Ruby The Cake Artist Brownie Slab

Hello there,

Welcome back to another sweet post from Tea With Me and Friends. I hope you are keeping well and staying safe during these challenging times.

Today I wanted to share with you one of the sweet treats that was sent to me for my solo Birthday celebrations....imagine my delight when I heard the post arrive on the big day and found this waiting for me on the doormat...(ok, my delight came once I'd actually opened the box, but you know what I mean!!)...

Yup, my lovely friend Sheree sent me a slab of birthday brownie through the post! 

What a lovely surprise!

The Brownies come from Ruby The Cake Artist, who usually makes wonderful celebration cakes, as well as offering a cake subscription service. At the moment the big cakes are unavailable, but Ruby is still offering the cake subscription, decorate your own biscuits and slabs of brownies with a weekly delivery.

The brownie was the perfect size to fit through the post box, came well packed and was delivered via Royal Mail. Even though it had quite a drop from my letterbox to the floor, it was still intact when I opened it. 

The brownie itself is deliciously gooey, smothered in chocolate and decorated with a birthday message and lots of sparkle that will make the birthday girl or boy smile...

The brownie might appear quite slim....it has to fit through your letter box remember....but its full of chocolatey flavour and I loved the extra layer of chocolate on the top. You can enjoy it on its own or with a dollop of ice cream.

It's also perfect with a cup of tea....

As well as this Birthday box, you can also send a brownie selection box which includes favours such as Jaffa cake (which sounds amazing) and raspberry and white chocolate. You can also opt to go vegan if you want to.

To find out more about Ruby The Cake Artist and the different sweet treat boxes available, pop by the Ruby The Cake Artist website

Thank you Sheree for this delicious treat, it certainly brightened my day!

Thank you for popping by today, I look forward to seeing you again soon,

Rachel

Time for Tea.....Pretty Patisserie, Farnham

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! We hope you're ready to read about some scrummy tea and cakes.

This week I am really pleased to share with you a new local discovery - Pretty Patisserie which is based in Farnham, Surrey. Pretty Patisserie can be found in Squire's Kitchen, the wonderful sugarcraft and cake decorating shop opposite Farnham train station. The opportunity to go shopping for cake decorating supplies and enjoy some tea and cake at the same time sounds wonderful to me!

I decided to take my mum along to sample the cakes and support a patisserie business so close to home. You need to pre-book your afternoon tea - you can do this by popping in or giving the shop a call.

On arrival at Squires Kitchen you need to make your way through to the Patisserie counter at the back of the shop to place your order before sitting at one of the tables dotted around the shop. We had one of the lovely window seats, which meant we could people watch the shoppers while enjoying our afternoon tea!

The tea choices are limited, but there is something for everyone -including a black tea, a decaf, a green, an earl grey and a peppermint tea. Once you've selected your tea this is brought over to you with an impressive looking afternoon tea stand...

All of this scrummy food was for two of us! 

The stand included a selection of freshly prepared savouries, two scones each, a selection of cakes (both cupcakes and smaller cake bites) and a selection of macaroons. We were also given a pot of clotted cream each and a pot of clotted cream - so no fighting over the cream!

Our savouries included triple decker sandwiches which were generously filled with cucumber and cream cheese and the tomato bread pinwheels filled with ham and rocket. I loved the pinwheels - the flavour combination was wonderful and the bread was especially tasty! We had two triple deckers each and two pinwheels each.

I really liked the individual servings of cream and jam, I thought this was a nice touch. We were served two scones each, which were a good size - not too big and not too small. We also had plenty of cutlery to cut and dress our scones - a small, but sometimes forgotten element of afternoon tea!

The cake selection was great....

There were three different full size cupcakes - lemon, chocolate and red velvet. All were scrummy, with light sponges and delicious icing. There was small pieces of lemon drizzle cake and dense chocolate brownie. Both mum and I thoroughly enjoyed the lemon cake, which was light and flavoursome.....probably some of the best lemon drizzle that I've had the pleasure of sampling! 

On the top tier of the cake stand there was a wonderful selection of macaroons...

These bite sized beauties were light and delicate with a soft, chewy middle - delicious!

If I am honest I couldn't believe how much food was included, especially since this afternoon tea is priced at just under £17 per person. This is great value, especially since the quality of the food is brilliant and we really enjoyed all the different elements. 

Don't worry if you can't fit it all in though - you can take home any cakes in little cake boxes to prolong the enjoyment at home!

I really enjoyed my afternoon tea adventure at Pretty Patisserie and I think Mum is already planning her next trip back! As well as afternoon tea, you can also enjoy a light lunch and I heard a rumour that a rather wonderful hot chocolate menu is launching soon! 

While we were there we also had the pleasure of meeting Natasha, who provided some information about the Patisserie and also the cake decorating sessions that they hold regularly. There are child sessions and adult sessions which focus on different cake decorating techniques. Ranging from £5 - £10 you can learn to make all kinds of sugarcraft models!

To find out more pop by the Pretty Patisserie website

Do you have a local tea room or patisserie that you think we should know about? Drop us a line and let us know about your local favourites!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel