Afternoon Tea Baking - Pret a Portea high fashion bakes

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends.

I hope you're well today. Have you made any baking related New Year's Resolutions this year? Maybe you'd like to try baking the sweet treats that you try at afternoon tea? Already love baking, but want to try something new? I might just have the book for you!

Pret a Portea - High Fashion bakes and biscuits

Before we go any further I want to assure you that this isn't an ad, I'm not being paid or rewarded for this blog post in anyway. I bought the book when I enjoyed afternoon tea at The Berkeley last year and was so impressed with the recipes that I wanted to share it with you.

'Prêt-à-Portea: High-Fashion Bakes and Biscuits' was published to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iconic fashion inspired afternoon tea served at The Berkeley and includes 20 recipes and baking techniques from the hotel’s Head Pastry Chef Mourad Khiat. 

I'm a home baker, I follow simple recipes and enjoy what I make but I have wanted to stretch myself a little and this book was perfect. The recipes are really easy to follow and the book contains lots of photos of the process as well as the finished items so you can see what you are supposed to be doing. 

Pret a Portea - High Fashion bakes and biscuits

Inside the book you'll find 20 iconic sweet treats that have been served as part of the Pret a Portea afternoon tea experience at some point in the last ten years. You'll also see what fashion item inspired the sweet treat. 

From the Blueberry sponge handbag inspired by Anya Hindmarch to the rainbow meringue summer mousse inspired by Mulberry, or the red sole and sparkle biscuit inspired by Christian Louboutin....you'll find all of these and more in the book!

My baking from Pret a Portea 

One of the items I decided to try was the pearl pump Sachertorte inspired by Nicholas Kirkwood, which featured a Chocolate Miroir finish. Having not attempted Sachertorte previously I was a little apprehensive when I started.

The recipe was broken down into easy to follow sections, making the chocolate sponge and jam filling first, followed by the chocolate Miroir. The recipe also includes styling details to help you finish your bake in the same way as The Berkeley. As you can see from the images I didn't quite follow the styling details, but I was still very impressed with my wonky finished cakes!

They were so shiny that even Niffler was impressed....

A bit wonky, but very shiny! 

This book also contains the best chocolate Brownie recipe I have ever come across. The recipe is very simple, but results in rich and gooey brownies that you will love!

I might have made these once or twice since buying the book....

The book is jam packed with scrummy photos, so even if you don't want to bake the cakes you'll probably spend several blissful hours drooling over the cakes!

As I said, this isn't an ad....but if you are looking for an easy to follow book which will up your baking game then you might enjoy this one!

Do you have a favourite baking book? I'd love to hear all about it - leave me a comment!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

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....some reading...Prohibition Bakery - Part 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to our afternoon tea blog...recently we've been combining two of our favourite things at Tea With Me and Friends towers....cakes and cocktails!

Recently we were sent the new book from the Prohibition Bakery - a New York bakery set up (by accident) by Leslie Feinberg and Brooke Siem which is devoted to boozy cakes. The book features 55 original recipes to try at home, as well as some basic information about baking and making infusions.

Prohibition Bakery - cupcakes and booze!

The book itself is stylish and full of great photography and the recipes will leave any cocktail lover drooling from your traditionals like Pina Coladaa or White Russians through to the more unusual Caramel Apples or Palomas....there is seriously something in there for everyone.

The recipes are broken down into their main spirit - including vodka, rum, whiskey, gin, wine, beer/cider, liqueur or cocktails!

Scrumy photography in the Prohibition Bakery book

I decided to start simple and try out the Boozy Blueberry Lemonade cupcakes to start with as this seemed like a pretty straight forward recipe to follow and it features lots of blueberries and a splash or two of vodka! 

This is what they should look like....

The recipe was easy to follow and the measurements are in both American cups and also grams, which I found very useful. The cake is made with yogurt and oil instead of the traditional butter, which I have never tried before but will definitely use again as it produced a very light cupcake.

The filling for these cakes is a blueberry puree, which was really easy to make and use.

The instructions are broken down into making the cake, making the filling, making the frosting and then the assembly.

I have to say I was rather pleased with the finished cakes....

Boozy Blueberry Lemonade cupcakes - Prohibition Bakery

Ok, I might have got a bit carried away with the icing....but just look at the colour!!

