The Friday Review....The Ritz Royal Blend Tea

Hello there,

We hope you are enjoying Afternoon Tea Week 2015 at Tea With Me and Friends. Today is Friday (woo hoo) and that means we have another Friday Review for you.

Today we are trying a rather special tea, on my recent visit to The Ritz I was given a caddy of The Ritz Royal Blend tea to try at home. The tea caddy is rather lovely...

This tea is a blended black tea which consists of Ceylon & Assam leaves, which also appears on the afternoon tea menu at The Ritz.

When you open the caddy, inside you will find instructions on how to boil the perfect pot of tea including timings and measurements.

Once brewed the tea is a beautiful light brown colour....

The tea is a delicate blend, very refreshing and perfect for enjoying in the afternoon with a piece of cake....or the odd scone....

This caddy is available from The Ritz website and costs £15.00 for 10g of tea - for more information take a peek at The Ritz website.

I'd like to thank The Ritz for giving me this lovely caddy, however this gift has not effected my taste buds and all opinions expressed her are my own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for....some butter biscuits

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends....we're still celebrating Afternoon Tea Week 2015....and today we have some lovely butter biscuits for your afternoon tea stand. These biscuits are simple, buttery and taste wonderful with a little icing on them....which also makes them very pretty...

Butter biscuits from
Tea With Me and Friends

The basic biscuit recipe is nice and easy.

For a big batch of biscuits you will need....

500g plain flour

180g caster sugar

250g cold butter

2 large eggs

What do you need to do....

1. Preheat your oven to 170c
2. First mix the flour and sugar together in a bowl, then add the butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour and sugar - you should end up with something that looks like fine breadcrumbs.
3. Once you've rubbed all the butter in, you need to add the egg to make a dough. You might need to add a splash of milk at this stage...make sure you don't add too much.
4. Once you have a smooth dough, divide into two and make them into two flat discs. Cover and chill for thirty minutes before baking.
5. Once you are ready to bake, roll the dough out and cut into your desired shapes.
6. Bake your biscuits in the oven for 15 minutes, or until they are a golden colour.
7. Once cool you can either enjoy with a cup of tea....or decorate!

Seasonal biscuits - perfect for a Christmas afternoon tea stand

These biscuits are sweet and buttery, and a little soft - they keep well when stored in a tin.

I also used this recipe when I made my own version of a popular children's biscuit....

These biscuits have been sandwiched with a little buttercream and jam....if you want to give them a touch of disco you could add a little icing and glitter too....

All my iced biscuits are made using an icing made out of icing sugar and a little water....colour is also added if required for the design.

What's your favourite type of biscuit? 

Leave us a comment and let us know....

Thank you for popping by today, we'll have another afternoon tea recipe for you tomorrow,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for.....a spot of vanilla sponge

Hello there,

Welcome back to day three of Afternoon Tea Week 2015 at Tea With Me and Friends. We hope you have enjoyed the recipes that we've shared with you so far this week...today we decided to be a bit more traditional and look at a good old fashioned vanilla sponge.

Whether it be a vanilla cupcake or a Victoria Sponge, you can't really go well with a lovely vanilla sponge...especially when it looks like this....

Mini Victoria Sponge
Tea With Me and Friends

Yes, this is a dinky little Victoria Sponge....perfect for an afternoon tea spread! I made my miniature sponges using the Mini Sandwich Tin from Lakeland, I also used the recipe from the Lakeland website.

So, what will you need to make 12 mini sponges....

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

175g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

Not forgetting the buttercream...

150g unsalted butter at room temperature

300g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting

Plus some jam of your choice....I've used strawberry here.

So, what do you do....

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly grease the tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.
3. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl and fold in until the mixture is glossy and smooth.
4. Divide the mixture between the tin and level with a teaspoon.
5. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes until golden, well risen and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of one of the cakes comes out clean.
6. Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 2 minutes and then ease out onto a wire cooling rack and leave until completely cool.
7. To make the buttercream, cream together the butter, icing sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag.
8. Cut each cake in half, and pipe the buttercream onto the bases, in dots. Drizzle the jam over the buttercream dots, place the sponge tops on and lightly dust the cakes with icing sugar.

Ta dah!

Traditional mini Victoria Sponges

A vanilla sponge is so versatile, as you can add all kinds of different fillings from preserves and curds to fresh berries....

Mini Victoria Sponges with fresh blueberries

Do you have the Lakeland Mini Sandwich Tin? What flavour cakes do you like to make in yours? We'd love to see your photos - send them to us on Twitter or post them to our Facebook page.

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

Rachel & Lorna

Time for.....Coconut and Passionfruit Slices

Hello there,

It's day two of Afternoon Tea Week 2015 and here at Tea With Me and Friends we've been baking again! Today we'd like to share a second afternoon tea recipe with you...this time something sweet for the top tier of your afternoon tea stand.

