Time for a spot of spooky afternoon tea!

Hello there!

Wow, it's been a long time! It's been a rather busy year for me personally, so I hope you excuse the lack of scrummy afternoon tea posts from me.

As some of you know, I love Halloween baking and always host a Halloween afternoon tea for my friends. So I thought I would break my silence by sharing with you this year's Halloween baking!

This year we had a selection of cakes and hand-iced biscuits, as well as a tower of egg mayonnaise finger sandwiches, mini coronation chicken rolls and handmade quiches to enjoy.

Over the years I have collected lots of Halloween themed table decorations and I love covering the table with skulls and handmade felt bats. I also love getting out my collection of vintage china to serve everything on and this year Becca made us cute little ghostly name tags for everyone.

Anika loves nothing better than a vanilla cupcake, so you will always find them as part of my afternoon tea spread. The monster cupcakes in my Halloween tea are vanilla sponge which I coloured green, topped with lashings of vanilla buttercream (with more food colouring) and some edibles eyes.....lots of edible eyes! 

Becca and I had great fun baking and icing the biscuits, we had pumpkins and bats with lime flavoured icing and tombstones and ghosts with lemon flavoured icing.

We used the flooding technique to ice the biscuits, outlining the biscuits first with a slightly thicker icing and then filling in the shape with a thinner icing. Finally details were added with the thicker icing. 

Among the other treats was a chocolate loaf cake which contained a cherry flavoured secret ghost in the middle! I love making cakes with hidden shapes in the middle, especially when the flavour isn't quite as expected! This cake went down especially well with a dollop of clotted cream!

Altogether we enjoyed a very spooky afternoon, watching movies as we enjoyed the treats! 

And the best thing about hosting an afternoon tea at your house.....you get to enjoy the leftovers the next day!

I hope you enjoyed seeing our afternoon tea spread and I promise to return soon with more scrummy posts! In the meantime if you enjoy a wonderful afternoon tea let us know all about it - we'd love to hear about your afternoon tea adventures.

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

Afternoon Tea News - Halloween 2017 part 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! We hope you're feeling tea-riffic today!

With Halloween just around the corner we thought we'd share with you some of the Halloween themed afternoon teas that are on offer this October - be warned....they're tea-riffying!

Let's start with Amba Hotel Marble Arch....

The spooky tea being serve at Amba includes:

Witches fingers cookies
Brownie with walnuts
Mini muffin with Ghost meringue
Chocolate milk shake with raspberry couli

Guests can also enjoy sandwiches, scones and a glass of Bloody Mary!

This afternoon tea can be enjoyed between 23rd - 31st October.

Or maybe you fancy enjoying your Halloween themed afternoon tea whilst travelling around London....

Yes, between 28th October - 5th November you can enjoy this colourful afternoon tea feast with a spooky twist on the B Afternoon Tea Bus Tour.

As well as scrummy savouries, there are cupcakes, macaroons and a pumpkin pie!

Finally we have the creepy afternoon tea on offer at BlueBird Chelsea....

Available between 26th-29th October, guests will enjoy sandwiches and scones, along with:

Ghoul cupcakes, liquorice icing
Brownie coffins
Blood orange tart
Pumpkin sponge roll

I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering just looking at these afternoon teas! Don't forget to pop back later this week to see more spooky afternoon teas!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel 

Halloween 2016 Round Up - Spooky Afternoon Teas!

Hello there,

With Halloween just around the corner we thought we would share with you some of the spooky afternoon teas we've discovered this year....

Let's start with The Milestone Hotel in London....

Their selection of spooky pastries including....

Wickedly witchy cupcake,

Garishly ghoulish

Orange & chocolate macaroon,

Morbid mummy / deadly Dracula éclair

Spider's web vanilla cheesecake

£40 per person

The Park Lane Hotel is offering a slightly different Halloween afternoon tea this year...

Yes, it's a magic themed afternoon tea (for people like me who don't really like magic this is quite horrifying!!). To celebrate Halloween, The Park Lane Hotel have crafted a magic Afternoon Tea to pay tribute to Harry Houdini on the 90th anniversary of his death in this menu available 28th - 31st October. 

Diners can indulge in a complimentary elusive cocktail alongside a range of themed treats while enjoying some top class close up magic from magician Tony Middleton, who has appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool us and is the star of the hit London show, The Magic Hour.

Or how about the Halloween edition of the Lancaster London ARTea....

How amazing does that look...let's see what it includes...

A collection of Sandwiches & Savoury bites...

Smoked in the fires of hell salmon on granary

Axe carved beef with horseradish

Smashed egg and crazy wild cress on blood bread

Cucumber coffins 

Devilled chorizo tartlet

Fried until dead veggie Scotch eggs

"Slate of the Art" Scones 

Plain and raisin the dead scones, congealed jam and blood clotted cream

Pumpkin scones with cremated blood orange marmalade

Artists tube of home-made strawberry jam 

Artists tube of Cornish clotted cream . 

When you have brushed the rest aside enjoy a gallery of devillicious sweet bites

Chocolate graveyard

Spider web lollipop

Shattered glass cupcakes

Frankenstein macaroons

Bloodied finger éclair

ArTea  is available at £26.25 Per Person

Bea's of Bloomsburys has created all kinds of spooky sweet treats...

A ghoulish Halloween gift box with 6 hauntingly creepy decorated cupcakes, including 2 Red Velvet; 2 double chocolate and 2 pumpkin vanilla.

Or how about these spiced pumpkin macaroons....

Not going to be in London this Halloween....never fear we've also found some spooky offerings slightly further afield!

If you fancy combining a day out at The Tropical Butterfly House in South Yorkshire with a spot of spooky afternoon tea, this October you can have an extra special Halloween themed Afternoon Tea for Two for £34 including admission to the Wildlife Centre.....

Monsters, ghosts and eyeballs.....something for everyone here!

Even Disneyland is getting a bit spooky with their  “Trick or Tea” afternoon tea...

The sweet treats include chocolate-dipped strawberries decorated to look like Jack Skellington’s suit and a jack-o’-lantern pumpkin!

If you enjoy a tea-riffic Halloween themed afternoon tea we'd love to hear all about it - send us a photo on Twitter or Facebook!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Afternoon Tea News - Halloween ARTea Afternoon Tea at Lancaster London

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! As we make out way through October we're getting closer to that spooky time of year - yes Halloween! Today we're sharing with you a spook-tacular Halloween themed afternoon tea from Lancaster London.

This Halloween, indulge in a truly ghoulish experience at Lancaster London with the hotel’s exclusive Halloween-themed ARTea Afternoon Tea.

Halloween-themed ARTea Afternoon Tea - Lancaster London

Available from 17th until 31st October 2016 and priced at just £35 per person, the Afternoon Tea includes a host of spooky sweet treats such as: Spider web lollypops; Shattered glass cupcakes; Frankenstein macaroons; and Bloodied finger éclairs. Fresh-out–the-oven pumpkin scones will be served warm, with cremated blood orange marmalade plus artists’ tubes of home-made strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream.

The Afternoon Tea also includes savoury classics with a fantastically frightful twist such as: Axe carved beef with horseradish; Smashed egg and crazy wild cress on blood bread; Cucumber coffins; and Devilled chorizo tartlets accompanied by a selection of fresh loose leaf teas.  

The fun Afternoon Tea will be served in the hotel’s sumptuous first floor Lounge Bar from 2pm until 5.30pm. If you miss this afternoon tea never fear - Lancaster London offers tea-riffic themed afternoon teas throughout the year, tying in with special dates, movie releases and London events. 

If you try this afternoon tea you have to tell us what blood bread tastes like!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel& Lorna