The cakes were light and fluffy, with a scrummy filling....perfect with a cup of tea! The flavour of the lemon really came through in the cake and it matched well with the boozy blueberry filling. Squidgy, but not too messy - this is a really satisfying bake!

Made by Tea With Me and Friends - Boozy Blueberry Lemonade cakes

If you'd like to try the recipes yourself pick up a copy of the book - you won't be disappointed by the choice! 

Prohibition Bakery (ISBN 9781454916963) has a RRP £14.99 and is available from The GMC Group. I'd like to thank The GMC Group for sending us a copy of the book to try - please remember that although we have received a complimentary copy of the book this has not effected our thoughts and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Prohibition Bakery baking

Keep your eyes posted for the next bake we try from this fab book!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for....something to read...How to Make Tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, today we have another book review for you. This time we are featuring How to Make Tea - The Science Behind the Leaf by Brian R Keating and Kim Long. This small green book explores the techniques and tools required to make the perfect cup of tea.

How to Make Tea - The Science Behind the Leaf

The book is broken down into six sections including The Tea Plant, Tea Chemistry, Tea & Taste, Buying & Storing Tea, The Basic Necessities and finally How to Make Tea. Among other things the reader will learn about tea growing regions, tea processing, steeping times and tea equipment.

Section six includes step by step instructions for brewing perfect cups of tea, including "what you will need" and a detailed method accompanied by illustrations. Tea includes Gongfu Cha, Matcha, Spiced Chai, iced tea and English tea. There is also a page dedicated to "tea times" in Great Britain, giving readers a description of when tea is drunk from elevenses to afternoon tea!

How to Make Tea - The Science Behind the Leaf

The book is written by Brian R Keating, a pioneer in tea research for over 30 years and Kim Long a writer, researcher and photographer.

The book is very detailed, full of practical information about brewing tea (including how much tea to use per cup versus how much tea in a teapot). There is also a useful guide to aroma descriptions which I will be studying before our next Friday Review! 

The text is punctuated every so often with illustrations.

The perfect read for anyone interested in learning more about their cup of tea.

We'd like to thank Ivy Press for sending us a copy of this book to review. Please note that all opinions expressed in this post are our own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for.....some reading...The Tea Book

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, we hope you are having a tea-riffic day so far!

Recently we were very excited to receive a copy of The Tea Book by Canadian Tea Sommelier Linda Gaylard through the post. The reason for our excitement...firstly this beautiful book is dedicated to all things tea from sections which allow readers to find out about tea generally, to a section on the history of tea and a collection of wonderful recipes. Secondly this is a DK book.....and we always love DK reference books, they tend to be beautifully presented and full of great information.

So grab a cuppa and let's take a closer look at this book dedicated to all things tea....

The Tea Book
Linda Gaylard

As I mentioned, this book is full of beautiful images, but there are also plenty of useful diagrams and reference maps which will help increase the tea knowledge of any reader. If you are curious about tea origins or want to learn a little more about your favourite hot beverage this is definitely the book for you. The imagery is is colourful and really adds interest to the content.

Linda is certified by the Tea Association of Canada and is also a graduate of the Tea Sommelier programme of the George Brown college in Toronto. In 2009 Linda launched The Tea Stylist, when she was invited to author The Tea Book she set out to create a book which would give readers the basis of knowledge about tea in a visual and informative style.

This is the kind of book you can pick up and start reading at any time when you have a spare moment. The content is both informative and engaging and includes information about Teas of the World, including key facts for each area. There is also a spread about afternoon tea, including the origins of afternoon tea and a little tea etiquette

However, I think my favourite section of the book is the 75 tea beverage recipes at the back which includes matcha lattés, tea smoothies and tea cocktails. The instructions are easy to follow and there are plenty of photos for inspiration.

There is something for everyone from a "Rosy Rooibos" featuring rosebuds and rooibos to the "tangled garden" which includes among other things white peony tea, elderflower and vodka.

The Tea Book
Linda Gaylard

This book is perfect for anyone interested in tea, or anyone wanted to expand their knowledge - it would make such a lovely gift for a tea-loving friend.

I'd like to thank Linda and DK UK for sending us a copy of this book. Please note that although we have received a complimentary copy of this fab book, all opinions expressed in this blog post are our own.

Do you have a favourite tea book that we should know about - we'd love to hear all about it, leave us a comment below!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna