Time for....some reading....Eric Lanlard Afternoon Tea - Part 2

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're having a great day!

Remember at the beginning of the month we shared with you the fab new afternoon tea book from Eric Lanlard and the biscuit bakes we tried from the book.....well today we're back with some savoury offerings!

Eric's book covers everything you'd need to create your own afternoon tea at home, from individual recipes to how to create an afternoon tea menu. This weekend we have a family party and I offered to make some savoury canapes, having picked some recipes from Eric's book.

I opted to make:

Pear, Roquefort and walnut tarts

Brie and red onion marmalade Gruyere eclairs

Tartes flambees

Yes.....I like cheese!!

The recipes in Eric's book are simple and easy to follow, and I am fairly pleased with how each savoury treat turned out...

I particularly liked the brie and red onion marmalade eclairs, which were crisp and smooth all at the same time. The onion marmalade is very tasty and simple to make. The ingredients all work so well together - imagine creamy brie, peppery rocket and sweet onions all on a crisp base.....amazing!

I'm not entirely sure what happened with my pear and blue cheese tarts.....they kind of exploded out of the cases and made a bit of a mess. They tasted good though, and I love that the walnuts look like brains! 

As my bakes were for a family party....I made quite a few....

The recipes were very easy to double.

If you fancy trying some of the recipes for yourself, Afternoon Tea is available to buy now.....don't forget to let us know how you get on!

Thank you for popping by today.

Rachel

Time for....some reading....Eric Lanlard Afternoon Tea - Part 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

This week I was sent a lovely gift - a pre-order copy of the new Eric Lanlard book - Afternoon Tea. With over 80 afternoon tea recipes for both sweet and savoury treats, the book contains all the cakes, pastries, tarts and biscuits you could wish for! In addition, menu ideas offer the perfect combination of flavours helping you create your perfect afternoon tea adventure at home.

Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea 

If you're not familiar with Eric Lanlard (aka Cake Boy) - he is a Master Pâtissier and twice winner of the prestigious Continental Pâtissier of the Year at the British Baking Awards.....he has also baked for celebrities and had several TV programmes on Channel 4.

Therefore when this book arrived in the post I thought I would be in for a treat! As you know from our previous book reviews....we always like to test the books out ourselves....and with this many recipes to pick from I was spoilt for choice! I therefore thought I'd run this review over several blog posts, featuring different recipes in each post......and to start with I would try out some biscuit recipes!

Homemade biscuits from Eric Lanlard's Afternoon tea book

The book itself is very beautiful - full of tea-riffic photography and simple to follow recipes. From information about matching teas and food and how to make the perfect cuppa to suggested afternoon tea menus and so many recipes - it really is a comprehensive book.

The recipes are divided into macarons and choux, savoury tarts, sandwiches and scones, cakes and sweet tarts, patisserie and biscuits and includes delights such as tequila king prawn sliders, brie and red onion marmalade gruyere eclairs, aperol sultana scones (are you drooling yet??), triple marble bundt cake and chocolate ganache hearts to name a few!

From the biscuit section I opted to bake something new and something old.....for the something new I picked Eric's Palets Breton recipe....buttery shortbreads, a traditional biscuit from Brittany. And for the something old I followed Eric's Viennese butter biscuits (a big favourite in my household!)

Baking with Tea With Me and Friends!

Both recipes were simple to follow and included photos of the finished biscuits (there aren't photos for all recipes - but the photos that are included are scrummy!). 

My Viennese butter biscuits turned out really well - light and delicate and they looked just like the photo! They passed the taste test from both me and Joe....and they tasted even better the day after I baked them. 

Homemade Viennese Butter Biscuits - Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea

The Palets Breton were a slightly different story.....although they tasted amazing....they really didn't look like the photo in the book.....nor any other photo of Palets Breton that I have seen since I baked them!! I'm really not sure what went wrong.....but they still tasted wonderful!

Homemade Palets Breton biscuits from Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea

The biscuits melt in the mouth and I can see how they can be used as a base for other recipes as well as being enjoyed alone....with a cup of tea or coffee!

The book Afternoon Tea will be available from June,  but you can pre-order copies now. Over the next month we'll taste test a couple more recipes - don't forget to pop back and see what we try!

Please note that although we've received a complimentary copy of Afternoon Tea, this hasn't affected our thoughts on the book....and all opinions expressed in this blog post are our own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for a Little Christmas Cheer (part three).....

Hello there,

Welcome back to another Christmas themed afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends. This time we are featuring a rather scrummy looking afternoon tea from the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in London. The hotel has teamed up with master pâtissier Eric Lanlard to create A Very Berry Christmas Afternoon Tea.....

A Very Berry Christmas Afternoon Tea - Jumeirah Carlton Tower
Photo from Website

This afternoon tea savouries for this Christmas feast include Stilton, fig and walnut tart with port jelly droplets, Cranberry and orange bread filled with roast turkey, sage and onion stuffing and chestnut crumbs and Salmon and lobster cracker. I love the sound (and look!) of the salmon and lobster crackers - the perfect Christmas treat!

Christmas afternoon tea savouries - Jumeirah Carlton Tower
Photo from website

Scones are served with clotted cream and preserves...but after seeing those savouries I bet you are all waiting to hear about the sweets on offer! Well, guests can indulge in a "Festive chocolate candle" which features fig cream, salted butter caramel, caramelised puffed rice and a white chocolate flame. Or perhaps you'd prefer a piece of deconstructed Christmas cake, which is served with a marzipan emulsion and an injection of XO Brandy! The final sweet treat is a "Mandarine Napoleon Tart" - a butter pastry filled with Calamansi cream, Mandarine Napoleon soaked vanilla sponge and topped with wild winter berries and hibiscus flowers.

