Time for a little spooky tea....Ampersand Hotel

Hello there,

Happy Halloween!

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. Last weekend, Lorna and I celebrated Halloween a little early with a visit to the Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington.

Now, if you've popped by our blog before you'll know this isn't our first time to the Ampersand. This is our third or fourth visit to the hotel for a spot of afternoon tea, in fact we first visited this lovely boutique hotel for Halloween afternoon tea in 2013. We love the work of pastry chef Ji Sun Shin and couldn't resist going back to sample the Halloween tea again.....

Halloween afternoon tea
Ampersand Hotel

Now, all the afternoon teas served at the Ampersand follow a similar format of savouries (either open sandwiches or savoury gougeres) followed by scrummy white chocolate scones - however it's the sweet top tier of the afternoon tea stand where Ji Sun lets her imagination and creativity run wild and that's where I want to focus this post.....

Sweet treats - afternoon tea - Ampersand Hotel

Although this tea looks like similar to the Halloween tea that was served last year, there are some subtle differences this year which we all enjoyed.

The sweet treats include a cute orange pumpkin cake, a blackberry jelly skull on a sable breton, a red velvet cupcake and a raspberry, rose & redcurrant blood shot. 

I particularly enjoyed the jelly skull on the sable breton, the combination of the silky jelly on top of the sable breton was brilliant - especially if you chose to put the entire thing in your mouth in one go! The blackberry jelly has an amazing flavour too. Altogether a lovely treat!

You might have noticed this little cutie in the photo.....

I saved my orange pumpkin cake to last as it's so cute and I didn't want to cut it up straight away. Once you take the plunge and cut through the icing, you find a wonderful orange sponge cake inside - which is beautifully flavoured.

Slightly more alarming is the red velvet mini cake, complete with "glass" shard and eyeball....

The red velvet cake melts in the mouth, and is topped with a tangy drizzle of raspberry. Again it's the perfect size for popping into your mouth in one go if you are so inclined! 

Each time we visit the Ampersand we are amazed by the cakes and pastries created by Ji Sun, she creates items that look so pleasing to the eye, yet she never compromises taste. I had the pleasure of meeting Ji Sun earlier this year when she kindly answered some of my nosey afternoon tea questions....take a peek at the post to read more about how she creates her amazing afternoon teas.

Halloween afternoon tea - Ampersand Hotel

The Halloween afternoon tea costs £32.50 per person and is available until the 9th November 2014, to find out more visit the Ampersand website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna