On Sunday, I took my mum to an amazing afternoon tea buffet and a cooking demonstration hosted by the Bake Off: The Professionals winners of 2024. It was held at the Intercontinental O2 Hotel, and we did a bit of shopping beforehand, which made the day even more special
I thought it was a great price at £65 each for three hours, including a welcome glass of fizz and canapés, a live cooking demonstration, and a wonderful afternoon tea buffet.
The hotel was beautifully decorated for Christmas, with a large Christmas tree in the lobby and an impressive festive scene created by the chefs, which was entirely edible.
The afternoon tea was held in the Kinaara restaurant which had lovely views over the Thames.
Upon entering, the two chefs, Tanuj and Narayan, were waiting by the door to greet us. We were then seated at a table with our glass of fizz and offered two types of canapés. One was a whole grape coated in goat’s cheese and rolled in a pistachio crumb — it was delicious.
After about half an hour, we were invited into a small room set up with around 20 chairs and a camera crew ready to film the event. I counted just 18 guests in total, which made it feel like a really intimate experience. The chefs guided us through the steps of making a chocolate and cherry yule log, explaining and demonstrating everything clearly. We were able to ask questions throughout, and they even let us taste the chocolate ganache cream and a slice of the finished yule log.
After this, they showed us how to make the perfect scones, and everyone was surprised by how much they mixed the dough and treated it more like bread dough. They explained that it should be allowed to rest before being cut into rounds, and then rested again before baking to help form a crust on the outside.
I must admit, they rose beautifully and had lovely smooth tops. I’ve never been very good at making scones in the past, as I was always told not to handle the dough too much, so this was definitely something new that I learned on the day.
The demonstration and questions latest about 45 minutes then we went back to our table and helped ourselves to the amazing afternoon tea buffet
Festive Christmas Edition Menu
As you can see, there was a wide choice available, and every item on the table was clearly labelled.
To start with, I chose the chicken sandwich, egg mayonnaise sandwich, smoked cheese sandwich, and an Indian paneer cheese puff pastry parcel, which wasn’t listed on the menu. Everything was very fresh and generously filled.
.My favorites from this selection were the pavlova and the pistachio and cherry financier, while my mum enjoyed the choux pastry and pavlova the most.
Next, I tried the rum baba , white chocolate and cardamom panna cotta, and the Christmas-spiced maritozzi. This was the first time I’d tried the Italian maritozzi bun, and it was wonderfully light, filled with soft, fluffy cream. I really loved it and wished I’d had room for another one — sadly, we were both far too full to eat any more.
It was a shame they didn’t offer doggy bags to take leftovers home, as there were still a few cakes left at the end!
While we were enjoying our final few cakes, the two chefs came around the tables and handed each guest a small box signed by both of them. Inside were six lovely chocolates — such a thoughtful gesture and a wonderful keepsake to remember the day by.
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