This is a coconutty-buttery slice with a passion fruit curd, topped with a lovely crisp meringue......

Afternoon tea cake - coconut and passion fruit slice

You will need....
150g softened butter
70g caster sugar
1 large egg yolk
200g plain flour
40g desiccated coconut
6 tablespoons passion fruit curd
2 large egg whites
115g caster sugar

So let's get started....

1. Preheat the oven to 180c and grease a 23cm shallow square tin
2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy, beat in the egg yolk and sift in the flour. Finally mix in the desiccated coconut and form into a soft dough.
3. Press the dough into the prepared tin, prick all over with a fork and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a pale golden colour.
4. Now to make the topping - whisk the two egg whites in a bowl until they hold stiff peaks. Then slowly add in your sugar....don't be tempted to rush here! You should end up with a lovely glossy meringue.
5. Once your base is baked, take it out of the oven and spread the passion fruit curd over the whole base. Then spoon the meringue on top of the curd, make sure you cover the whole base.
6. Then back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until the meringue is crisp and golden.
7. Leave to cool in the tin....then cut into little squares....and devour! Perfect with a cup of tea!

Afternoon tea sweets from Tea With Me and Friends

This is similar to a more traditional coconut and raspberry jam square...but I fancied something a little more tropical with my coconut. Usually you would have a shortbread base, topped with raspberry jam with a coconut meringue on top. As you can see I have moved the coconut around a little in my recipe and swapped the traditional jam for an more exotic passion fruit curd.

Several people (including Lorna) have enjoyed a slice of this cake and have given me great feedback.....if you have a go at making these sweet treats we'd love to hear how it went. Send us a photo on Twitter or leave a comment over on our Facebook page!

Thank you for popping by today and pop back tomorrow for another afternoon tea recipe!

Rachel

Meet the Pastry Chef.....Lewis Wilson

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! As you know this week we are celebrating Afternoon Tea Week 2015, and last month we were lucky enough to have a sneak peek of the new cake that The Ritz are launching this week.

Milk chocolate and almond cake
The Ritz

The scrummy milk chocolate and almond cake was created by Chef Lewis Wilson and we were lucky enough to be shown around the kitchens at The Ritz by Chef Lewis who also agreed to answer our nosey afternoon tea questions.....

How long does it usually take you to create new afternoon teas?

It will normally take about 3 weeks to create a new afternoon tea cake, from the first idea, through to the tasting and trialling process in the pastry kitchen to presenting it to our Executive Chef at The Ritz, John Williams. The new cake we will be launching in Afternoon Tea Week in August, went through between 8 and 10 variations, with different sponges and textures before the final version was approved. We have very high standards at The Ritz, which is great for a Pastry Chef, as we are constantly striving to improve.

Where does your inspiration for new teas come from?

Food is really a passion for me and I love eating out and trying new restaurants and pastry shops. I always book my holidays around cities and places where there are restaurants that I want to try. One of my favourite Pastry Shops in London is Pâtisserie des Rêves in South Kensington, it’s hard to beat their Paris–Brest, and Yauatcha in Soho always has a really beautiful selection of pastries on display (which taste great too!). One of my mentors is French Pastry Chef Philippe Rigollot, who I did a stage with in Lenôtre in Paris – he is very inspirational for me.

What is your favourite part of your latest afternoon tea?

The new Milk Chocolate and Almond cake launching combines the best of flavours and textures – it has chocolate, nuts and caramel. I am very proud of it and hope the guests who come for Afternoon Tea at The Ritz will enjoy it too.

Chef Lewis Wilson

Do you enjoy a spot of afternoon tea yourself and have you tried tea anywhere else?

I recently went on a foodie weekend break to Paris, and tried Afternoon Tea at the Shangri-La Hotel, which was very impressive.

What is your favourite filling in an afternoon tea sandwich?

Coronation chicken! We serve an excellent coronation chicken canapé at The Ritz. I also love the Egg Mayonnaise.  

The all important question - do you put cream or jam on your scone first?

Cream! It just seems right to go first.

If you could invite any guest to enjoy afternoon tea with you, who would it be and why?

Yves Thuriès. He has been named a MoF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) – the very best accolade in France – twice. I would love to hear his knowledge and wisdom over tea – I imagine he has seen everything!

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I'm pleased to see that Chef Lewis dresses his scones the Tea With Me and Friends way....cream first! I'm also partial to a spot of coronation chicken in my afternoon tea sandwiches.

We'd like to thank Chef Lewis for taking the time to answer our questions, it's always great to find out a little more about the afternoon teas that we enjoy. If you'd like to hear more about that scrummy cake, take a peek here.

Launching during Afternoon Tea Week 2015....

If you enjoy this scrummy cake we'd love to hear what you thought....leave us a comment and let us know.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna