£10 off Buyagift , min spend £20

 Hi

Happy new year to you all 🎉

Buyagift are offering £10 off when you spend £20 and over which ends midnight Sunday 10th.

Just quote code JAN at checkout 

I know that most places are closed at the moment but why not grab a great deal on a voucher to use in the future..... It will be something to look forward too. 

There are so many types of vouchers to choose from..... I particularly like the afternoon tea ones with so many to choose from.... 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 Hi 

What a year its been......Lets hope 2021 is better 

I thought our family had escaped the dreaded Covid but both my daughter and husband have got it 

I tested negative and so far showing no symptoms. 

We are all having to isolate till 28th December so a very quite boring Christmas for us. I am sad that I will not be able to see my Mum Christmas day 😞

We must stay positive and look forward to a better 2021 and hopefully lots of afternoon teas 

Homemade cherry scones

 I should of been at my first festive afternoon tea today with my hubby........ All of them are canceled 😭😞

Instead I baked these cherry scones to have at home.......... They are delicious and probably the best scones I have ever made!!

Have eaten 2 still warm with jam and clotted cream..... Not good for the waistline but I  did go for a long walk before so I do not feel as guilty in having a treat

Recipe ( makes about 6-8)

225g self raising flour, plus extra for dusting

1tsp baking powder 

2tbsp caster sugar

50g cold butter cut into cubes

1 egg

75ml milk 

30g Glace cherries halved or dried fruit or both

Method

Put flour, baking powder and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub in until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 

In a jug measure the milk and beat in the egg

Add this to dry mixture reserving a tbsp for glazing. Add the cherries or dried fruit. 

Stir together until it forms a dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. 

Gently roll out to 1 inch thickness and cut out rounds with cutter approx 6cm in diameter. You should make 6-8 scones this size. 

Put these on a plate in the fridge until ready to cook. You could also freeze them at this stage. 

Preheat oven to 200C or 180C fan. Place rounds on lined baking tray and brush over the renaming milk and egg mixture. bake for 10 to 12 minutes, they will turn golden brown on top. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly and then eat them whilst still warm...... Delicious 😋 

My Christmas cake

 Hi

Just finished this year's Christmas cake and I am pleased with how it looks 

I used a Mary Berry fruit cake recipe which you can find on below link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/classic_christmas_cake_04076

It made this large 8 inch cake plus 4 small mini ones baked in a muffin tin.  It was a good idea to make the mini ones as i was able to try the fruit cake before decorating to make sure it tasted nice. It did not disappoint on taste and was very moist and you could taste the brandy !!!!!! I will defiantly use this recipe again next year. 

I kept the cakes wrapped in the baking paper and in the tin for 3 weeks in an airtight container . Every week i poured a tbsp of brandy over them  to keep them moist

I used ready made yellow marzipan to cover them which I did a week before the icing. 

I decided to decorate with a simple Frozen theme. I brought some different sizes of snowflake fondant stamps and made lots of light blue and white ones out of fondant icing in different sizes and shapes. 

Some of them I brushed with glitter and I painted a few with edible silver paint. Then I left for a week to dry out and harden . I also crushed some clear mints and melted them in oven to create the ice shards . It took me 3 attempts to make these as I let them get too hot in oven and boil which caused lots of air bubbles . 

Once all decorations were made i  covered the cake in Royal icing which i made using egg whites and icing sugar with tsp Glucose and lemon juice. This stops the icing from going rock hard. 

I coved the cakes and and made peaks to look like snow rather than a smooth surface which is harder to do. I then carefully placed the decorations on top and on the sides in a random pattern 

I will gift two mini cakes and put them in a small cellophane bag tired with a ribbon. The other one I will cut and share with hubby to make sure it tastes OK before giving out . 

Christmas afternoon teas in London

Hi

Are you looking forward to an afternoon tea over Christmas?
Below are a few that I spotted that look nice ............

B Bakery Christmas Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
Enjoy a festive themed afternoon tea on board a bus taking in the London sights and Christmas lights
Prices start from £45 each    

Winter Wonderland Afternoon Tea Chesterfield Hotel 

I have been to this before and it was very nice so. Indulge in a selection of festive sandwiches and freshly baked cranberry and chocolate scones, followed by a decadent array of seasonal sweets. All of this is served alongside your choice of tea and a warming Mulled Wine Taster.
Price £47.50 each 

The Ned Festive afternoon tea

I had a lovely afternoon tea at the Ned in the summer. I loved the open plan style here and it had such a lovely atmosphere. The food was very good too. I am temped to go to this Christmas one myself Price £45 each

Haxells at Strand Palace Hotel
Enjoy festive savoury bites and sandwiches followed by scones and festive cakes for only £30 each .
I have not been here but the menu sounds really nice and good value

Swan, Shakespeare's Globe
I have wanted to try this afternoon tea for a while as the venue looks nice. The festive menu sounds really good and includes Christmas cake scones, After Eight macaroon and Bailys infused chocolate mousse
£34.50 each

Sheraton Grand London Park Lane
I have been to an afternoon tea here and it was lovely and i would go back. The Christmas menu looks nice and i like the sound of apricot and cranberry scones
Price £44 each 

The Rubens at the Palace
Festive savoury and sweet treats on offer here including Christmas turkey pie and specaloos scones what ever that means !!!!! There are also 6 types of sweet pastries that have a Christmas theme .
Price £49 each including glass of mulled wine

White chocolate and cranberry homemade cookies

 Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.............

Christmas tree and decorations up today and baked some cookies 

The large ones are White chocolate and Cranberry and the others are from Costco and you just bake them yourself

My homemade ones are by far the nicest !!!!!!

They are super easy to make see recipe below 

Cranberry and White chocolate cookies 

Makes approx 12 

125g margarine 

100g light brown sugar 

125g caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

225 g self raising flour

pinch of salt

100g white chocolate chips 

100 g dried cranberries 

1.. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy . Then mix in the egg and vanilla extract

2. Add the flour and salt and mix well then add the chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Stir until mixed evenly 

3. Put the cookie dough in fridge for about an hour to firm up 

4. Preheat oven to 180 fan and line baking trays with grease proof paper 

5. Use your hands to make balls about the size of a golf ball or smaller if you want more cookies 

6. Place on a baking tray with a gap between them , you can normally fit  six on each tray 

7. Bake in oven for approx. 12 to 15 minutes until they go slightly brown on the top 

8. Leave on baking tray to cool 

THEN EAT AND ENJOY 

I made double the mixture and have frozen half of the cookie dough balls to bake another day 

Cafe Concerto Afternoon tea - Green Park , London

Saturday 31st October  

Halloween and  i went to an Afternoon tea at Cafe Concerto Green Park branch. My mum had an afternoon tea voucher which my brother and daughter in law brought her for Christmas. I choose this branch as it was not far for my mum to walk from the station. 

Sadly after yesterdays lockdown news it will be my last Afternoon tea for a while.......

Inside it was large with two seating areas , we was told to choose any table towards the back of the restaurant which was up a few steps. It was very nice inside with a contemporary but grand design. There was some nice background music playing too.

I noticed that on a table in the corner was a  glamorous blonde haired lady who had a very distinctive voice......

It was Gemma Collins from TOWIE

The waiter asked for the voucher and told us we could have two hot drinks and then gave us the full cafe menu. I noticed the coffee was expensive at £3.95 , forgetting we were in Green Park and not my local coffee shop.  

We both ordered a cappuccino each and explained to the waiter that we did not eat salmon and my mum does not like mayonnaise. She said this was fine and they could make the  chicken  one without mayonnaise. 

About 10 minutes later the tea stand arrived . We got  two sandwiches each and two little rolls each. We both got a cucumber and cream cheese and chicken and tomatoes one each which tasted nice a fresh. Two mini rolls were egg mayonnaise and then two which i think were avocado which neither of us liked !!!!!!

 

We got two scones each, plain and fruit plus a pot of jar each and pot of clotted cream to share. As my mum does not like the cream there was extra for me ...Yummy.

The scones were slightly  warm and the plain one was a bit dry compared to the fruit one. 

After eating the scones we ordered an Americano coffee each and then started to tuck into the 6 cakes on the top plate. Unfortunately there was only one cake of each type so we decided to cut them all in half . 

First we had the macaroons which were very nice with lots of flavour. We got a lime green one and i think the other one had caramel flavour filling but a slight rose flavour to the macaroon.....very nice indeed. 

Secondly we had a blueberry tart which had creamy sweet custard inside ......my mum liked this one. 

Next we eat  the chocolate one which was hard to cut as it had a white chocolate disc  on top of a soft velvety chocolate mouse. 

The pink cake had a strawberry flavour and was a mouse on a sponge base topped with jelly. 

Then to finish there was a small pot of lemon cheesecake. 

All the cakes tasted really nice 

After eating all the cakes we both felt rather full. I asked the waiter if there was anything to pay for and she said just two of the coffees.....I queried this as we had been told by another waiter the voucher included two drinks . She said that it only included the first drinks . 

I spoke to the first waiter who said the two drinks were NOT each and for both of us .....so just one drink each. 

I thought this was a bit bad of them as second drink was only an Americano coffee and it would not of cost them much extra to give to us for free. 

Nearest Station  : Green Park-  about 6 minute walk    
Best bits : I think the flavourful macaroons and sandwiches which were nice and fresh 

Worst bits : Charge for extra coffee each 

Value for money :Menu price £36.95 for two. Yes if they were to offer at least two hot drinks each !!!!!

would I go back?  :  Yes probably at some point