a cake tin for up to 2 weeks.
To assemble:
No more than 3 hours before you are ready to serve. Fill the indent in each of the meringues with a spoonful of whipped cream and decorate with finely diced, fresh strawberries and a baby mint leaf.