That all sounds amazing, but I but you'd prefer to actually see some of these sweets.....

Sweet treats at Jumeirah Carlton Tower afternoon tea
Photo from website

I rather fancy some of the deconstructed Christmas cake!

This Christmas afternoon tea is served daily from now until the end of December in the Chinoiserie lounge. The tea costs £40.00 per person, or if you fancy adding some bubbles and strawberries it will be £50.00 per person. To find out more visit the Jumeirah Carlton Tower website.

If you try this afternoon tea we'd love to hear from you - please get in touch!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Other People's Festive Afternoon Teas

Hello there,

You might remember our posts a couple of months ago where we featured photos that our friends on Twitter and Facebook had taken of afternoon teas they had enjoyed.

Well, those posts were so popular that we decided we needed to see what festive afternoon teas people have been enjoying.

Are you sitting comfortable and are you ready to drool? There are some scrummy photos coming up.....

Intercontinental Park Lane's festive afternoon tea

To start us off Claire from The Secret Tea Society enjoyed a 12 days of Christmas afternoon tea at Intercontinental Park Lane. Look at the pastry swan peeking from the top tier!

 

Harriet's Secret Tearoom's pretty festive afternoon tea

Emily and her mum enjoyed a festive afternoon to at Harriet's Secret Tearoom in Melton Mowbray. Read more about their lovely tea on Emily's fab blog!

One Aldwych's scrummy afternoon tea

 Hazel from Cupcake Daisy took some time out from her busy baking schedule to enjoy One Aldwych's festive take on their wonderful Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea....complete with gingerbread pops and some surprising candy floss!

 

Crackers with your festive afternoon tea at Tea Total

 April Moores enjoyed a festive tea complete with crackers at Tea Total in Lyndhurst. I like the look of those mini puddings!

 

Bond and Brook offer an elegant festive afternoon tea

 Anomalous London enjoyed an elegant festive afternoon tea at Bond and Brook in Fenwick of Bond Street

Netherdene B&B offer a fab festive afternoon tea

 Netherdene B&B in Cumbria have been serving up their guests this festive treat, complete with scrummy looking mince pies and Christmas cake.

 

Jumeirah Carlton Tower's imaginative festive afternoon tea

 Tazmin from sapphire Event Design recently enjoyed the Eric Lanlard festive afternoon tea served at Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in London - I'm still a tad bit jealous of this afternoon tea, it looks so scrummy!

An international afternoon tea served at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok

 A festive tea slightly further afield was enjoyed by J Lim - this is the afternoon tea currently being served at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok! That Stollen looks wonderful!

 

A lavish festive afternoon tea feast served by Exquisite Vintage Teas

Finally Exquisite Vintage Teas have been creating these wonderful festive afternoon treats.

 

See....I told you there were some scrummy photos to enjoy! Thank you to everyone who has shared their afternoon tea photos with us, I do love hearing about your tea adventures!

 

I hope you've enjoyed our photos, if you've enjoyed an afternoon tea recently and would like to share your photo with us please get in touch. You can leave a comment here, email us or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter!

 

Finally, we'd like to thank all our fab readers a tea-riffic Christmas - I hope you have a wonderful time.

 

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea....Jumeira Carlton Tower

Hello there,

Christmas is fast approaching and by spending some time on Twitter and Instagram I can see that lots of people are enjoying festive afternoon teas at the moment. One tea that has caught my eye is the Eric Lanlard Christmas afternoon tea at the Chinoiserie restaurant in the Jumeira Carlton Tower.

To be honest when you are greeted by pictures like this on a restaurant webpage, I think you know the tea is going to look pretty fantastic too.....

Photo from Jumeirah Carlton Tower website

 

So, when I saw this brilliant photo on Instagram I just had to contact the person and see if I could include it on our blog....

 

 

Tazmin from Saphire Event Designs replied to my request and sent me rather a lot of other scrummy photos too, which I just had to share with you.

 

The Chinoiserie is a beautiful restaurant, and Tazmin said you really felt like you were situated in the lap of luxury while enjoying your afternoon tea. I'm pleased to hear that service throughout the afternoon tea is impeccable too.

 

Picture from Jumeirah Carlton Tower website

Currently there is the traditional afternoon tea on offer, but also the festive creation by master patisserie Eric Lanlard. The festive version includes sandwiches filled with seasonal turkey and cranberry, chicken liver and salmon, these are followed by a scones and a whole host of festive sweet treats to enjoy.

 

The tea range is extensive and includes middle eastern teas as well.

 

All dietary requirements can be catered for at this restaurant.

 

Here are some more of Tazmin's photo's.....get ready to drool.....

 

Festive afternoon tea

 

 

 

Flavours found within this afternoon tea include creamy eggnog, mulled wine and chestnuts - a full on festive experience!

 

This festive afternoon tea costs £40 per person, if you'd like to add a glass of bubbles to your tea it will be £50 per person.

 

I have to say I think this tea looks amazing and I am a little bit jealous that I haven't tried it myself. A big thank you to Tazmin for sharing these with me.

 

If you've enjoyed a festive afternoon tea, or are hosting one at home we'd love to hear about it. Please leave us a comment or send us an email!

 

Thank you for popping by today and we hope to see you again soon!

Rachel & Lorna